Foreward To First Edition *Tenth Printing, August, 1946
"We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are many thousands of men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body."
That's all AA is. We borrowed from religion, science and medicine, to achieve that objective. Whatever branch I used is my own personal choice. The spiritual program that AA embraces, is nothing but a personality change. It's clearly outlined in the second edition, at the back of the book.
Therefore, I was easily able to utilize AA's 12 steps, to achieve it's stated objective. If I did not reach that "hopeless state of mind and body", then I don't need AA. When I work with new people, I simply state the truth to them and give them what worked for me.