Confessions of a Mormon Beer Snob

I’d never listened to Infants on Thrones, but thanks for being so open. Sounds like you got caught in a perfect storm of….I don’t know what to call it.

I’m not into podcasts usually, but if this is your story I’ll be sure to listen.

You’re one of the “good guys” cwald, I’m always sad to hear of the cack-handed way your leaders dealt with your faith crisis.

+1, and that’s why I love you cwald.

… We don’t really do moderate drinking here. I’ve tried.

We do in Oregon.

Perhaps that makes all the difference in ones opinion?

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You had it banned for a few years though. That’s why American alcohol is mostly either watery or firewater!!! 😆

…

This is a fallacy. It may have been true 20 years ago. But the microbrew industry in the NW has revolutionized American beer industry.

I know why you might say that and believe that, and why most LDS would do the same…but it simply isn’t so.

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Thanks mckay.

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I’m aware of American microbreweries, which are very good (but still not quite on a level with Euro Broo I’m afraid)… they’re still “micro” though, and not as widely available (or cheap) as they might be.

But to be honest, towards the end of my drinking, I think I was using snobbery to justify my binge drinking. I thought if I got tanked on pale ale or this month’s special, it was somehow better than getting steamed on Budweiser (American variety) or some nasty flourescent colored shots.

A lot of people can’t drink alcohol at all – as the Irish playwright, and drunk, Brendan Behan once wrote, “One drink is too many, and a hundred are never enough.” One drink, and they get the taste. Like the late Brendan, I think some of the less desirable Celtic attributes of my personality come to the fore when I partake of even a little alcohol. A few of the good ones too – but they don’t make up for it.

MacKay is right – you can’t ban alcohol. It’s been tried in the USA. And rather like banning cannabis, or even heroin, it hasn’t really worked. I understand that, and take a different stance on that to most WoW obeying Mormons. I think cannabis should be legalized under certain circumstances, for example. But that doesn’t mean I want to take it up.

To your question at the latter part of the interview:

Yes, I do think it’s ethical to not go round telling people about the problems with Mormonism. I recognise that it’s a faith tradition that really works for some people. I’ve no desire to pull their foundation down.

As a branch mission leader I’m also not trying to push members to do this to their nonmo friends.

If a mo asked me about history issues, I’d answer honestly and in as much detail as they wanted.

If a nonmo asked me about the benefits of Mormonism or the “good doctrines” I’d also answer as fairly as possible.

But I won’t be trying to impose either on anyone and I think that’s perfectly ethical.

Is it ethical to be one of the people trying to bring down the church? If they genuinely believe they are doing a good service to their fellow-man then I can’t really say no. I hope it’s not bitterness/payback etc. That doesn’t seem a good motive to do anything.

If I ever leave I hope I can just let it go and move on with life. Probably easier said than done, especially when you’ve been “in” for so long.