The phrase “spiritual, not religious” has always been one of the cleanest shields Alcoholics Anonymous uses.
It sounds softer.
More open.
More modern.
Less threatening.
That is exactly why it works.
If AA came out and said plainly that its framework is built on surrender, confession, prayer, spiritual dependence, and handing your will over to a power outside yourself, a lot more people would stop at the door. So the language gets softened while the structure stays the same.
That is the trap.
The label sounds flexible, but the demand underneath it is fixed. Distrust yourself. Submit outward. Depend spiritually. Call that humility. Call that healing. Call that recovery.
I do not.
I call it a spiritual trap, and I wrote this essay to say exactly why.
Read it here: https://jimlunsford.com/recovery-beyond-aa-the-spiritual-trap/