05/07/2026
HISTORY: A look back the impact of humanism in AA decades ago
Secular Organizations for Sobriety started 40 years ago by James Christopher and some other like-minded AA members who wanted to create community and refuge for others seeking irreligious recovery pathways.
This inspired other variations. LifeRing was founded by SOS members who started a group in 1997. In 1999, they broke off, adding LifeRing Press for literature to complement their culture and meeting formats.
Inside AA, secular humanism goes back to the roots. Notables Hank Parkhurst and Jim Burwell represented the no-God squad, promoting a practical—not a supernatural—approach to AA sobriety.
“I can’t stand this God-stuff! It’s a lot of malarkey for weak folks. This group doesn’t need it, and I won’t have it! (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, 1953)”
Today, I reflect on a turning point informed by the love and effort of James Christopher. Jim got sober in AA in 1978. His wrote an article for Free Inquiry Magazine about the Secular Humanist experience (1985). His essay was, “Sobriety without Superstition.” This article would springboard positive change in and out of AA for people with addiction, seeking recovery.
In “Sobriety without Superstition,” Jim mentions a few fledgeling heathen AA meetings. This would refer to agnostics and atheists forming their own AA groups:
• AA for Atheists and Agnostics Group, Chicago, since January 1975
• We Agnostics Group, Hollywood, since 1980.
I remember talking with James Christopher, the founder of SOS, about AA and recovery in general. He would say, “AA is a religion in denial.” I could relate. In one hand, I resist painting all of AA with the same philosophy and practices brush—AA is over 100,000 self-governing organizations with a common purpose (help the still-suffering alcoholic get and stay sober). There is no policing or vetting - nothing is sacred, and nothing is forbidden.
On the other hand, I know of what Mr. Christopher was saying. I have seen elders tell others how risky AA without God can be. I have seen newcomers ask about all the God-talk in the steps rebutted with “But AA is spiritual, not religious.” Did they understand the question? I don’t think so.
Further to writing the attached, Jim, he and others went on to start SOS Recovery Community Organization with an original format. It isn’t just the AA theism. Humanists do not subscribe to the original-sin model of health and wellness. Is it helpful to frame someone with alcohol use disorder as defective, another way to help?
To the SOS founders, even without the God-language, religious residue permeated the AA Steps and a fresh start was better than a half-measure. In addition to Secular Organizations for Sobriety, another acronym is Save Our Selves—an empowering, humanist approach.
Also, this article in Free Inquiry was read from sea to shining sea, including some New York City AA members who started a meeting now know as We Humanists in 1986. Today there are secular meetings in every borough. From this group, secular AA groups would be found in every borough.
And a website https://agnosticaanyc.org/ would display meeting places for agnostics and atheists in AA, meeting scripts and other resources.
This New York AA website inspired the group I belong to in Toronto, Canada: Beyond Belief Agnostics & Freethinkers AA group (2009). Online and in person, there are 100 secular AA meetings available every day.
Beyond AA, there is SOS and LifeRing, but also Women for Sobriety, She Recovers, SMART Recovery, and, for people who find Eastern philosophy helpful, Refuge Recovery or Recovery Dharma. There are others focusing on substance use, process addiction, abstinence, and harm reduction.
How much of this was not at least informed by the hope that comes from connection, which comes from an article like this 1985 “Sobriety without Superstition?” Should the attention to secular ways address substance use have been better spent reforming AA from within, or breaking free with no constraints to slow us down?
Yes.
Both.
Either could have helped, but Yes/And helps more.
Today’s evidence-based trend is towards custom care—not one-size-fits-all. AA secular members still find the 12-step format helpful. Other AAs treat the Steps buffet-style, or take a pass on them completely. Others find the leader/teacher structure of SMART Recovery USA superior to the monkeys running the zoo in AA.
And look, all of variety of groups are staying sober and helping others find their way. Rebellion Dogs, within reason, likes the saying “Yes” to everything, modelling multiple paths to recovery.
James Christopher saw something. So, he said something. I, for one, am grateful that he expended the love, time and know-how to write this now-historic essay, that is what we all know—sharing experience, strength, and hope. Free Inquiry is still alive and well, and if you have something to say, follow Free Inquiry.
https://secularhumanism.org/1985/07/sobriety-without-superstition/
