Booze Arts Academy - Booze and Ritual

There are some religions that use alcohol in ritual. One of these is Roman Catholicism. Mirroring the use of wine at the Last Supper, the church still uses wine in its Eucharist, the sharing of bread and wine in imitation of what Jesus is reported to have done the night before he died, an in his memory, as he commanded his followers. The Episcopal Church (Church of England in the U.S.), which derives its liturgy from the same roots, also uses wine.

Most Protestant churches use grape juice. I think it unlikely that there was grape juice in Biblical times. After all, there was no refrigeration, and we're talking Middle East here. Left to its own devices, grape juice would become--Ta da!--wine. Seems ludicrous to me. It has been suggested that it's to save those who might become hopelessly addicted winebibbers from getting their start in church. I once asked an Episcopal priest I knew, who was a recovering alcoholic (no, I don't believe in that dumb term, but I'm honoring the man) about drinking all that wine in celebrating the Eucharist. He told me it was ridiculous; sacramental wine is for one purpose only, and that was that. It didn't worry him on any front.

However, the very best religion to join if you never want to worry about conflict between your religion and a bit of booze is Druidry.

As it happens, there is a bona fide governmentally recognized religious organization in the United States--meaning its clergy can marry people and do all the other rites of any church--that will help you out. It's called Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF). On its web site, on a page called "What do Neopagan Druids believe?", the organization notes:

We believe that human beings were meant to lead lives filled with joy, love, pleasure, beauty and humor. Most Neopagans are fond of food, drink, music, sex, and bad puns, and consider all of these (except possibly the puns) to be of spiritual value. However, we do not approve of addictive or compulsive behavior and we support people with dysfunctional histories who have entered appropriate recovery programs.

So there it is. You can be any sort of a drunk except an addicted one, and have a fine time as a druid. If you are addicted or compulsive about your boozing, they'll support your in your efforts to get straight.

(If you're compulsive or addicted, I hope you are not reading this site. The authors of this site cannot help you. We don't actually believe that you have a disease; we do believe you are making horrid spiritual choices and you should, in fact, find an organization that will help you deal with your demons in a constructive way. We do not believe AA is such an organization; we do believe joining AA is simply substituting one addiction for another, although it can be a useful first step toward health. We believe a spiritual path of some sort to be much more fundamentally useful in the long run. However, some addicts and compulsives will, of course, compulsively refuse to acknowledge their own part in their problem….and thus, they cannot "recover" or be helped, sometimes even by redirecting their compulsive/addictive behavior toward AA.)

Laura Harrison McBride, Publisher