Originally Posted by
Threshold 
It is important to note that AA is a spiritual, not a religious program, because spirituality is the use of that particular brain function...not an adherence to a particular belief, but an activation and development of a function of our brain, that give us another angle from which to understand life.
One cannot be religious without being spiritual, but can one be spiritual without being religious? I don't think so. they go hand in hand. So when people say AA is not religious and that it's just spiritual in reality it's still following some religious guideline. In this example..Christianity
Atheists don't believe in anything spiritual. The holy spirit, ghosts, the human soul, life after death , God etc, so I don't know how they wouldn't run into problems trying to do the twelve steps unless they ignore some steps.