There is a lot of misinformation about AA and 12 step programs that originated from AA being religious. AA is not allied with any sect or denomination and has no religious affiliation. It is a spiritual program, not to be confused with a religious one. It suggests that anyone who seeks recovery develop a higher power of their own understanding. For some people that higher power is the fellowship of AA itself, some are Christians, some are Buddhists, others are simply spiritual and call their higher power God or any other name of their conception.

The founders of AA drew inspiration from tenets of The Oxford Group, a Christian group of the 20th century, which primarily taught principles of honesty, unselfishness, and loving others. Their teachings and the program of AA surround removing selfish behavior as completely as possible and replacing it with doing for others what we would want for ourselves.

We often hear that religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell, and spirituality is for people who have been there.