Christy and others…
There are “religious” aspects of AA, and sometimes, as a non-religious person (=me), that can feel alienating.
But one thing which AA will give you that other options may not is a sense of the seriousness of the problem. If you’ve been seriously warped by alcoholism, the problem goes very very deep: even if its too biblical sometimes, AA gives me a sense of that, and also of just how much I need want and work at getting away from the mess I’m coming from. A sense that something difficult and serious has to happen within me. Some AAers will call that their Higher Power at work: whatever.
If I read the Big Book, there is a lot I hate – the aggressive godliness, the weird 1930s lingo, etc. But if I look, for example, at the humanist 12 steps (the B.S. Skinner version that someone linked to the other day), they don’t remotely seem to grasp how much difficulty and desperation all alcoholics will go through. They just seem glib.
That’s why I’m checking out as much as I can, listening to all I can: to find out what will help me move on from the unbelievably vicious circles alcoholism had/has me going around in.