A Toast To Long Life
Old World Swine links to a Reuters story on a Danish study showing the healthy effects of moderate drinking and exercise (not necessarily at the same time). He goes on to note (and I concur, with the obvious reservations around medical conditions and addiction): "Psalm 104 gives thanks to God for creating "wine that gladdens the heart of man". Jesus' first miracle was the creation of wine at the Wedding at Cana. Teetotalism as a Christian moral imperative (as opposed to an ascetic discipline) is a modern aberration, and if I may say so, a blight on American society." Lots of other good Catholic reasons for tipping one on a regular basis in the comment box, too.
posted by Ernesto at 8:38 PM
3 Comments:
Slow to respond to this note, but I did want to take exception to the idea that teetotalism as a Christiam moral imperative is a "blight on American society." I suspect that he just wrote that to be cute, the way that drinkers often couch their own pursuit of pleasure in moralistic tones (like expressing distrust of anyone who can't "hold his liquor" or imagining that anyone who doesn't drink is acting superior to those who do). But for a church to determine that the deleterious effects of alcohol upon society outweigh any slight health benefits to individuals and then to lobby against its use is no more inappropriate than to determine that the evils of slavery are greater than its societal benefits and lobby against that. Both "vices" were viewed benignly in scripture. And just for the record, I've been known the bend the elbow a time or two.
I don't know whether I'll get into defending the "a blight on society" comment (though I sympathize with it), but I do agree with the original post that "teetoalism" is not a Christian moral imperative -- regardless of what some Christians or Christian sects may decide to make of it in their personal practices in interpretations. Moderation is a healthful practice in all things, and very important in the consumption of alcohol, but to compare the evils of drink to the evils of slavery is is as inappropriate as comparing the evils of saturated fat to the evils of slavery would be -- they don't seem like enough to be comparable to me.
I don't have the zeal to actually look up the statistics regarding the societal damage created by alcohol, but I'm certain they are quite impressive. Saturated fat has caused some heartache (and heart attacks) but rarely, if ever, has caused traffic fatalities or spousal abuse. that said, I can imagine a church determining that the rampant distribution of unhealthy food that could easily be replaced by healthy food does constitute a moral problem. It's not the same as, but could be compared to, unhealthy conditions in the workplace that some churches took up as moral crusades in the past or unhealthy environmental conditions that seem to the the current bandwagon. Moderation is a good thing, but some things defeat efforts at moderation. Moderation in the use of crack cocaine might be viewed as a foolish recommendation. Alcohol is not crack, but it's not candy either. I'd write more, but I've got to get to the Manchester Citizen of the Year gala. I'll discuss this with my table over gins and tonics.
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