How do we know they wouldn't have recovered on their own, or with some other program? We don't. We can't. Any claims of success for AA is pure Blue Sky, with nothing to back it up.
If you've got evidence to back up that these people would have recovered on their own please cite it. The vast majority of these success stories claim that they had tried everything else for years but nothing worked. You can't argue with success. But if you've found an alternative that works better for you, go for it.
And that's fine - there are some things in life that aren't subject to spread-sheet micro-analyses.
AA saved my life - maybe I would have got sober another way, but that doesn't matter, this is the way I did it - I'm living in today, can't worry about "what if's".
I'm clean and sober today, and that's what matters. From a run-away freight train plowing through anything and anyone in my path - to a usefull member of society. And a sane, Conservative one at that.
I dunno. I used AA to get sober - that and God. Worked for me.
And that’s the fac’, Jack.