Same thing when judges force people into AA for a DUI. Like, you shouldn't drive drunk, but you also shouldn't have to go into meetings from a religious organization because you did.
And despite what some people may say, AA is a religious organization. If it helped you quit drinking, good. But it is religious. It was started as a prayer group and it is not based in anything scientific.
As for the "anything can be your higher power" nonsense, there is no rational way to interpret step 11 outside the framework of the worshiping of a deity:
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
You replace 'God' with pretty much anything else and it becomes gibberish.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with Crash Bandicoot as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
I dunno, improving my conscious contact with Crash Bandicoot could be fun.
I tried AA for a while. After them hounding me constantly to get a mentor (or whatever they call them), and endless "let's go for a walk" with different people all the time, I finally had enough when the guy kept tellimg me I had to pray every morning and night.