He's not a "spiritual" person and for him AA equals religion.
Yes, of course. And there's also drunks there. You know, alcoholics. And he's not an alcoholic so he doesn't fit in there.
When you don't want to stop drinking, you will find ANY excuse.
When you DO want to get sober, you will try ANYTHING.
One of my RA friends said when she finally decided to get sober, if someone had told her to go down to the creek and toss a coin over her shoulder at the next full moon, she would have done it. And she's an engineer. Diehard scientist atheist.