Alcohol and Society: A Salvation Army Perspective

Every year, many people participate in something called “Dry January,” a recent trend where people give up drinking for the month. For some, it’s a kind of post-holiday detox; for others, it’s an opportunity to rethink their relationship with alcohol generally.

The Salvation Army has long held a sober stance on alcohol. But where does that position come from? And how is it still relevant today? 

In this episode, two Salvationists share their perspectives on the topic. The first is Dr. Adrian Bonner, who joins us from the United Kingdom, where he is a professor and long-term academic researcher into alcohol and society. Along with his academic work, Adrian is a consultant providing health-related support for The Salvation Army’s social services in the UK.

We also chat with Canadian Salvationist Dr. Jim Read, who will offer his perspective on the Army’s International Positional Statement on Alcohol in Society. Jim was part of the group that created this statement in 2015, and he shares how it came together—and what he hopes other Salvationists will take away from it.

Further Reading and Resources:

The Army's International Positional Statement on Alcohol in Society

Articles and book chapters on this topic by Professor Adrian Bonner

In Darkest England, and the Way Out by William Booth

Transcript

Kristin Ostensen

This is the Salvationist podcast. I’m Kristin Ostensen.

This month, you’ve probably seen various articles about something called “Dry January.” If you’ve never heard of this before, it’s a recent trend where people give up drinking for the month. For some people, it’s a kind of post-holiday detox; for others, it’s an opportunity to rethink their relationship with alcohol generally.

The Salvation Army has long held a sober stance on alcohol—you could say that for the solider, every month is Dry January! But where does that position come from? And how is it still relevant today? 

In this episode of the podcast, I’m pleased to welcome two Salvationists who have unique perspectives on this topic. The first is Dr. Adrian Bonner, who joins us from the United Kingdom, where he is a professor and long-term academic researcher into alcohol and society. Along with his academic work, Adrian is a consultant providing health-related support for The Salvation Army’s social services in the UK.

We are also going to chat with Canadian Salvationist Dr. Jim Read, who will offer his perspective on the Army’s International Positional Statement on Alcohol in Society. Jim was part of the group that created this statement in 2015, and he shares how it came together—and what he hopes other Salvationists will take away from it.

But first, over to Adrian.

Hi Adrian, and welcome to the Salvationist podcast. 

Adrian Bonner

Hello. 

Kristin Ostensen

So good to have you. Thanks for joining us. So, this month, of course, is January, and a lot of people will be familiar with the phenomenon of “Dry January,” where people take some time to be sober, and participation in this initiative has really taken off in recent years. I'm wondering, what societal factors do you think are driving this interest in sobriety?

Adrian Bonner

Alcohol has been a major part of the social landscape for many, many years. But increasingly, with a greater understanding of health and wellbeing, the social and health-damaging effects are gradually becoming apparent, particularly to younger people with their more enlightened approach to the science. So, the World Health Organization has collected evidence over many years, and we know that in excess of three million people die due to alcohol across the world in any one year. So, if we talk about the trends, the trends are young people leading the way towards a less alcohol-dependent lifestyle due to their interest in health and fitness. And we've got increasing evidence that alcohol is no ordinary commodity which is being promoted by the industry. There's a publication by the Institute of Alcohol Studies just a few years ago, sharing that the alcohol industry is marketing alcohol in a way that it would market other commodities. But there are major problems in doing that because of the health-related risks, the burden of disease, which is increasing throughout the world. So, although there might be some signs of alcohol consumption reducing in some parts of the world, in all parts of the world, there are increasing numbers of people dying due to liver disease and other illnesses, including cardiac problems and disproportionate level of harm in the most vulnerable people in society.

Kristin Ostensen

As Adrian notes, the latest data shows a mix of trends. On the one hand, people of the Gen Z generation—that is, people born between 1996 and 2010—are drinking significantly less than older generations, driving an overall decline in consumption across Canada. But alcohol-related deaths have actually risen by over 20 percent since the beginning of the pandemic. Numbers are up in the United States and the UK, as well.

The impact is truly worldwide, as the World Health Organization estimates that alcohol contributes to five percent of all of the disease burden in the world.  

Of course, the negative impacts of drinking are nothing new in society. William Booth’s In Darkest England and the Way Out, which was published in 1895, recognized alcohol as a key social evil to be addressed. The Army’s sober stance was a radical contrast to the drinking culture of the day.

Adrian Bonner

The initial ideas from Booth’s Darkest England was to address key social evils such as alcohol, alcohol trafficking, prostitution and suicide, at a time when countries like the UK were emerging from the Industrial Revolution and very large numbers of people engaged in very difficult work in factories, poor living conditions, and alcohol there was often freely available to help people cope with those challenging situations. And part of the coping mechanism was to be supported by your peers in social groups where drinking became quite a norm—membership of that group really did depend upon the drinking culture. And clearly, the Army was providing alternative alcohol-free environment in which people could work together, in church communities, making music, learning things, and it's really an alcohol-free alternative to the very heavy drinking culture in those post-industrial times. 

Kristin Ostensen

There have been a number of documents articulating the Army’s stance on alcohol in its 160-year history. But there was no official International Positional Statement until 2015. The IPS on Alcohol in Society was created by the International Moral and Social Issues Council—also known as IMASIC. Dr. Jim Read, who was the executive director of the Army’s Ethics Centre in Winnipeg for many years, was vice-chair of the IMASIC when this IPS was created.

Kristin Ostensen

Can you talk about how the IPS was actually developed? What were some of the key discussion points among the group as you were crafting this?

Jim Read

The position statements, in their structure, there's a brief, if you want, statement of the position, but then it is followed by what it gets called the “grounds,” or the basis. Why is it that you arrive there? And that draws on Scripture and empirical data and Salvation Army tradition and history. But then there's a last section that is practical responses. So, if this is what we believe, where we stand on something that is a controverted issue in the world at large, or in some parts of the world and especially, then what might that mean practically? How do you act? So, when we came to the matter of alcohol, my memory is a couple of things were important here. One is to say what we're for, not just what we're against. And I think there was something of the history—and it still is there—that we can say even and we can certainly convey the message, well, The Salvation Army is against the consumption of alcohol, let's say. Instead of, so, not only why is that, but what are we for? Is there something that we're positively for? And so, that needed to be something that was shaped into the position statement that we were crafting. Another element was that we need to think of this, not so much in terms of personal behaviour only or personal belief only, but think of the social context. And so, the statement gets titled in the end, “Alcohol in Society.” And so, in many parts of the world, the creation of, the marketing of, the consumption of, the advertising around the use of alcohol, is very big business. And we thought, to make this a matter of, OK, Jim Read has taken this vow not to consume alcohol, and he's there together with other Salvationists in saying no to this. Some of it is—so, you're against that, but what are you for? And also, are you doing this because of some personal understanding of your own goodness or holiness, or is this somehow directed as a witness in society at large? It's not to wag fingers at people who are drinking and people who are suffering bad consequences because of it, but to notice that they are in large numbers and say, there is a better alternative, a positive alternative, and where it's appropriate for us to—and where is it not, I suppose—but for us ourselves to believe and to say, Listen, God's given us our bodies to be able to use them, if you want, use our lives for God's greater glory, and not to cloud our judgment or alter our perceptions of what's going on around us, but rather, to live a life that is clear-eyed, and our relationships with others are healthy and positive.

Kristin Ostensen

Yes, that is very helpful. And as you even mentioned, the IPS references both Scripture and science. And I wonder if you can talk about why it's important for our position to be rooted in both.

Jim Read

Well, to have it grounded in our understanding of Scripture, I think should go without any questioning—that if The Salvation Army is Christian and a part of the church, we need to be prepared to say, not only to ourselves, but also to the world at large—this is where we find our general orientation. But then within that, OK, the Bible is a big and complex book, so anytime you select this or that verse, or this or that story, you're already making an interpretive move. And we do that in these position statements so as to identify something, not thinking that it's exhaustive in terms of a reading of Scripture, but we'd say, These are sort of teachings, principles that we would—extrapolate might be the right term—from the whole of Scripture that would bear on this particular issue. But, in doing that, as I say, we're also interpreting the Bible and the Bible's message. So how do you go about doing that? And so, you're drawing on things besides the mere reading of Scripture. And The Salvation Army, as well—we owe a whole lot to various parts of the church, but explicitly, The Salvation Army says, We want to see ourselves in the stream of the church that owes a great deal to John and Charles Wesley and the early Methodists. And from early on, there was a sense, the kind of “epistemology,” or way of coming to know God's will in a way, is to say, Scripture has a primacy here, but it is interpreted using our reasonable faculties that are God-given. And also, it's looking at the, What's going on in the world? Scripture is meant to guide our living. So, what is the context in which we're living and what is actually happening around us? So, you can't really arrive at the answer—“How does the Scripture bear on our life?”—without knowing, asking the questions, What are people seeing in in the world? And in our day, we are so in contrast to the—John and Charles Wesley, they're at the real birth of empiricism. We live in a world that is dominated by science. And in this case, we think it's important to say—not just to say, drinking or over drinking, overuse of alcohol and other sorts of substance, is bad for you. We can point to valid scientific data—that it’s not just personal anecdotal experience. But say, These are the bad things that come from people overusing or falling prey to the advertising there is around the benefits of alcohol. This is what people are actually seeing is happening.

Kristin Ostensen

And one thing that really jumped out at me that you've referenced is, in terms of the structure of the IPS, of course, there's a practical response section. And I'll read out one of the responses, for people who don't have the IPS in front of them. But response number five says that The Salvation Army will encourage national, state and local governments to provide appropriate legislation around alcohol. And number six goes on to say The Salvation Army will campaign against alcohol industry practices which could lead to an increase in the consumption of alcohol. And I think this is really fascinating, because when you look at some of the things that are happening in society today, one of them, you know, just even in my home province of Ontario, the government has recently moved to bring alcohol sales to corner stores, making it more accessible. And in light of the IPS and these response items, how do you think the Army might live out this aspect of the IPS today? 

Jim Read

What a great question. That's a terrific question, and let me give part of an answer by relating experience from the UK. So, as this position statement was being developed, in my memory, it was about the time when, in the UK, The Salvation Army was joining forces with a couple of other groups, a medical group, and I can't remember the other, but they joined together to lobby for a change in the legislation in Britain. So there, they were concerned about the binge drinking that was happening, especially amongst young adults. So, we've got university undergrads who are getting together, and they have a big binge bash, right? And they're getting drunk and horrible consequences coming from that, short- and long-term, coming from that. So these groups—The Salvation Army, one of them—campaigned for—I may have the terminology wrong—but it's a minimum unit pricing. So there were places, corner stores, if you want—their counterpart to Ontario's corner stores—that were selling beer as a loss leader. So, the corner store was making no money on it. Actually, they were losing money on every can of beer, if you want. But it meant that people were coming in and they would buy other stuff as well. And so overall, they would make a profit. And I think that something similar could be happening in other, you know, in Canada. But historically, back in the mid 20—well, around 2015—that was the situation in England, and there's an instance of a Salvation Army's practical response. It was happening at the time that this statement was being developed. But it's the kind of thing that might be replicated elsewhere, not to try to do this alone, or to come across as somehow a “holier than thou” group, just, you know, shaking its fist at the government. It's rather, let's see who are allies on this. And in Canada, now we have, you know, medical associations and health groups that are talking about the problems that there are with the consumption of alcohol. So it may be that you can join force with them and say, Let's see that these policies can be understood and that they could perhaps be amended in ways that, at least, you know, prevent the worst harms occurring. So that's a bit of a mealy-mouthed way, perhaps, of getting at that, and avoiding getting down to practicalities and advising the Ontario government or the Manitoba government, or wherever we happen to be, you know, listeners happen to be living. I think in that, in sum, I'm saying the practical responses are—they're not policy statements. It's not—so, it says “The Salvation Army will,” but it's important that this be owned in locations where there might be some actual possibility of having a voice that is listened to, and it might be listened to when it's not just an individual going out, or even it's just The Salvation Army as an organization, but finding, who are people who can be partners in this? We may have very little else that is in common, but on this, we can say to those who are making laws and policies: Look, take note. Let's say, Is this really the best Ontario can do for its population, its young? Raise the question, perhaps bring some moderation.

Kristin Ostensen

Governments around the world, including Canada, have developed guidelines around alcohol use as it relates to health. The most recent “low-risk guidelines,” released in 2023, provide Canadians with a continuum of risk, where 0 drinks a week means no risk of harm. As the number of drinks consumed per week increases, so does the risk. The takeaway from these guidelines is clear: less is better. But there’s sometimes a disconnect between what the guidelines say, and what actually happens in practice. As Adrian notes, there are other influences at play.

Adrian Bonner

I think one of the most important discoveries during recent years is the need to have guidelines. But the guidelines, although effective for drink driving, to keep people safe and prevent them, getting ourselves involved in accidents, whilst that's important, there is limited evidence that the guidelines for sensible drinking have any meaning when it comes to weekly or even annual consumption levels, that the new ideas developing over the last 10 years relate to the aggregative effects of alcohol. So, it's the total accumulative numbers of units of alcohol you drink over your lifestyle, which does increase your risk of a whole range of illnesses, including some cancers, heart, diabetes and other related things. So, each person is very different in their risk levels, which depend upon the genes which they inherit, the culture, the alcoholic culture in which they exist. And so, the Canadian guidelines, which I think are very helpful, really emphasize that there's no risk if there's no alcohol, and then they give some guidance as to what levels of risk might accrue from particular consumption levels. But I think increasing numbers of people are recognizing that alcohol drinking is not without its risks, and it's a matter of the balance of those risks, which you're going to decide to take. Alcohol, unlike any other drug, is very different, mainly because it's a very simple molecule and can reach those parts of the body which other drugs can't reach. So, the “Heineken effect” is really quite important in terms of the damaging effect on tissues, hence the effect of aging skin. Now that's particularly important when it comes to those people who are at the edge of the community, homeless people and others with very poor nutrition. Poor nutrition and use of alcohol really does increase the number of these damaging compounds in the brain, in the body, called free radicals. And there lies the origins of many of the illnesses, cardiovascular and cancer-related things, due to the biochemical reactivity of alcohol once it's in the body. And so, there'll be major differences between individuals in terms of their ability to withstand the internal onslaught of those damaging elements when alcohol is there and is being metabolized.

Kristin Ostensen

That's really interesting. And I think a common theme throughout this conversation so far has been that more folks are recognizing alcohol's harms. And yet, interestingly enough, in some jurisdictions, there has been a liberalization of access to alcohol. Why do you think there's this disconnect happening between this one move towards maybe more healthy ideas around alcohol, and yet, there's this other direction there?

Adrian Bonner

The World Health Organization really is promoting alcohol policies in all countries, but quite a number of those countries do not have effective alcohol policies, or if they do, the policies are not implemented. That might be due, for instance, in the low-income countries, they are reliant upon funding from the alcohol industry as part of their economic stability for those countries. And so again, you can't escape the wide-ranging effects of the corporate alcohol industry affecting drinking behaviour.

Kristin Ostensen

As a sober organization with a worldwide influence, could Dry January be an opportunity for The Salvation Army to counter some of the messaging around alcohol and be a positive example of alcohol-free living? Adrian takes a holistic approach, encouraging the Army to be a place where people can experience the abundant life promised by Jesus in John chapter 10—recognizing that alcohol use is often a symptom of the underlying issues and struggles people face in modern society.

So, as we wrap up and circling back to the idea of Dry January, this month as more people are thinking about and talking about sobriety, how can The Salvation Army speak into this conversation? Corporately, maybe, but even just individually or at the corps level?

Adrian Bonner

The existence of an organization which promotes sobriety is a significant aspect in many people's lives—those people who have an experience of alcohol misuse within their family, or those people who suddenly come into difficulties due to problems of employment or family issues, who basically become too reliant on alcohol to reduce their stresses. And so, providing the care and support of people in Salvation Army situations can remove the need for the use of alcohol in those people, and basically provides a lifestyle choice which is clearly different from those outside of this particular organization. There's a lot of evidence to show that alcohol misuse is a key component undermining health and wellbeing, and as the drinking trends change—more young people are beginning not to drink—clearly, The Salvation Army and its Founders were ahead of their time in pointing to the need to address alcohol and alcohol trafficking, which was in the Darkest England plan all those years ago.

Kristin Ostensen

Whether you’ve signed the Soldier’s Covenant; or you’re now “dry curious” after hearing more about the Army’s position and the science—there’s room for everyone to use this month as a time to think more deeply about alcohol and its place in society. Jim offers some practical thoughts on how Salvationists might engage in Dry January.

Jim Read

I personally might take the challenge to go and become a customer of the Sobr store here in Winnipeg, or maybe there's more than one. And so that's a way in which we can contribute, I think, individually and as a Salvation Army. But I also think it's not so much by what we say, but if we can exude, actually, you know, this life is good, this life is good, and wouldn't you like to join our party? Not to come have a drink that, you know, afterwards you're going to have to get a designated driver to drive home. You can actually drive home on your own, and you've had a really good time. So, if we can live that kind of life, and we can host it, and we can invite people who are wanting to, well, try it out for a January—I think that would be a good thing. It's showing it's not a shriveled life, it's not a smaller life, but a grander life that can be enjoyed.

Kristin Ostensen

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Salvationist podcast. You can find a link to the Army’s positional statement on Alcohol in Society in the show notes, along with some other resources. For more episodes of the podcast, visit Salvationist.ca/podcast.