IS DRINKING A RELIGIOUS PROBLEM?

IS DRINKING A RELIGIOUS PROBLEM? No one denies . . . that drinking is a health, an economic, and a law-enforcement problem of gravest proportions. Yet it is denied by many that it is a moral and religious problem! What they mean, to put it simply, is this: It is their own business if, when, where, and how much they drink.

They contend that it concerns them and no one else, whether God or man. This is precisely the point with which I wish to take issue, and to do so in terms of reasons drawn up and stated by Dr. Haven Emerson, who for many years has been one of the foremost medical scientists in the study of the meaning of alcohol in human life. Among the fourteen basic facts which he gives about the meaning of alcohol, four have an especial bearing on the problem of whether it is a moral and a religious problem. (1) “Alcohol is a narcotic which, by depressing the higher centers removes inhibitions; (2) By releasing inhibitions, it makes for’ social ease and pleasure, and herein lies one of its great dangers; (3) It impairs reason, will, self-control, judgment, physical skill and endurance; (4) It is used primarily for its psychological effect as a means of escape from unpleasant reality.”

Yet some claim that the habit which produces these effects in human life lies beyond the concern of religion! The religious implications of reasons like these are written in letters so large that even he who runs may read. ... For these reasons, the Christian church as a social institution, committed to the achievement of the abundant life for all men, includes in her legitimate concern for all human problems the problem of drinking. We have a right to be concerned about the sick—and drinking is related to mental, physical, and social disease.

We have a right to be concerned about the poor—and drinking is intimately related to much of the poverty in the land. We have a right to be concerned about disillusionment—and disillusionment runs rife, and many seek courage by means of drink. We have a right to be concerned about the criminal—and drinking is related to the extent and type of crimes actually being committed today. We have a right to be concerned about broken homes—and drinking is a prolific cause of domestic unhappiness and catastrophe.

We have a right to be concerned with any business which systematically educates our children for vice—and the liquor business does just that! Therefore, we say to those who might wish us to keep silent on matters like these: Drinking, seen through the eyes of what it does to men, is a religious problem of major magnitude; we therefore call upon our people, individually and collectively, to face it as a major personal and social problem.