"Religious roots", hah. The Catholic church was opposed to teetotallism, as were lots of conservative denominations. Modern Teetotalism started as a secular mov

"Religious roots", hah. The Catholic church was opposed to teetotallism, as were lots of conservative denominations. Modern Teetotalism started as a secular movement out of dismay at the visible damage of alcohol use, just like socialism started out of outrage against industrial labour exploitation, and the sanitation movement started out of literal physical disgust at foul smells. The common thread wasn't religion, but progressivism: seeing society change immensely around them due to technological process, they believed (far more than we do today, ironically) that society could and should be consciously reformed. And of course, what those "studies to death" you mention have established is that alcohol is even nastier than suspected, causing birth defects and cancer like no comparable substance we consume, in addition to all the obvious negative health effects we all can see. The supposed dip at the low end, for only a few of the nasty effects, is a counter-theory to distract from the (pink?) elephant in the room. And even that counter-theory has been discredited by mendelian randomization studies.