I have been interested to see the frequency of articles related to pending Sunday alcohol sales legislation. Particularly, I was bemused at Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's inference that his opposition to Sunday sales was "religious" with, of course, that religion being Christianity. But are Sunday sales of alcohol really an issue of Christian religion?
Jesus, and the broader voice of the New Testament, said nothing of a prohibition on alcohol and certainly nothing about Sunday sales; check your concordance. Yet, Jesus does say some things clearly: Love your enemies, turn the other cheek and love your neighbor, particularly the least of these.
Meanwhile, politicians and preachers, the great evangelical conjunction, gladly support war efforts, promote gun-friendly laws in the name of self-defense and do little to transform the situation of many who are often born marginalized and grow up to be disenfranchised.
What piety we possess! The earmark of true religiosity is to not buy alcohol on Sundays. Try role-playing that in whatever divine-judgment scenario you envision; see how it works out for you. "Well, God, I used my time, money and possessions on myself, I promoted war and the proliferation of a generally violent and self-seeking society. BUT I didn't drink on Sundays!"
What great moral fortitude it takes to proclaim the damnation of alcohol sales, particularly while many of our successful churches operate as a Sunday business themselves, offering spiritual libations in return for donations to their grand building plans.
Yes, politicians and preachers may say their defiance to Sunday alcohol sales is a matter of religious principle, but let it be clear that the religion they speak of is not Christianity, at least not the Christianity that seeks believers who will imitate the life of Jesus. To invoke the name of God and to implicate the Bible as a supporting document for a moralizing venture predicated on some Southern-fried theology is to make one's God a fool and their sacred Scripture entirely ridiculous.
More perilous is that the real issues are left unattended. The dangers of alcohol abuse go unquestioned, but the methods for addressing such concerns likely need a thorough discussion in the Christian church. Jesus was greatly concerned with the intent of the heart, not what goes in the mouth, but what comes from the heart. (Matthew 15:10-18)
For those who are guided by the words and life of Jesus, prohibition and laws that restrict choice do not promote a loving and transformative society. Change comes from within, and from within one individual to another as they interact. Transforming the ways our society relates to alcohol will involve changing the ways we relate to one another. Condemnation and legalistic attitudes offer no hope to many who feel trapped by their own addictions.
Politicians, preachers and fellow pew-sitters, is it not challenge enough to consider doing the things that Jesus does say in the New Testament? I know that I am humbled daily at my meager efforts to imitate Christ.
Sunday alcohol sales are not the business of the church, but humbly loving our neighbors certainly is. Maybe, in doing the latter we might find an amenable solution to our concerns with the former.
The Rev. Damon C. Nix
Southern Baptist minister, Gainesville