Comparative Religion Project

Hello and welcome.

My project is on alcohol and religion, a historical analysis

of the views of buddhism, Judaism and Islam.

Um I chose this topic because I thought the juxtaposition

of good and evil on regarding alcohol was really interesting

and I wanted to dive deeper into um the religious

texts and see what the religions really thought about alcohol

from an anthropological perspective, it's noteworthy that there are customary

uses, attitudes and behaviour patterns associated with alcohol, even when

it's ingested at levels that do not affect physiology, drinks

containing ethanol often serve as basic beverages of the diet

and others tend to have a more symbolic or ritualistic

use and association drinking maybe an accompaniment to a meal

or it may be an act, valued and practiced in

of itself, solitary drinking does occur although drinking is usually

a social app which is viewed as enhancing sociability and

symbolizing camaraderie.

It is the very diversity of drinking and it's outcomes

that have made it a subject of intense study relationships

between alcohol and religion began thousands of years ago.

There's evidence that it was used in china and the

Middle East in religious ceremonies.

One was an integral part of jewish ceremonies and pre

christian jewish law actually prohibited the consumption of alcohol.

The band was obviously short lived.

How do religions differ in their perspective of alcohol?

Specifically what distinguishes the role of alcohol and Judaism, buddhism

and islam.

So, in buddhism, the first perceptive of buddhism is I

undertake the training rule to abstain from fermented and distilled

intoxicants which are the basis for heedlessness.

So buddha actually believes alcohol leads to the loss of

wealth, increased quarreling susceptibility to illness, disrepute, weakened insight and

indecent exposure.

Buddhists believe that he hopes stains from killing, stealing sexual

misconduct, telling lies and drinking alcohol or taking any kind

of intoxicants would receive the reward of a place in

heaven after death and can eventually gain nirvana.

So we know that the historical Sahara did drink in

his youth.

But as the buddha, he acknowledged, the alcohol is a

dangerous fire to play with.

Over time, buddhism spread and encountered new lands and it

morphed to accommodate the cultures today.

In monasteries in Tibet and India, very Jonah practices will

corporate alcohol as part of their practice, alcohol intoxication is

discouraged due to resulting behaviors that may go against the

buddhist principles, not for the actual act of consuming alcohol

itself. So then what are Buddhists to do?

Alcohol consumption is inconsistent with a buddhist quest to understand

and develop the mind.

So Buddhists believe that by practicing meditation, wisdom and morality,

every individual has the innate ability to experience true happiness.

Despite the popularity of buddhism as a philosophy in the

west, few people are able to follow buddhist advice on

alcohol. People with a shallow understanding of food isn't may

believe that alcohol is acceptable if used in moderation justifying

this. In the terms of food is preaching the middle

way philosophy.

The buddha was actually against against any form of alcohol

consumption, even in moderation, because of the effect that it

does have on the mind.

The buddha also taught, each individual must be responsible for

one's own karma.

This involves being responsible for the consequences of one's actions,

speech and thoughts.

Alcohol tends to encourage irresponsibility and it's possible to generate

a lot of negative karma will under the influence of

alcohol. The buddha taught that true happiness was to be

found in letting go of attachments.

So many people are deeply attached to the feelings that

they do experience when drinking alcohol, and though meditation is

possible to let go of this attachment.

Many people also use alcohol as a means of avoiding

problems that arise in life.

But buddhism encourages people to deal with life's difficulties and

challenges the rise and spread of Islam is important for

the history of alcohol because Islam represented the first example

of a comprehensive prohibition policy that banned the production distribution

and even the consumption of alcohol.

More of our Islam's prohibition policies proved to be remarkably

successful. Having lasted many parts of the Muslim world for

almost 1500 years.

Well, it's true that alcohol is explicitly or implicitly permitted

in some modern cultures that are officially or predominantly Islamic,

such as Turkey.

there is very little alcohol consumption and many others, including

Iran and Saudi Arabia um For their populations, drinking is

simply out of the question as it um is in

other religions, such as mormons, in the United States, a

key difference between the mormons and the United States.

Um and Muslims in countries that prohibit the consumption of

alcohol is the mormons actually choose to abstain from alcohol,

but Muslims in countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia are

forbidden by law and can also be punished if they

are drinking alcohol.

Islam was first implanted in regions of the Middle East,

where alcoholic beverages were widely consumed in pre Islamic times

and where some of the earliest evidence of wine and

beer has been found, um the prophet Mohammed was no

more hospital alcohol than jews christians were, but for a

short time he forbade his followers to drink wine in

any other fermented beverages.

The reason was not because these drinks were evil and

of themselves, a position later adopted by later advocates of

the abstinence, but because the weakness in humans lead to

excessive drinking, then blasphemy, sin, immorality and then antisocial behavior.

Um He had similar thoughts of the of the buddha

that alcohol itself wasn't necessarily bad, but the resulting actions

of drinking alcohol was dangerous.

The Koran contains a number of references, both positive and

negative to wine, and one scholar notes that a critical

analysis of all references reveals in the Koran that wine

they treat wine with great ambivalence, the potent liquid that

constitutes an abomination in one verse becomes the source of

good food and another.

Um It's important to remember that the text of the

Koran were revealed gradually over time, not as a completed

body, and the later text could contradict the earlier ones.

Um When you read it in this way, the references

in the Koran are less contradictory when read in a

chronological manner.

Um and they are more consistent in their condemnation of

alcohol. Then they might at first appear.

Wine might be described as both an intoxicant and a

wholesome food, but in one text in particular, there has

been understood as representing the final muslim doctrine online.

Um and says believers, wine and games of chance, idols

and defining arrows are abominations devised by satan avoid them

so that you may prosper, satan seeks to stir up

animosity and hatred among you by means of wine and

gambling and to keep you from the remembrance of Allah

and from your prayers.

So to Muslims eating as a matter of faith and

those who follow the dietary laws called halal, um which

is a term for permitted foods.

The foods that are prohibited like pork, birds of prey

are known as Haram.

Um So Muslims eat to preserve their good health and

then overindulgence or use of stimulus as tea, coffee or

alcohol are strongly discouraged.

Um Alcohol is considered poison to the body and therefore

Haram. So the final ruling from the Koran, Their interpretation

is that alcohol is not good for the body and

can lead to um send and other undesirable behaviors.

So islam and buddhism prevent their followers from drinking.

But jewish history sends a mixed message that alcohol is

both a blessing and a cars.

So the jewish Torah contains many references to wine and

the effects of drinking as well as a reference to

beer. In a greek version, um One text in genesis

treats one in a matter of fact way is an

integral to dining.

Um In males Belichick King of Salem brought forth bread

and wine.

Another text actually celebrates wine.

Um It says Go thy way, eat thy bread with

joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart.

For God, now accepted by works so seizing on existence

and the apparent amputated and you get a duty of

many hebrew words used to refer to alcoholic beverage.

They adopted a two wine theory.

The positive approving references to wine and the bible were

not actually referred to as wine.

The beverage resulting for information, but actually to unfermented grape

juice. And then the negative references referred actual line.

So the book of Genesis reports that when the great

flood came and the earth needed to be replanted and

repopulated. The first plant cultivated by Noah wasn't um any

kind of grain for making bread, but actually a great

fun for providing wine.

Um He cultivated grapes and then proceeded to make wine.

And apparently this is a good thing.

Um The story ended badly when Noah drank too much.

He actually stripped off his clothes and then he fell

into um an intoxicated stupor into his tent.

The art in the slide is actually a photo of

Uh huh Noah and his sons actually making wine, which

indifferent written works has been referenced.

So then we have to ask, is alcohol considered good

or evil?

Um Coexisting with such examples of the abuse of wine

are clearly positive statements when moses led the hebrews from

Egypt to Israel, he sent people out and they returned

with a bunch of grapes so big and heavy that

it actually took two men to carry it on Iran

on their shoulders.

So while the jews might have valued eating the grapes

on their trip, it's likely that they relish the thought

of drinking wine.

Um and it was a highly valued beverage of the

Egyptian elite that had enslaved them.

Um The Hebrews God enjoying them to enjoy wine and

bread and oil and meet at the annual festivities.

And he ordered priests to make the offerings of bread

and wine, The Bible says, and the meat offering shall

be two tents of the fine flour mingled with oil

and an offering made into the fire by the Lord

for the Sweet Savior, and the drink offering thereof shall

be wine, the 4th part of him.

So perhaps the most positive statement about wine was the

affirmation Wine Maketh glad the heart of man and oil

make his face to shine, and the bread with strengthens

man's heart in the overall position of alcohol of the

old testament can be read as representing fairly conventional restatements

of the attitude adopted by the ancient and classical writers

that wine and beer had the potential for either good

or evil common.

What we've heard in Islam and buddhism and their efforts

depended on how they were consumed as beverages there to

be judged on their effects.

Um Not just the beverages themselves.

The view on the good versus evil of alcohol is

not surprising.

Alcohol consumption was popular among the jews um including the

authors of the new testament, um and then wine was

integrated into festivities such as pure.

Um um It was at Passover Seders including the last

supper and like there are greek and roman colleagues, jewish

physician physicians employed wine as internal and external therapies for

a wide range of physical and emotional ailments.

Um The jewish people believe their body, um It's not

their own, but it actually belongs to God.

So the jewish dietary law is called cash route, meaning

proper or correct.

Um The term kosher refers to the methods of processing

foods according to the jewish laws and the processing laws

and other restrictions regarding the preparation of food and drink

are devised for their effects on health.

So a jewish person must prepare the great products, otherwise

they are forbidden.

Um and thus the increase in the popularity of jewish

wine. So through research, we can clearly see that Judaism,

buddhism and Islam all share a similar perspective on alcohol.

Um It may not be obvious at first, but when

you think about the reasoning behind um the abstinence from

alcohol, it's all based on the behavior that occurs from

alcohol, not on the actual beverage itself, especially in Judaism,

where the beverage itself is almost sacramental.

Um we can see that the guidelines on consumption differ

between the religions, but all three religions do believe that

alcohol can carry an inherent risk, and this must be

avoided.

Comparative Religion Project

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