General Theology
Carrie Nation Defeated in Athens
by Clay Staggs
At the risk of seeming obsessed with this topic, I just had to post this, for two reasons, really. First, it’s a defeat for prohibitionism, which I say is a good thing. Second, it’s too shining an example of works theology to leave alone.
On Tuesday of this week, the good folks in Athens, Alabama, held a referendum on whether to return the city to prohibition. Three or four years ago, Athens voted to go “wet.” Evidently, the “dry” forces got enough support to put the measure on the ballot again, hoping to undo the last vote.
The AP ran a story on this. You can read it here. It would seem that some of the local churches were behind the “dry” campaign. Get this:
The Rev. Eddie Gooch feels good about the chances of ending alcohol sales in Athens, but he isn’t taking any chances. A leader of the petition drive, Gooch urged members of his United Methodist Church to pray and fast on election day and the two days leading up to it. Church volunteers have sent thousands of letters and made phone calls encouraging people to vote “dry.”
Of all the things that a church could spend three days praying and fasting about! Reckon there’s been such prayer and fasting for the soldiers dying overseas or their families? How about the miners out in Utah who (apparently) died in the cave-in and their families? How about their fellow Christians in Sudan being murdered and enslaved by the Muslims? The persecution of Christians in China? Maybe they did, but somehow, I doubt it.
Confronted with the possible loss of an upscale restaurant that moved to Athens from a neighboring dry city so that they could sell alcohol, and the loss of tax revenue:
Gooch isn’t worried about the city losing businesses or tax revenues if alcohol sales are banned. Normal economic growth and God will make up any difference if residents dump the bottle, he said. “We believe that God will honor and bless our city,” Gooch said.
If there was ever a better example of viewing God as a vending machine, I’d like to see it. This would be bad theology even if the activity being shunned was sinful. Rev. Gooch seems to think that if we behave, God will respond by bestowing blessing. I’d like to see Rev. Gooch explain Job’s plight in light of Job 1:1:
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
Now see, since Job was upright and shunned evil (I’m sure, in Rev. Gooch’s world, Job would have voted dry), Rev. Gooch might expect Job to have been “honor[ed] and bless[ed]” by God. Yet it didn’t quite work out that way, did it?
I might add that several astute commenters on the AP story linked above also noted more than a bit of hypocrisy on the church’s part, citing Jesus turning the water to wine and the use of wine in the last supper.
Now, unlike my previous Carrie Nation posts, this one has an ending a bit more to my liking. Carrie went down at the ballot box in Athens, 68/32. So that’s good news.
However, I think the high profile of the churches involved here and the religious overtones they brought to this political matter has done much to reinforce the stereotype of hypocritical Christianity. Here’s commenter GunOwnerDan:
Why are so many “crhistians” [sic] such total hypocrites? Jesus, their “lord and savior” was a wine-maker. According to the Bible, Jesus actually turned water into WINE!
Dan doesn’t seem like a believer, but it’s hard to fault his analysis.
So one step forward on the political side, but two steps back for the church.
Posted by Clay Staggs at August 15, 2007 05:18 PM
Clay, I can hold my silence no longer. Perhaps, it’s because of my passage this week (Matt. 15:1-20). Perhaps, it’s because virtually every commentator went wild with their pen. Perhaps, it’s because I can imagine John Calvin writing with intensity as spittle formed around his lips. But your observations almost mirrored Calvin’s as he talked about the greater things of God being ignored for the the primacy of the lesser. (Read: man made rules) It never fails to amaze me (and I am guilty myself) how man generates, imagines, and concocts holiness that supercedes biblical Law and mandate. The hostility towards Jesus and towards orthodox Reformed thought(on exercises of holiness, liberty, and acceptability) does not come from the unbelieving world— it comes from those who think that their man-made rules and doctrines make them clean. I’m tempted to post several paragraphs of Calvin’s commentary that are as pertinent to ancient Athens as they are to Athens, AL.
I threatened to do it and here it is:
Calvin: “Those who occupy places of authority bring forward their inventions for this purpose, as if they were in possession of something more perfect than the word of the Lord. This is followd by the slow growth of tyranny; for, when men have once assumed to themselves the right to issue commands, they demand a rigid adherence to their laws, and do not allow the smallest iota to be left out, either through contempt or through forgetfulness. The world cannot endure lawful authority, and most violently rebels against enduring the Lord’s yoke, and yet easily and willingly becomes entangled in the snares of vain traditions; nay, such bondage appears to be, in the case of many, an object of desire.”
Again, John Calvin:
“The authority of men is preferred tto the command of God. Sternly, and therefore tyrannically, are the common people compelled to give their whole attention to trifles…”
”..those who are not satisfied with only the Law of God, and weary themselves by attending to the traditions and petty laws of men, ARE USELESSLY EMPLOYED.”
ouch, John.
“…an outrage is committed against God, when the inventions of men are so highly extolled, that the majesty of his Law is almost lowered, or at least the reverence for it is abated.”
And I think that is where you were particularly helpful: at what cost do all these attentions towards “vice” get us? Ignoring the Law of God— ignoring the greater things that we should be doing.
I’ve got an itchy trigger finger on my Calvin quotes, so watch out.
Couldn’t help but notice how close the reverend’s name was to “Hootch.”
I love this blog…
Ok, I finally did a search to refresh my memory as to who Carrie Nation was. What I found was as amusing as anything I have read in a while. You can read it for yourself at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation
Evidently she described herself as:
“a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn’t like”
She greeted bartenders with remarks like “Good morning, destroyer of men’s souls”
According to Wikepedia, she awakened to a voice one morning which she interpreted as God telling her to “Take something in your hands, and throw at these places in Kiowa and smash them.”
Carrie died in 1911 so it seems humerous when you know that it happened nearly 100 years ago. But, when something similar happens today it turns my stomach. Not that it damages christianity, because christianity is what God intends for it to be. But, because it creates another obstacle for the christian person.