Bishop Blasts Monks Making Buckfast

At first I thought I had linked to the Onion, but this is sad but true. Buckfast, brewed by Benedictine monks, is allegedly ravaging Scotland. It's called Scotland's scourge, (also known as "bottle of beat the wife") and the monks of Devon's Buckfast Abbey have been criticized by a bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church for producing the product even when they know its effects: A BBC investigation

reveals that the drink, known colloquially as Buckie, has been mentioned in 5,000 crime reports by Strathclyde Police in the past three years. Almost one in ten of those crimes was violent, according to figures obtained by the BBC under freedom of information legislation. During that period the Buckfast bottle was used as a weapon 114 times and police said the figures suggested there is an association between Buckfast and violence.

Buckfast is 15 percent alcohol, but also has all the caffeine you'd imbibe from drinking 8 cans of cola.

But the problem lies deeper, doesn't it?  If not Buckfast, then something else? On my last visit to Scotland, 2003, within first few hours of landing I arrived in my mother's hometown. I was approached on the street that afternoon by a young Scot, who asked me if I could please tell him what day it was. He'd started drinking on Friday, he said, (this was Sunday) and he had no idea what day it was. He couldn't have been older than 19. Remembering some of the other town youths roaming about that weekend, I can believe the police report above. This is not the Scotland that invented the modern world, is it? Or is this the modern world they invented? Or do we meed some monks to bring us out of the Dark Ages again?

Comments

[Thomas]

Wait, there are monks making beer? And youths getting drunk on the weekend? And criminals are drinking cheap alcohol? These are all new phenomena.

And this is as good an argument for converting from being an Episcopalian to being Catholic as I've seen recently; at least Catholics realize that the abuse of a substance that has legitimate and widespread use does not make the production of that product immoral.

[John FB]

In a sense, I'm not sure what the fuss is about: a vodka and Red Bull is about as potent as this drink apparently is (with vodka at 35-50% alcohol). At the same time, I tend to be sympathetic to those Christians who suggest there is no real "legitimate" reason for the consumption of alcohol.

I like a glass or two of wine as much as anyone, but how many of us drink purely for the taste? Those couple glasses may still fall within the recommended daily limit for adults and may not constitute "drunkenness", but there's an intoxicating and sedating effect from them nonetheless.

[Wonders for Oyarsa]

"I tend to be sympathetic to those Christians who suggest there is no real "legitimate" reason for the consumption of alcohol."

Not even to gladden the heart of man?

[Nathan Lahey]

"Buckfast is 15 percent alcohol, but also has all the caffeine you'd imbibe from drinking 8 cans of cola."

Never mix your uppers with your downers, mate.

[Margaret]

After the invention of Carnation Instant Breakfast and the Space-Food Stick, I tend to be sympathetic to those individuals who suggest there is no legitimate reason for the consumption of more costly, preparation-intensive, species-targeted, or exotic foods.

I like a baked potato as much as anyone, but how many of us eat purely for nutrition. That pleasurable feeling of roundness, the complacent easing of the waistband, the idle titillation of flesh and appetite that a typical family supper encourages may not constitute "gluttony," but certainly lie on the continuum. Church potlucks have been historically poor examples of justifiable ingestion by encouraging the profligate sampling of flavors and textures for their own sake and without regard to actual bodily need.

[Robert Espe]

Well said Margaret. My thoughts exactly, but better communicated.

On a practical note, 5,000 crimes in 3 years, a little over 1500 crimes/year, about 4.5 crimes a day, less than 10% of which are violent doesn't really sound all that horrific.

Personally, I find it sad when any culture condones drunkenness and other forms of dissipation, particularly among young men. But it isn't really new.

[Chelie]

Hey - I LIKED the Space Food Stick! Made me feel patriotic and adventurous like the astronauts.

[Nick]

Banning alcohol made by monks because some twits commit crimes is like banning cars because some people hit other people.

[Nick]

And, WfO, _exactly_.

[John FB]

As I've stated, I'm neither teetotaler nor a Prohibitionist. I certainly have nothing against the Benedictines, either.

However, I'm wondering: if no one here condemns the non-medicinal use of alcohol for one's own pleasure in moderation, what is the opinion here in decriminalizing the use of marijuana? As far as I know, marijuana is far less likely to be the cause of either accidents or an overdose.

It seems inconsistent to permit the use of one substance but not another when both are being used for the same reasons and pose similar risks.

[Clifford Simon]

Even if risks and reasons were similar, wine as a substance is clearly more tolerable than marijuana. Alcohol in wine, in fact, always has a medicinal use: although people tend to forget, in these days of municipal chlorination and reverse osmosis and having enough potable water to pee in. Water was generally non-potable. Alcohol kills cholera (while sparing the brain if you are temperate).

Bread and wine are the staple meal. (Think "bread and water," but you have to sterilize the water. Matter of fact, bread had its risks too--- bad yeast would poison the dough--- whence frequent New Testament warnings about yeast. So you got risks on both sides.) That's the meal that gives you basic nutrition and, yes, gladdening of the heart, while demanding of you temperance and care and self-control. The way a man receives that meal is a microcosm of the human condition. So according to that reason, the meal of bread and wine is the remembrance of the Lord's humanity and his death.

There is no place anywhere in this formula for marijuana. A "Lord's Smoke-In" would make no theological sense (except in 1968).

I do not say any of this to exonerate drinking, just to establish the contrast to other substances of possibly similar risk.

[Margaret]

I've baked bread for years and never heard of bad yeast that's poisonous. Bad yeast, to my knowledge, is simply yeast that's too old or spent to rise. Where can I read about this?

[David]

As an American ex-pat in the UK for the last decade, the only thing that surprised me about the Buckfast story was that the police were focusing on one particular tipple. Must be that the Scots haven't discovered (or don't prefer) vodka and Red Bull (as mentioned by John FB) which is quite popular here in England.

Binge drinking is an epidemic in this violent, crime-ridden country, and the present Government has responded to this by introducing 24-hour licensing laws. The general population has in turn responded by binge drinking into the wee hours, so the gangs of drunken boys and girls in my small cathedral city carouse and fight down my street at 3:00 and 4:00am instead of midnight.

The problem is much deeper, but it is one the Government does not want to address, as it would run contrary to their agenda of calling evil "good" and good "evil". I don't know that monks will be able to make a difference. The situation reminds me more of the words of Jesus in Luke 16, "...neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead."

[fat albert]

"That pleasurable feeling of roundness, the complacent easing of the waistband, the idle titillation of flesh and appetite that a typical family supper encourages may not constitute "gluttony," but certainly lie on the continuum. Church potlucks have been historically poor examples of justifiable ingestion by encouraging the profligate sampling of flavors and textures for their own sake and without regard to actual bodily need."

I guess I missed the passage of scriptural instruction directing us all to lives of monastic denial. You are more than welcome to indulge your personal desire (or need) for burlap clothing and bread and water meals, but please don't pretend that it's anything other than a personal choice. To equate gluttony with the simple enjoyment of a meal is absurd.

[Richard]

Dude (Fat Albert). That was irony. Or maybe sarcasm. Margaret was not seriously equating "gluttony with the simple enjoyment of a meal"

[Rob G]

"To equate gluttony with the simple enjoyment of a meal is absurd."

As is the equation of the inherent ascetic aspect of Christianity with extreme monastic denial.

[Anna]

David it wasn't Margaret who said that. It was Nathan and I thought it was spot on.