Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is the best-known self-help program for men and women struggling with alcohol abuse. However, many people have questions about the role that spirituality and religion play in the program. 

AA Is Spiritual, Not Religious

The founders of AA were members of a fundamentalist Protestant Christian movement, the Oxford Group. However, AA is generally considered a spiritual program because it encourages belief in a higher power but does not require members to be part of a particular religious denomination. 

Over half of the 12-Steps used in AA make reference to a higher power, but members are encouraged to make their own interpretation of what that higher power may be. 

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

AA meetings are often held in churches, but this is simply a matter of practicality. Private meeting rooms can be quite expensive, and AA is funded by the voluntary donations of its members. To ensure that help is available regardless of a person’s ability to pay, AA needs to keep costs as low as possible. 

The only requirement to join AA is a desire to stop drinking. You will not be asked to join a specific church or to provide information about your faith. AA welcomes members who believe in spirituality in the sense associated with organized religion, including the belief in souls, the afterlife, and angels or other supernatural spirits. However, the group also welcomes those who interpret spirituality in the natural sense—seeing faith as an expression of love, morality, and a search for meaning beyond the purely material. 

A Christian Alternative to AA

If you are looking for a self-help program that is specifically geared towards Christians, Celebrate Recovery may be a good option to ease your transition back to independent living. 

Celebrate Recovery encourages members to surrender to Christ and offers Bible-based support for a wide variety of hurts and hang-ups. This includes alcohol addiction, as well as eating disorders, gambling addictions, anger management, and codependency. 

Celebrate Recovery uses the 12-Steps associated with Alcoholics Anonymous, but each step is paired with a Bible verse to show that a commitment to the Christian faith is the cornerstone of the program. Members are asked to refrain from using offensive language and graphic descriptions of addiction-related behaviors, but meetings are still confidential and anonymous.

A Secular Alternative to AA 

While spirituality can provide a source of comfort when you’re facing recovery-related challenges, this approach doesn’t work for everyone. If the spirituality in AA makes you uncomfortable, you may prefer SMART Recovery.

SMART is an acronym that stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training. Based on cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy known as Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), SMART Recovery teaches members that changing your beliefs and emotions allows you to change your actions in regards to self-destructive behaviors such as substance abuse.

SMART Recovery is secular and scientifically based. It encourages members to focus on the future instead of the past and does not require them to admit powerlessness over addiction. 

Incorporating Self-Help Groups Intro Your Continuing Care Plan

Located in central Pennsylvania near State College and Altoona, St. Joseph Institute for Addiction encourages clients seeking treatment for substance use disorders to take a holistic approach to recovery that focuses on healing the mind, body, and spirit. As part of our full continuum of care, we provide clients with a personalized plan to support their transition back to independent living—utilizing self-help programs such as AA, Celebrate Recovery, and SMART Recovery. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you build a life free from the burden of addiction.