God is never talked about in the 'religious' sense at my meetings. There's talk about a higher power in the context of what it means to that individual, and that obviously varies greatly and is personal.
I can see why AA is often misunderstood, it's hard to get a handle on the program and what it's about unless you delve into the Steps. I used the God excuse for YEARS to avoid doing any real work in the program. But at the root of it, it was pretty much as August explained it - my addicted brain was looking for any reason to be ambivalent towards the program and recovery work in general.
To me, the spiritual aspects of the program are less about God in the traditional sense, and more about breaking down the ego and letting go of control. The serenity prayer is almost the perfect distillation of this.