The SOS movement began with an article in the Summer 1985 issue of Free Inquiry magazine, the leading secular humanist journal in the country. James Christopher, the son of an alcoholic and a sober alcoholic himself, wrote "Sobriety Without Superstition," an account of the path he took to sobriety.

This path has led Christopher from seventeen years of a fearful and guilty alcoholism to a fearful and guilty sobriety with Alcoholics Anonymous. Christopher felt that there must be other alcoholics who wanted to achieve and maintain sobriety through personal responsibility and self-reliance. He also felt that turning one's life over to a "higher power" was not compatible with current research that indicated that addiction is the result of physiology, not psychology.

As a result of the tremendous response to the article from alcoholics and addicts who wanted to maintain sobriety as a separate issue from religion, Jim Christopher founded the Secular Organizations for Sobriety.

Today there are SOS groups meeting in every state, as well as in other countries. SOS has gained recognition from rehabilitation professionals and the nation's court systems.

In November of 1987, the California courts recognized SOS as an alternative to AA in sentencing offenders to mandatory participation in a rehabilitation program. Also, the Veterans Administration has adopted a policy which prohibits mandatory participation in programs of a religious nature.