Higher Power in AA — Do You Have to Believe in God?

One of the most common barriers to AA for newcomers is the concept of a Higher Power. Step 2 asks us to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Step 3 asks us to turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. For people who are atheist, agnostic, or simply skeptical, these steps can feel like a dealbreaker.

"God As We Understood Him"

That phrase — 'as we understood Him' — is doing enormous work in the Steps. The program is explicit that it is not allied with any particular religion or denomination. Your Higher Power can be the group itself, a doorknob, the force of the universe, or the God of your childhood. What matters is that it's a power greater than your own thinking — because your own thinking got you here.

What the Big Book Actually Says

The Big Book devotes an entire chapter, 'We Agnostics,' to people who struggle with the concept of God. It acknowledges the struggle as valid and offers a path forward that doesn't require traditional religious belief. Reading it with AABlueBook's 1930s dictionary gives you the full picture of what Bill Wilson actually meant.

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