# no alcohol for bible belters **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 23, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693 "2002-03-23T08:26:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![secretkeeper78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@secretkeeper78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/secretkeeper78)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/1 "2002-03-23T08:26:43Z")
I live in the bible belt- up in the north Georgia mounains. I am a cashier and people come through all the time on sundays and try and buy alcohol and are dispointed when they dicover that the state of georgia prohibits the sale of alcohol on sundays. I think this is complely stupid. why must we have a law prohibiting people who want to drink on sundays just because some people don’t think that they should? why don’t the people who think it’s wrong, just not drink? do they really think they are stopping that many people? I think it is dumb that we have such a law… and i’m not sure but i am thinking it is based on how on the seventh day, god rested… but to me, sunday is just a day, so aren’t they really imposing their beliefs on me? Isn’t that really NOT freedom of religion? it’s more like they are saying, " all right you heathens can believe anything you want." subtly sugesting that their religion is the better, truer religion while they are making everyone else out to heathens that sacrifice our young to the volcano so the sun will rise… and i am also sick of being singled out and having people come in and hand me thier wittnessing booklets… How rude… I think everyone has the right to believe anything they want. i have no problem with christians, or buddists or anything… but don’t go solicting me, and at my job even… why can’t they believe what they want, and i believe what i want? ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/2 "2002-03-23T08:32:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by secretkeeper78 \* > \*\*… why can’t they believe what they want, and i believe what i want? \*\* Because you live in the Bible Belt. It’s just the way people are here. Is it right? No, but try changing it. By the way, know why they call it the Bible Belt? Those are the two items people here use most often to abuse their children. ---
**Author:** ![secretkeeper78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@secretkeeper78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/secretkeeper78)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/3 "2002-03-23T08:39:16Z")
that’s horrible. true too. I would try and change it but i don’t like drinking… it just annoys me. but when a morman gave me a pamplet, I did hand it back and say no thanks, I’m pagan. ---
**Author:** ![eirroc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f1d935/32.png) [@eirroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eirroc)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/4 "2002-03-23T10:31:30Z")
Absolutely agree **secretkeeper78**. They phased out that law in the UK a couple of years ago although you still can’t purchase alcohol before midday. WTF? But that may have been to keep both sides happy, but yes, why they can’t just not drink if that’s their belief is beyond me. 😕 And I can’t see how not selling on sunday’s is stopping that many people, because they can buy it the night before and drink it on the Sunday, but when it used to annoy me (before it was phased out) was when a friend would unexpenctantly invite me round for say lunch or supper and I couldn’t even buy a bottle of wine! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/5 "2002-03-23T11:27:10Z")
> [@](#): > > I think this is complely stupid. why must we have a law prohibiting people who want to drink on sundays just because some people don’t think that they should? Because the scariest thing on Earth is a drunk Jeezer. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/6 "2002-03-23T12:09:25Z")
It’s not just the Bible belt, I’m afraid. In Pennsylvania, the beer distributors and liquor stores are closed so you can’t buy alcohol to take it home. Bars are open and can serve alcohol and there may be a loophole which will allow you to take a 6 pack of beer home from a bar. What _is_ it with Americans and liquor laws, not to mention Christians?!! Somehow, since Christ’s first miracle was changing water not just into wine, but good wine, I don’t think he was a teetotaler. CJ ---
**Author:** ![Pixiegrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Pixiegrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiegrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/7 "2002-03-23T13:42:50Z")
I, too, am a pagan in the bible belt. Should be a song. There is much to complain about, I know, but I love it way more than I hate it. I figure the best way to help change things is to stay right where I am and teach tolerance by being tolerant. The no beer on Sunday thing pisses me off. If they had any faith then they’d know their followers would never partake on a Sunday (dripping with sarcasm). ---
**Author:** ![snermy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@snermy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snermy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/8 "2002-03-23T14:29:37Z")
I’m also in the bible belt. Ass-wupping tail end up here in Ohio I believe… The thing is, it’s been called the bible belt because of the _large numbers_ of christians, specifically protestant/fundementalist types who live here, and who are told every Sundy that likker is a bad thing. [cynicism mode on, you, as a xtian are undoubtedly an exemption]…And seem to be just fine with reserving their good behavior to Sundy with most minor moral things like honesty and not sleeping around and not being used car salesmen and so on, so apparently cognitive dissonance does not apply[/cynism which don’t necessarily apply to you off] Being a democracy, on local bylaws like no beer sundays and no nekkid dance clubs, there’s that strong voting base. Hey, it makes sense to me…if 85% of the people around here are opposed to buying beer on Sundys and then going out and watching all nekkid dancers, those laws are going to stay on the books… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/9 "2002-03-23T14:47:11Z")
More common than you think. I think you can’t buy alcohol in a store in the whole state of Minnesota on Sundays, and in the county I live in, you can’t buy before noon on Sundays. ---
**Author:** ![stofsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@stofsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stofsky)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/10 "2002-03-23T15:52:11Z")
I’ve probably posted this before, but in South Carolina you can’t buy beer or liquor anywhere on Sunday except in a very few counties. And in most of those (I think that Charleston is the only place exempted) you can only buy it in bars that buy the weekly license. Every week, someone has to go to the ABC and pay $100-odd for the privilege of selling alcohol. As far as the stores are concerned, it’s a no-go. About 4 years ago, there was a measure on the ballot to repeal the blue laws, but it was (intentionally) confusingly worded so that people who wanted to repeal them actually voted to keep them. ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/11 "2002-03-23T17:17:53Z")
Yessiree bob, it sucks. I lived in the Tennessee valley for 17 years, and believe me when I tell you I was NEVER exposed to alcohol there. My mother would scurry me past the alcohol section in the grocery store (tiny as the section was) out of her fear of the dreaded evil. Of course, both of my grandfathers were raging violent alcoholics, so my parents’ aversions are understandable. Now that I’m an adult, and I live in Athens, _the most enlightened town in the South_, I am exposed to and partake in quite a bit of activities involving the good stuff. My parents are still horrified by alcohol, shocked that I partake, and even refused to go to my sister’s wedding if she served alcohol at the reception. It’s the Bible Belt. Just be tolerant and patient. Learn to deal. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/12 "2002-03-23T17:18:40Z")
My understanding is that a lot of the laws would probably be overturned if anyone pushed it, but no one does. Why not? Wouldn’t the bars and liquor stores make more money if they were open on Sunday? Apparently, not really. Sunday isn’t a big day for bars, and most people in states like this have become accustomed to picking up a “Sunday Stash” on Saturday or before. So if the laws were changed, it would be another day they’d have to be open, but the increased business wouldn’t really make it worth it. That’s how it was explained to me, anyway. (I’m in Kentucky, BTW, where you can only buy liquor in a restaurant on Sundays. We still have plenty of dry counties, too.) Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/13 "2002-03-23T17:28:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by snermy \* > \*\*The thing is, it’s been called the bible belt because of the _large numbers_ of christians, specifically protestant/fundementalist types who live here, and who are told every Sundy that likker is a bad thing. \*\* Wait a second. Don’t lump Protestants like Lutherans and Episcopalians in with Fundamentalists. They’re not all the same. And what’s the big deal? You can’t buy liquor here on Sunday, either. Plan ahead and buy it Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/14 "2002-03-23T17:50:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Moore County, where Jack Daniel Distillery is located, went “dry” in 1909, just before national Prohibition. Because of a special Tennessee State law that was passed after Prohibition, we’ve been allowed to make our whiskey in Moore County. Up until January 1995, it could not be sold here. But thanks to a 1994 special act of the Tennessee Legislature, we began selling commemorative decanters containing Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey on January 2, 1995. The distillery makes a $3.50 donation to Moore County for every bottle sold. The commemorative decanters filled with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey are available only on the premises of the distillery. Other bottles of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, as well as any other spirit, cannot be legally purchased or sold anywhere else in Moore County. [http://www.jackdaniels.com/oldno7/facts.asp#number13](http://www.jackdaniels.com/oldno7/facts.asp#number13) ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/15 "2002-03-23T18:12:35Z")
Most liquor laws date back to more temperate times, when such ideas as buying alcohol on Sunday was abhorent to the general populace. As **DoctorJ** points out, it’s mostly a matter of nobody getting around to getting rid of them. Here in the province of Ontario (Canada for those of you who’s geography is a little hazy), we’ve seen the liquor laws change a fair bit in the last couple of decades. Our “last call” used to be midnight on Sundays and 1:00 AM the rest of the week. Now it’s 2:00 AM across the board (and municipalities have the power to extend that for “special events”). Beer is only sold through a monopoly chain (formerly called “Brewers Retail,” now called “The Beer Store”) owned by several major Canadian brewers, and liquor is sold only through a Crown [government] owned company. You can still only buy wine in grocery stores, but at least it’s not too difficult to get beer or liquor on Sundays any more (and that’s a fairly recent innovation under our _Conservative_ government!). And, **DoctorJ** , there _is_ a certain amount of revenue lost by not being open on Sundays. I suspect it’s not a huge amount, but impulse or convenience shopping (purchases that wouldn’t be made if the store wasn’t open) would likely still be profitable. ---
**Author:** ![snermy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@snermy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snermy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/16 "2002-03-23T18:19:22Z")
yes, that was a rather broad brush, sorry… Sadly, my religious education is somewhat piecemeal. Someday I should actually inquire at one of the fine christian institutions nearby and get this whole thing straightened out… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/17 "2002-03-23T20:17:45Z")
Perhaps you meant Pentacostals, rather than Protestants? ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/18 "2002-03-23T21:37:42Z")
> [@](#): > > The distillery makes a $3.50 donation to Moore County for every bottle sold. Heh. “The Low-ard JEEEEEEEzuss hath appeared unto me, and did instructeth me that you shall not sell your vile spirits-” “We’ll give you a cut.” “Lo! A new vision descendeth upon me!..” ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/19 "2002-03-23T21:58:03Z")
(arrggghhh - lengthy post last night was eaten by the server) It’s the same in Washington state. There are State Liquor Stores, the only ones allowed, which close on Sunday because of these ancient blue laws. Ridiculous. (I don’t care personally, being a nondrinker, but I’m interested in reason and fairness.) What’s worse, IMHO, is the perpetuation of the myth that hard likker is bad, but beer and wine is fine, like the intoxicating properties of alcohol vs. alcohol were somehow different. See, beer and wine are sold in the grocery stores 7 days a week, but if you want likker, you have to go to the State Liquor Stores, which are closed on Sundays. Myths about alcohol = more deaths from alcohol (i.e., people drinking a 12-pack and then getting behind the wheel, because “it’s just beer.” The state is behind this. The laws should be changed. Smash Og. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/20 "2002-03-23T22:59:25Z")
First off it seems that everyone, except those that live in the Northeast and California claim to live in the Bible Belt. There is a saying that it is the preachers and the boot-leggers that keep the laws about no booze on Sunday. I’ve got enough stashed away to make it through tomorrow. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693.md?page=2)