yeahgr8--
Again, as I said, religious people tend to think that because AA is not like the church they grew up with that it is not religious. I think that is what you are doing.
I never said that ALL AA members were part of the same religion or shared any religious beliefs. However, it is expected that they all have some belief in a higher power. So they may be a bit more like the Unitarians than the Evangelicals.
I went through years of Catholic education and worked for a diocese for many years. It is a pretty common theological idea that our conception of god is formed by our own understanding. (AA did not create this idea.) And one priest I worked with extended this to say that when people converted from one church to another it was in search of an organized faith that matched their understanding. I think he was right. The religion you choose to be part of is the one that espouses the god of your understanding. Or if you do not find one that matches your understanding, you just do not take part in any organized faith and pray privately.
Whether people think your faith and your god are on the same parr as theirs is irrelevant. Just because an Evangelical thinks a Jew and a Buddhist are "not on the same footing" as his faith does not make Judaism and Buddhism any less religions--so that conversation that you suggest seems pointless. Most people of faith do not need the approval of people outside their faith to carry on their beliefs.
Just because a faith does not fit in with your own ideas of what a religion is does not make it "nonreligious." Belief in a higher power independent of oneself and spiritual in nature, be it an old man in a white beard, group energy, the force of nature, karma, etc. is by its nature religious belief. I am not sure how (or why) anyone tries to get around that.