i have no experience of such organizations but i read an article within the last year about how aa may not be as effective as it claims to be. i do not want to discourage anyone from trying to recover. recovery is good. if it's working, it is working. but if i needed such a service i would be hesitant to go to one that urged acceptance of a higher power.

g

In the case of AA, just don't go there. Or go, take what you need, and ignore the rest. Remember, the program owes you nothing.

AA hates the idea that anyone can get clean without a higher power. That is, that you can be your own higher power.

The problem with AA is that it relies on a "higher power" and is supposedly neutral as to belief systems but they also rely on donated space to operate which means most often those places are churches which force their way into the program in order to use it as a recruitment tool. Christians know that people who are having problems will grasp at any straw that promises them a "cure" even when there is none (as in faith healing). There is no cure for addiction all you can do is accept the fact that you are an addict and stay away for additive substances for life. This is one of the main reasons that AA and NA have such a poor record of success. there is no "recovery" like they promise you there is only your will to stay away from the things and people who destroy your life...

Recovery from most things required that one has faith -- not necessarily in gods or goddesses (though you could choose the Spaghetti Monster) -- but in the idea of faith as a nurturing concept to assist in the recovery of the individual. Most choose gods or goddesses.

Higher power is code for gods!

First it was Christians who created AA in 1935. Purely to keep people from reaching a level of "godliness" in their minds through the use of a number of different drugs. This was the era of the Great Depression and pre-WW2, right when people in this country were starving and the prohibition had just ended in 1933. So those who could drink to forget their woes through such horrible times, most likely drank too much and were seen as drunken fools who needed help, but probably not "divine" help. That's when the Christian Coalition decided to control Americans through a drinking addiction and to make them feel less of a person. They came up with those famous words in an AA or NA meeting "...and give yourself to a higher power to help you overcome your addiction." I purely on my own gave up a crack addiction I was on 15 years ago, it lasted two years. Eventually with my advice my brother quit his coke addiction on his own as of less than two years ago. But my sister is mess, at 47 she is back in detox, and rehab, AGAIN. AA years ago, turned my sister into a monster. I've looked at the literature of AA, just a recruitment for Christians.

you described why i never attended one of those meetings.

Same here, I was lock stock and barrel with the knee prayers and the holding of hands and all that stuff. Now I don't bother. I've seen the adamant believers give a sermon at the podium or other types of meetings. Our beliefs are just as valid as a religious or higher power believer. The key is that the program is a program of suggestions and you only have to have a desire to stay sober. I don't even think that the last comment is valid in every circumstance though.

I've been involved in 12 Step Groups and their is a strong religious vibe. One group that I've found is Rational Recovery. Same steps but the drop the second step.

I took what i liked and made sense to me from it, and created my own path out of my mess..
It does have aspects that are useful..

That was my experience as well.. an over riding feeling of "god" being your salvation. Didn't help that most meetings were usually held in rooms used for Sunday school.