Religion and alcohol

The world's religions have had differing relationships with alcohol. Many religions forbid alcohol consumption or see it sinful or negative. Others have allocated a specific place for it, such as in the Christian practice of using wine for Communion.
Research has been conducted by social scientists and epidemiologists to see if potential links exist between religiosity and alcoholism.
==Indian religions==
In Hinduism, wine as medicine is documented in the ancient Indian healing system of Ayurveda. Arishtas and Asavas are fermented juices, and herbs. Ayurveda, the oldest, documented system of medicine does not recommend wine for everyone. Wine is a potent healer for specific health conditions, on the other hand drinking wine without getting a pulse diagnosis done by an Ayurvedic doctor, may work the other way around. For instance, wine is recommended in specified quantity for Kapha body types.Sharma, Anisha. "Draksharishta (Grape Wine) and other Ayurvedic Wines used Originally as Medicine", The Chakra News, India, 10 October 2011.
Jainism is strictly against alcohol. Jainism, which preaches non-violence and vegetarianism, does not allow alcoholic beverages because their fermentation depends on microorganisms which makes the alcohol non-vegetarian.
Buddhists typically avoid consuming alcohol (surāmerayamajja, referring to types of intoxicating fermented beverages), as it violates the 5th of the Five Precepts, the basic Buddhist code of ethics and can disrupt mindfulness and impeded one's progress in the Noble Eightfold Path.
An initiated Sikh cannot use intoxicants, of which alcohol is one.http://sikhism.about.com/od/sikhism101/qt/Sikhism_Dos_and_Donts.htm
==Judaism==
Alcoholic consumption is not prohibited in Judaism, and appears within Biblical text in several instances: 
In Genesis 9:20-27, Noah becomes intoxicated from his wine and lies unclothed in his tent where his youngest son discovers him while Noah is asleep.
In Psalm 104:15 it is written that wine, “gladdens human hearts.”
Excessive consumption and drunkenness, however, is discouraged yet is still not considered a condemnable action. Leviticus 10:9 reads: “A Kohen (priest) must not enter the Temple intoxicated.”
Consuming alcohol to carry out religious duty (such as sanctifying Shabbat with wine) is prescribed and regularly practiced within Judaism. 
Anecdotal evidence supports that Jewish communities, on the whole, view alcoholic consumption more negatively in comparison to Protestant Christian groups. The small sample of Jewish individuals viewed alcohol as destructive while a sample of Protestants referred to it as “relaxing.”
==Christianity==
Alcoholic beverages appear in the Bible, though drunkenness is condemned (by the stories of Noah and Lot).
In the Catholic Church, the wine becomes the blood of Jesus Christ through transubstantiation. In Protestant denominations, the wine is simply a symbol of the blood of Christ. Monastic communities have brewed beer and made wine.
Some Christians including Pentecostalists and Methodists today believe one ought to abstain from alcohol. Alcohol consumption is also prohibited by Mormonism's "Word of Wisdom". Temperance and prohibitionist movements have often had religious elements: the movement which led to prohibition in the United States was started by Methodists and other Christian movements (see, for instance.
==Islam==
While the Qur'an doesn't specifically forbid alcohol, there is a consensus among theologians that alcohol consumption is prohibited by Islam because it weakens the conscience of the believer. However, this has not prevented inhabitants of Muslim majority countries from producing alcoholic beverages such as raki in Turkey, boukha in Tunisia or wine in Morocco and Algeria.
Wine was even celebrated by the 12th Century Muslim Sufi philosopher Omar Khayyam.
In the Qur'an, intoxicants, i.e. all kinds of alcoholic drinks, are variably referenced as incentives from Satan, as well as a cautionary note against their adverse effect on human attitude in several verses: 
 (Surat V, 90). 
Two others find that wine can be a great blessing and a curse. But the latter is often superior to the good. (Surat II, 219) (Surat XVI, 67). 
The last two surat about wine make it one of the delights of paradise promised by Muhammad (Surat XLVII, 15)
Contrary to popular belief, alcohol has not always been forbidden by Islam and theories on this subject have often varied. The verse "And from the fruits of the palm trees and grapevines you take intoxicant and good provision. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who reason." (Quran, 16, 67) is subject to many interpretations
Islam's teaching that the Qur'an was revealed to Muhammad over a period of twenty years, it is by seeing the actions that people committed under the influence of alcohol (wine) that alcohol was gradually forbidden by Islam.
==Other religions==
In Ancient Egyptian Religion, beer and wine were drunk and offered to the gods in rituals and festivals. Beer and wine were also stored with the mummified dead in Egyptian burials.Hanson, David J. History of Alcohol and Drinking around the World, http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/Controversies/1114796842.html Other ancient religious practices like Chinese ancestor worship, Sumerian and Babylonian religion used alcohol as offerings to gods and to the deceased. The mesopotamian cultures had various wine gods and a Chinese imperial edict (c. 1,116 B.C.) states that drinking alcohol in moderation is prescribed by Heaven.Hanson, David J. History of Alcohol and Drinking around the World, http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/Controversies/1114796842.html
In the ancient mediterranean world, the Cult of Dionysus and the Orphic mysteries used wine as part of their religious practices. During Dionysian festivals and rituals, wine was drunk as a way to reach ecstatic states along with music and dance. Intoxication from alcohol was seen as a state of possession by spirits of the God of Wine Dionysus. Religious drinking festivals called Bacchanalia were popular in Italy and associated with the gods Bacchus and Liber. These Dionysian rites were frequently outlawed by the Roman Senate. 
In the Norse religion the drinking of Ales and Meads was important in several seasonal religious festivals such as Yule and Midsummer as well as more common festivities like wakes, christenings and ritual sacrifices called Blots. Neopagan and Wiccan religions also allow for the use of alcohol for ritual purposes as well as for recreation.http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/contemporaryissues/a/Drugs_Alcohol.htm 
Sake is often consumed as part of Shinto purification rituals. Sake served to gods as offerings prior to drinking are called Omiki or Miki. People drink Omiki with gods to communicate with them and to solicit rich harvests the following year.
== See also ==
* Trappist beer
* Religion and drugs
* Kosher wine
* Christian views on alcohol
* Dionysus
== References ==
Category:Alcohol
Alcohol
Category:Religious views