Bill Wilson spent the summer of 1935 at Dr. Bob's home in AkronOhio. He carried Dr. Silkworth's ideas and the Oxford Group message to Dr. Bob, Bill Dotson and Ernie Galbriath (and maybe one other alkie). Ann Smith and Henrietta Sieberling encouraged this small group to do much studying of spiritual and religious literature throughout that entire Summer.
Bill Wilson returned to NY in late August of 1935 convinced that Biblical teaching was an important tool for recovery. So he was probably looking for a prospect in NY who might accept this sort of message, along with the allergy/obsession idea. Paradoxically, his first NY prospect was Hank Parkhurst who was an atheist, or almost one! Hank turned out to be the person who wrote the outline for the Big Book sales pitch in 1938. Hank, then sober three years, didn't want very much God in the Big Book; then-newcomer Jim Burwell said ditto! But many of the others wanted God in. So Bill was like a referee: In – Out; In – Out; In – Out. Etc.
Bill, happily, solved this dilemma by adding "God as we understood Him." and then everyone was happy as apple pie. Bill called this a Ten-Strike! The success of the Big Book may have been dependent on that very phrase!
This story makes clear how God used even atheists and agnostics to help sober up the drunken sots of early AA.