Drinking is no longer the moral and political issue it once was, as other issues — namely abortion and gay and lesbian relations — have taken their place as major causes activating and animating the Religious Right, an analysis of Gallup Poll data shows.
Among America’s major religious groupings, Jews and “Nones” (those who say they have no formal religious identity) are more likely than average to say they drink alcohol, while those who identify with a non-Christian religion are below average. Protestants are also slightly below average, while Catholics are slightly above average.
Eighteen percent of Americans who identify as Latter-day Saints (Mormons) say they have occasion to drink alcohol — far below the national average, but not insignificant given that the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states that “the use of wine, strong drinks, tobacco and hot drinks is proscribed.”
Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits survey does not include a specific measure of evangelicals, but we can isolate highly religious white Protestants to approximate this group. About 53% of highly religious white Protestants are total abstainers, much higher than the national average.
Southern Baptists, one of the most prominent evangelical groups in America, have traditionally been associated with an anti-alcohol position. Many a young Southern Baptist grew up hearing admonitions against “demon rum,” the historic temperance aphorism that “lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine” and the Biblical quote from the book of Proverbs: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”
An official Southern Baptist resolution adopted at the group’s 2006 annual convention proclaimed “our total opposition to the manufacturing, advertising, distributing and consuming of alcoholic beverages” and “we urge that no one be elected to serve as a trustee or member of any entity or committee of the Southern Baptist Convention that is a user of alcoholic beverages.” This is important because Southern Baptists remain the largest Protestant denomination in America, and as such serve as an exemplar of the historic alcohol-religion connection among Protestants. We don’t break out Southern Baptists in our research, but a recent survey sponsored by LifeWay, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, showed that about a third of Baptists nationwide admitted to drinking alcohol.
It’s worth noting that many of those denominations that look askance at alcohol claim to be “Bible believing.” But In fact, the Bible does not provide a definitive basis for total abstinence. The use of alcohol is prevalent throughout the Bible, including Jesus’ first miracle in which he turned water into wine, and verses such as Psalms 104 in which the Scripture says that God gave us wine that “gladdens men’s hearts.”
Biblical or not, the impact of highly religious groups on the nation’s drinking patterns has been very real. Religious groups — including in particular the Women’s Christian Temperance Union — were largely responsible for the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol from 1920 until the amendment was repealed in 1933.
Gallup’s Values and Beliefs survey asks Americans whether each of a long list of behaviors is morally acceptable or morally wrong. Sixty-five percent of those who attend religious services weekly say that it is acceptable, compared with the overall average of 79% and the 85% average among those who never attend church.
Gallup found the same relationship among Protestant weekly churchgoers, the closest analog we have to evangelicals. Six in 10 members of this group say they believe drinking alcohol is morally acceptable.