“Is this attitude about alcohol common in Protestant circles? Is tee-totaling or something very like it expected of evangelicals?”
Yeah, Baptist think it leads to dancing and Pentecostals are afraid that a drunk might understand what they’re saying.
As to causing people to “stumble” there is a difference between stumbling and triggering a bout of self-righteousness.
When I lived in China even the Baptist missionaries drank beer because the water wasn’t safe.
Thank you both for the input. ive stuffed it in the noggin for future reference.
My child goes to an Episcopal school and at official functions there is wine. Much wine.
Not for the kids really, but who knows.
I think it is to dampen the pain and malaise of being an Episcopalian.
I once read that, due to the perennial problem of drinking water safety / sanitation wherever large numbers of people congregate (cities), virtually all civilizations were characterized by their use of either boiled water (e.g. tea) or alcoholic drinks.
It’s a health and safety thing.