January is here and people are busy forming resolutions to make

2012 better than the year now gone.

For people with alcohol and drug problems, this might entail joining a group like Alcoholics Anonymous. According to AA doctrine and its 12-step program, redemption from the disease comes not from willpower but from reliance on a “higher power” — as Step Three puts it, “God as we understood him.”

This is where things get dicey for some alcoholics and addicts who are atheist or agnostic, especially if they’ve been mandated to attend 12-step groups by the courts. Why should they be forced to sit through meetings that violate their own secular beliefs?

In recent years, mutual-help groups such as Smart Recovery, LifeRing and Secular Organization for Sobriety have formed across the nation to offer support without spiritual concepts.

Members of AA say their program isn’t religious — it’s spiritual. A member’s higher power can be anything they choose — God, Jesus, Buddha, the power of love, even AA membership itself, which exceeds more than 1 million people in the U.S. alone.

At free meetings each week, there are generally no sectarian references, which are considered taboo since it violates AA’s big-tent approach. Still, most meetings end with a group recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, the provenance of which is Christian.

This practice alienates some nonreligious members and potential members, as does the whole higher-power concept and what can sometimes be a preponderance of generic “God talk” at meetings.

“It’s a bit of a problem,” said Michael, 53, who is gay and an atheist. (In keeping with AA’s tradition of anonymity, only first names are being used.) He attended his first AA meeting here in 1999, one aimed at gay and lesbian alcoholics. His drinking had become daily, which worried him.

“But people were talking about going to jail, having blackouts,” he said. “I thought, ‘I don’t have these kinds of problems.’ ”

Still concerned about his drinking six years later, he returned to the meeting. When it ended with the Lord’s Prayer, Michael vowed to never go back.

But then some mornings, he found he needed a drink to soften a hangover.

Eventually, Michael returned to his old group but still felt out of place.

Recently, he found an AA group he likes, which he uses as his higher power.

So far, though, he’s only been able to go four months before relapsing. He admits he hasn’t followed AA protocol, such as getting a sponsor, someone who guides a newcomer through the steps.

“If there were secular options, I think I absolutely would stick with it, and I believe a large number of people would as well,” he said. “But somebody has to start it.”

In the 1980s, secular alternatives did begin to form. Smart Recovery, the most well-known with 2,000 members, is based largely on cognitive-behavioral therapy, a counseling approach that seeks to change maladaptive thoughts and behaviors. In the free SR support groups, which take place in person and online, members are taught ways to cope with cravings, stay motivated and live a balanced life.

Unlike at AA, they’re told they can conquer alcohol or other addictions without help from above.

“Some people aren’t comfortable with the idea of powerlessness,” said Executive Director Shari Allwood.

Contrary to AA’s critics, a growing body of research shows that for many people with alcohol use disorders, AA is effective. One study found that of patients who regularly attended AA after alcoholism treatment, about half remained abstinent after one year. Many who weren’t at least cut their consumption.