My friend Richard Beck always has interesting posts on his Experimental Theology blog, but I found his April 14 post particularly stimulating. In that post, Richard muses (his term) on the reasons for and ramifications of the ban on student alcohol consumption at Abilene Christian University, our common alma mater (Richard and I both got undergraduate degrees and ACU and doctorates at Southern Methodist University). Pepperdine has similar rules for student conduct, and since I’m about to be out of the country for two months with 12-15 students, his musings were very timely. Richard wrote:

Last week I was eating lunch with some students while in Fort Worth at a psychology conference. We were eating at a place which has one of those big, colorful, alcoholic drink menus. Predictably, one of the students asked me, “Why does ACU prohibit students from drinking? I mean, what if a student is of age and responsibly drinks a beer with a burger or has a nice glass of wine for dinner, not ever getting or planning to get intoxicated? What is wrong with that?”

As I see it, I said, there nothing morally wrong with the actions of that student. The issue goes to ACU’s role of being in loco parentis. More specifically, ACU is interested in creating an academic and social setting free of alcohol. And, truthfully, there is a lot to be said for that. That is, at the level of the environment the rule make sense. But when applied on a case by case basis the rule looks illogical and senseless. In other words, ACU is prohibiting drinking not because it is morally wrong but because it is trying to create a moral ecosystem where virtuous choices can have a better chance of flourishing. Whether the drinking prohibition accomplishes that goal is open to debate. The issue I’m keen to emphasize is that moral prohibitions (“sins”) tend to function on two levels, the particular and the systemic. More specifically, systemic prohibitions are not about morals, ethics, or right versus wrong. Systemic prohibitions are more about population control. They are fostering a particular kind of moral environment.

I encourage you to read the rest of Richard’s post and, if you wish, carry on a conversation with him there.