[QUOTE=SeanJ;2533045]I struggle with the same issues. On my first attempt at AA several years ago, it was all the God/religion stuff that gave me the convenient excuse to drop out of the program.
I'm back in now, although my belief system (somewhere between atheist and agnostic, non-theist maybe?) has not changed.
SeanJ, I had similar issues with AA...at least I thought I did. vowed never to go to a meeting, thought I was "different, etc. I believe that very often what we hear says more about us than it does the speaker. In fact, while I heard lots of people credit "God" and "HP" for their sobriety, I was not assaulted with religious tenets in AA. It is spiritual, not religious, and I think it is important to remember that. My own perception of "God" is certainly non-theist, and I have been sober a long while. I do have an idea of a spirit or energy that is the essence of the universe: It is constant/unchanging, without emotions and without judgement. It just is. It runs through us all, connecting us. Perhaps I could call it love, though it is not like the giddy, cuddly kind that I thought I wanted. I know when I am in sync with it--I am exactly the right size, exactly where I need to be. My job is to cease to separate myself from spirit.