Talk:Christian views on alcohol

Intro summary
Hello, given the nature of alcohol and the evidence submitted of clergy urging Christians to abstain, I feel the opening summary of the page "Christian views on Alcohol" should include mention of this view happening during that time in history, given how the article currently opens in contradiction to that evidence. Without that mention, the article gives an impression that there was only one, differing view with alcohol for Christians, that abstaining generally didn't happen. The article already mentions in the early church section an example that contradicts this view from Clement of Alexandria (died c. 215) who wrote in a chapter about drinking that he admired the young and the old who "abstain wholly from drink," who adopt an austere life and "flee as far as possible from wine, shunning it as they would the danger of fire." He strongly warned youth to "flee as far as possible" from it so as not to inflame their "wild impulses." He said Christ did not teach affected by it. "...the soul itself is wisest and best when dry."

Because of this evidence (and further evidence I've submitted that contradicts the current opening assumption of the article) I believe the opening summary (and a few small tweaks to a couple other statements in the article that reference the view held in the opening summary) should be restated to include the view presented with the evidence submitted. I also feel there should be some mention of the evidence of abstinence that happened between the period of the early church and the 19th century as there were churches during that time who professed abstaining from alcohol. I've added an example with the Brethren Church who professed a statement of abstinence after the reformation, but before the 19th century movement towards abstaining.

Thanks, Statescontributor (talk) 17:07, 2 September 2019 (UTC)Statescontributor


 * While you did start a discussion on the Talk page (which is good) you seem to have disregarded the "reach consensus" part. Editor2020 (talk) 18:32, 2 September 2019 (UTC)

The difference between absentionism and prohibitionism
"The prohibitionist position has experienced a general reduction of support since the days of prohibitionism as a movement, with many of its advocates becoming abstentionists instead." Ok so what precisely are the current modern definitions of these two categories? Banaticus (talk) 02:47, 11 November 2020 (UTC)