AA Spirituality

A study found a robust association between an increase in attendance to AA meetings with increased spirituality and a decrease in the frequency and intensity of alcohol use over time. The research also found that AA was effective for agnostics and atheists. The authors concluded that though spirituality is an important mechanism of behavioral change for alcoholics, it is not the only means used. Since the mid-1970s, a number of 'agnostic' or 'no-prayer' AA groups have begun across the U.S., Canada, and other parts of the world, which hold meetings that adhere to a tradition allowing alcoholics to freely express any doubts or disbelief they may harbor in relation to their recovery, and forgo use of closing prayers