The Temperance movements of the 19th century gave a mighty voice to families who had become victims of irresponsible drinking by too many men. The last organized effort by Protestant Christians to control drinking habits of American citizens by legislation began with the adoption of the 18th Amendment in 1919, but repealed in 1933. Prohibition had sound reasoning behind it, but it didn’t factor the change in American society that prevented any meaningful enforcement. Too many nationalities, fond of wines and harder drink, had migrated to America, with distinctive drinking habits.
Changes in the direction of American society began almost surreptitiously in the 1950’s . They became visible in the 1960’s. With other seminary students this writer debated what it meant. Some saw no danger in the changes. After all, hadn’t other alterations occurred in culture, only to be subordinated to Christian teaching—such as the catastrophe of collapse experienced by the Roman Empire, when barbarian hordes crossed the Rhine/Danube frontier and surged through the empire. A waiting, robust Christianity taught them, convicted and converted them to Christ. I personally disagreed and believed cultural norms had taken a decidedly anti-Christian turn which would harm, infest and pose a critical danger to Christian tradition. It didn’t take long before the change turned malevolent. I didn’t fathom the changes in church-centered America that weakened corporate Christianity’s response to the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, the influence of Elvis Presley, the Beatles and the shock of Woodstock with its drugs, free sex and hard-rock music. Followed by the Hippie movement, the Black Panthers, the Weathermen and the Viet Nam anti-war protestors. All of them anti-authority expressions of young people. End Part II
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