“We came to accept and to understand that we needed strengths beyond our awareness and resources to restore us to sanity.”

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 -  "Six men who admit they are “powerless over alcohol” recited these words from Step 2 of a Canadian-created,      secular Twelve Step program at the beginning of a recent meeting in West Vancouver.

These particular warriors against alcohol are atheists and agnostics. Even though they are meeting in a quiet room of St. Monica’s Anglican Church in West Vancouver, they are tired of the emphasis that some members of Alcoholics Anonymous put on God."

- "Since AA began, Step 3 of the traditional program has called on members to “make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understand him.” Several other steps also mention God or a higher power, leaving the definition open-ended.

Even though the men in the West Vancouver group expressed gratitude for the support they received over the years in AA’s Twelve Step program, they said they are increasingly weary of the “God talk.”

- "they say, some evangelical Christian AA members have started talking like preachers."

-  "To get away from the word, God, two atheist and agnostic alcoholics groups have formed in the past two years in Metro Vancouver. In addition to the West Vancouver group, there is a larger meeting of both sexes on Tuesday nights at Holy Trinity Anglican Church on Hemlock and 12th in Vancouver."