What is Secular Alcoholics Anonymous?

Secular AA is a movement within Alcoholics Anonymous that traces its roots to one of AA’s first Agnostics, Jimmy B., who helped convinced AA co-founder Bill W. to substitute the term “Higher Power” for “God” and add the words “as we understood him” in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Jimmy B was the driving force behind our third tradition: “The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking”

Secular meetings are not new. They are one of the fastest growing groups within AA, offering 100 meetings per day worldwide as well as regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA).

The Savannah Sunday Secular group was formerly known as “the Savannah Freethinkers, Atheist and Agnostics Meeting”. It was established in 2014.

Secular Preamble:

This group of AA attempts to main a tradition of free expression and conduct a meeting where alcoholics may feel free to express any doubts or disbeliefs they may have, and to share their own personal form of spiritual experience, their search for it or their rejection of it.

In keeping with the AA tradition, we do not endorse or oppose any form of religion, agnosticism or atheism.

Our only wish is to ensure suffering alcoholics that they can find sobriety in AA without having to accept anyone else’s beliefs or having to deny their own.

from “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age” (pub. 1957; pg. 81)

“To some of us, the idea of substituting ‘good’ for ‘God’ in the 12 steps will seem like a watering down of AA’s message. We must remember that AA’s steps are suggestions only. A belief in them as they stand is not at all a requirement for membership among us. This liberty has made AA available to thousands who would never have tried at all, had we insisted on the 12 steps just as written.”