I realize that I am in the extreme minority here. I am guessing that there is no one else on CAF, out of all the thousands of members, who will agree with me or even have empathy for my POV.
But I hope that you will allow me to be a voice of dissention.
Alcohol is a drug, not a food.
And I am personally very put off by the attitude that many of you have against “Protestants” who choose to abstain. If you look at the health of various groups who practice abstinence from alcohol (various medical studies have been done), you will see a very healthy group of people who do not suffer from the syndromes and diseases linked with alcohol.
You will also find that none of the abstainers are suffering from the active disease of alcoholism–always a risk for those who choose to use the drug of alcohol. (I agree that many abstainers are alcoholics, but thank God they have never given the drug a chance, so they do not suffer active alcoholism.)
Why do you disparage people who choose, in this area at least, to live a healthy lifestyle? More power to them! At the very least, you should accept their decision and stop smirking about how “enlightened” and “superior” and “Christian” you are. Jesus did a lot of things, didn’t He? When you do all of the things that Jesus did, then you can pontificate about how you “drink just like Jesus did.”
If no one drank alcohol, no one would die in alcohol-related crashes. BTW, it’s usually the innocent person who dies in these crashes, not the one who has been drinking. **And a person does not have to be visibly “drunk” to be driving-impaired. ** The Catechism states that it is a mortal sin to speed–could it not be a mortal sin to consume a powerful drug that has the potential to alter brain activity, and then get behind the wheel of a two-ton vehicle?
It is my opinion that a church who offers alcohol at church related events is taking a dreadful chance. There are people–alcoholics in the throes of the disease–who are extremely crafty at consuming enough alcohol to be impaired, even though they don’t show it. Surely God will hold the church responsible if these people kill someone on the highway after the BB fundraiser, or if the person goes home and abuses his/her spouse and children, or goes to work and makes an error of judgement that puts other in danger or misery, or even if the person goes home after the BB and falls asleep on the sofa in a stupor instead of making love to his/her spouse.
And I hate seeing what it does to people. I work in a hospital, and it’s very sad to see how many hundreds, thousands of people have wrecked their lives and will die an early, screamingly-painful death for the sake of a Bud or a glass of Merlot.
Misuse of alcohol wrecks homes, breaks up marriages, causes children to reject their parents, is a factor in date rapes, causes children to fail or drop out of school, and according to some sources, may lead children to feeling comfortable trying harder drugs. **Again, I repeat that people who never consume alcohol will never misuse alcohol, will they? **
A minor point, but alcohol is also a major factor in weight gain, especially in men, and especially in the gain of abdominal fat. The high glycemic index of beer makes it especially unhealthy for those who struggle with weight issues.
Finally, as an ex-Protestant, I can assure you that many Protestants dismiss the Catholic Church as devilish and pagan because of the tolerance of alcohol. I realize that the Catholic Church is not going to declare something that they consider good “evil.” But I think it would be a good thing for parishes to avoid throwing stumbling boulders in the face of the Protestants in their city. If you have the choice between helping a soul come home to the Catholic Church and quaffing a pint, would you really choose the liquor over the soul?
You think I’m being simplistic about Protestant rejection of Catholicism–I am not. The major stumbling block that caused me to hesitate about converting to Catholicism was ALCOHOL. I could not reconcile how the Church of Christ could tolerate a drug that has such a terrible record of destruction and death in human history. I still have a very hard time with it. I don’t attend the large parish socials at either of my two parishes because of the alcohol use. I don’t care if the people aren’t getting drunk (supposedly–I’ll believe that when you tell me that Oprah is voting for McCain!) The smell of liquor makes me gag.
As for missing out on the “gusto,” I say bah. I don’t need a stinkin’ glass of fermented grain to be happy.
My husband and I have done a lot of thinking about why we don’t have a huge list of friends and why we don’t socialize a lot. We’ve come to the conclusion that it’s mainly because of alcohol.
It is really sad since we converted to Catholicism. At least in the evangelical Protestant church, almost everyone else abstained, and so we had a lot of friends and often got together for dinners, picnics, or just going out for a Coke or ice cream with church pals. Now all those church pals don’t associate with “Catholics” like us. But many of the Catholics that we know consider a social “unsociable” if there is no liquor.
So we are alone a lot. It’s really fun to live in this beautiful Catholic castle and wander around alone, but to be honest, we won’t change our abstinent ways. I would rather be alone than associate with those who label me “Protestant” because I choose not to use the drug of alcohol.
I guess that’s why there’s an Internet, right?
As with all food and drink, beer is a gift of God and is good, as are all things He created, if not abused.