Maybe alcohol isn’t so bad after all?
By Kevin Heinrichs • ChristianWeek staff
Should Christians drink? Depends on who you talk to.
While general drinking trends in Canada decline, an informal survey of conservative Protestant denominations suggests that attitudes towards alcohol vary widely, and that drinking may be gaining increased acceptance among its members.
For years, prohibition may as well have been one of the Ten Commandments given the Church’s strong admonitions against alcohol. Indeed, many churches, notably the Salvation Army, built a reputation on saving people from the ravages of alcohol abuse.
While outright drunkenness is widely censured as there are clear biblical directives against it (Ephesians 5:18 and elsewhere), the idea of "social drinking" has received a less unified response from churches.
The Army continues to have a clear stand against alcohol use of any kind. Its positional statement begins, "Social drinking has become a problem. Alcohol is being introduced into the home and included in social functions where before it was never permitted. As the largest abstinence organization in the world, The Salvation Army expects every member to adhere to the pledge given when becoming a Salvationist."
But while the Army continues its strong stance, even requiring abstinence for membership, the view of other denominations is less certain.
Beer-in-the-fridge survey
For the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, public relations director Bill Griffin says that there isn’t any conference literature that mentions alcohol except a church membership document that refers to Galatians 5:12-19, which mentions drunkenness. However, he says PAOC’s official response is that it is totally opposed to social drinking, especially given the denomination’s history of advocating for conversion from alcohol.
"The moderation thing doesn’t wash with us," says Griffin. "At the same time, I am afraid that if we were to do a beer-in-the-fridge survey, in too many Pentecostal homes we might be shocked by what we find."
Many Mennonite conferences recommend voluntary abstinence. A 1978 Mennonite Brethren resolution concludes, "The Christian abstains, not because he believes that moderate drinking is condemned outright in Scripture, but that in the face of the staggering problems of alcoholism, love to the neighbor, and, in particular, love to the weaker brother, demands voluntary abstinence."
Not a faith issue
But is it really a problem for a Christian to have a drink at the company Christmas party, a glass of wine with a nice meal, or a beer while watching a hockey game?
No problem, according to Lutheran Church-Canada. "The social use of alcohol is not a faith issue," says Ian Adnams, editor of The Canadian Lutheran. However, he adds that the LC-C does not condone alcohol abuse in any way. "Pastors often counsel those with alcohol problems and, as the church uses wine in its communion service, would come to some accommodation with individuals for whom the use of alcohol presents a personal danger."
The issue of addictions, including alcohol, recently cropped up in Free Methodist circles. Last year, the Free Methodist Church in Canada changed the wording to its new membership covenant, removing the phrase that denied membership to those who drank alcohol, used tobacco, gambled or were members of a secret society. In its place, the new covenant requires "evidence of conversion (which includes awakening, repentance and faith)."
Reactions opposing that change have recently stirred the letters-to-the-editor pages of its periodical, The Free Methodist Herald, one reader calling the change "a backward step." In response, conference officials have published articles of clarification which explain that these particular "threats to Christlikeness" are no longer singled out because they should be treated as all other sins.
Off the radar
The anti-drinking (or anti-drunkenness) campaign is now loudly taken up by secular lobby groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), not the church–as with the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement, for example. The most recognized aid for those struggling with alcohol is the faith philosophy-based, but not overtly Christian organization, Alcoholics Anonymous. AA’s famous 12 steps refer to a "Power greater than ourselves" and "God as we understood him."
As there are no statistics available for alcohol use among various denominations, it is difficult to come to solid conclusions about drinking trends among Christians. If, as United Church pastor Don Faris suggests in his accompanying article, churches are silent on the issue of alcohol, is it because parishioners aren’t drinking, or because churches are comfortable with their drinking?
In any case, the idea of social drinking as a concern seems conspicuous by its absence.
The print edition of CW carries a cluster of articles on "Moderation and its discontents."
