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Our common welfare should come first; personal
recovery depends upon OA unity.
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For our group purpose there is but one ultimate
authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group
conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
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The only requirement for OA membership is a
desire to stop eating compulsively.
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Each group should be autonomous except in matters
affecting other groups or OA as a whole.
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Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry
its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers.
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An OA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend
the OA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest
problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
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Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting,
declining outside contributions.
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Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever
nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
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OA, as such, ought never be organized; but we
may create service boards or committees directly responsible to
those they serve.
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Overeaters Anonymous has no opinion on outside
issues; hence the OA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
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Our public relations policy is based on attraction
rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the
level of press, radio, films, television, and other public media of
communication.
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Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these
traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
