Rainbowzz,

Regarding your origional question I suspect you would be welcomed and might even become comfortable at AA, since as you say you believe in some higher power. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone.

The inculcation of missinformation there starts almost immediately with lies following lies on top of lies. I personally have experienced sever browbeating to accept some higher power I don't believe in, came to believe the 12 step got in the way of skills training that might actually help and got real tired of the continuous harping on alcohol and drug problems instead of teaching solutions to life problems.

I was there to find help to overcome problems from growing up with an alcoholic mother and unavailable father. I believe superstitions and missinformation is far greater a threat to people than truth, AA wouldn't know truth if it ruled against them in court as has happened many times http://www.positiveatheism.org/rw/alcohol.htm. AA has been ruled a religion. I prefer the word cult (although having had lots of members at least temporarally is the cheif difference between the two), as does Devin Sexton on his essay: Mind Control Tactics of Alcoholic Anonymous http://www.morerevealed.com/dev_art.jsp
Where he says -

"Having been a member of AA for many years, I have a different view of it. I consider the program of Alcoholics Anonymous a destructive cult that uses all methods of mind-control tactics for the specific purposes of incorporating its members into a belief system that demolishes their individuality, crushes their independence, and creates numerous psychologically damaging side effects."

Ster,
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People in the program that take what they need at the time they are in the program, Is depending on where they are in the program. The point of your understanding is determined by the time you are in. They way you understand something changes as you grow in the program. IE the point you are at today is not where you are going to be in a few days and even moreso in the coming years. My understanding of the program when I came in I had a level of what I understood I write in my big book I started when I first started I wrote down in the margins my undersatnding and every 5 years i get a new big book so I can write into it. I am also able to see my groth in the program and how I deal with things. after all AA is a program of change.

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- the more you expose yourself to brainwashing the more brainwashed you get, would discribe my perspective of what you said.

http://www.morerevealed.com/kirton.jsp see my some links for more info. if interested.

~Down