One does not have to fail because of the religious overtones. Luckily one of the early members was agnostic, and forced the issue of using the wording "God as w

One does not have to fail because of the religious overtones. Luckily one of the early members was agnostic, and forced the issue of using the wording "God as we understand him". I do agree that there is social pressure in AA to admit to a belief in a "GOD", it is not required, and there are many members who state their atheism or agnosticism. Even the hard core believers follow the party line and tell people it is fine not to believe at the beginning, with the understanding that eventually as one gets sober, they will come to believe. People are told that it is fine to use the group as a higher power. I have met a lot of people who belong to AA who are quite anti-religious and they do quite fine in AA. They take what they can use, and leave the rest. For another interesting outside look at AA, check out what Charlie Munger has to say, I found it quite interesting.