“The 12 step program is an elongated version of accepting Christ and being saved. I am sure it has helped people, but it seems that quitting drinking is a secondary goal with the AA program.”
Plenty of recovering, hard-core drunks, including atheists, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus would wholeheartedly disagree.
Have you ever attended an AA meeting and seen what actually takes place? It is absolutely not a Christian revival meeting.
I'm sure AA has helped plenty of people, just as I'm sure plenty of people quit without AA. But I have a problem with their "alcoholism is a disease" mentality, and the mindset that you are "powerless" and absolutely must use religion to quit drinking.
I'm suspicious of any organization that tells me I'm powerless to do something on my own, or that my reckless behavior and willful disregard for my own health and well-being is the result of a disease.