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And where did evangelicals get the idea to ban alcohol? They didn't read in the Bible that alcohol was bad. They looked around at society and blamed a lot of i

And where did evangelicals get the idea to ban alcohol? They didn't read in the Bible that alcohol was bad. They looked around at society and blamed a lot of its ills on problematic alcohol use. Some background here: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-shou https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-shou... Everybody gets this causal arrow strangely backwards. Alcohol causes people to sin; that's why Christians opposed its use. It's the negative effects of alcohol that led people to oppose its use, not "religion" per se (or even in any kind of explicit scriptural or liturgical sense).

nitrogen 5y ago
Given that "sin" is a purely religious concept, and that one's culture around alcohol has a pretty big effect on whether alcohol is associated with misbehavior (there are lots of people and places for whom alcohol does not cause "sin"), it's totally fair to say that alcohol bans were at least partially religiously motivated.
- dionidium 5y ago
  I don’t think either of your premises are true, but it’s my fault for using the word “sin.” Alcohol is implicated in something like 50% of all homicides. There’s no culture where that behavior is tolerated and prohibition of murder isn’t a religious concept. That’s all I meant by “sin.” I only used the religious term because I was speaking from the viewpoint of the religious of the time. Didn’t mean anything by it other than ordinary misbehavior.
  - nitrogen 5y ago
    Alcohol is implicated in something like 50% of all homicides. Perhaps, but P(A|B) is drastically different from P(B|A). In other words, what percentage of consumed drinks of alcohol are associated with a homicide? Beyond that, could alcohol use be prevalent enough that alcohol could be implicated in 50% of everything? It's sort of like how "excessive speed" is a factor in most car accidents, but that's because posted speed limits are too low and everybody speeds at least sometimes.

nitrogen 5y ago

Given that "sin" is a purely religious concept, and that one's culture around alcohol has a pretty big effect on whether alcohol is associated with misbehavior (there are lots of people and places for whom alcohol does not cause "sin"), it's totally fair to say that alcohol bans were at least partially religiously motivated.

dionidium 5y ago
I don’t think either of your premises are true, but it’s my fault for using the word “sin.” Alcohol is implicated in something like 50% of all homicides. There’s no culture where that behavior is tolerated and prohibition of murder isn’t a religious concept. That’s all I meant by “sin.” I only used the religious term because I was speaking from the viewpoint of the religious of the time. Didn’t mean anything by it other than ordinary misbehavior.
- nitrogen 5y ago
  Alcohol is implicated in something like 50% of all homicides. Perhaps, but P(A|B) is drastically different from P(B|A). In other words, what percentage of consumed drinks of alcohol are associated with a homicide? Beyond that, could alcohol use be prevalent enough that alcohol could be implicated in 50% of everything? It's sort of like how "excessive speed" is a factor in most car accidents, but that's because posted speed limits are too low and everybody speeds at least sometimes.