wfn.org | ACNS3711 Bishop makes Christmas call for alcohol education

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3711     |     ENGLAND	|     17 DECEMBER 2003 

Bishop makes Christmas call for alcohol education

[ACNS source: Diocese of St Albans] A call for drinks companies to spend
as much money on educating people about sensible drinking as they do on
persuading people to drink alcohol at Christmas, has been made by the
Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Christopher Herbert.

Speaking in a House of Lords debate on domestic violence, the Bishop
stressed the role of alcohol as one of the causes of violence in the
home and pointed to the drinks companies' Christmas advertising
campaigns.

He said, "Millions of pounds will be spent in trying to persuade us to
enjoy ourselves and that that enjoyment can be associated only with
alcohol. So the numbers of people getting 'wasted', 'trashed' or
whatever phrase one wishes to use, will be huge.

"If we could persuade the brewing industry that the amount of money
spent on trying to persuade us to drink should be matched by a similar
amount devoted to trying to educate young men especially about how to
drink sensibly, we might get somewhere. It is reported that between five
and 10 per cent of all calls to Childline mention alcohol as a serious
problem."

The Bishop - whose diocese covers Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and much
of the London Borough of Barnet - said he spoke "as one who from time to
time has drunks throwing up over my front doorstep. Bishops now live a
very long way from the sweet calm of Barchester!"

The Bishop of St Albans was spoke on Monday 15 December in favour of the
Government's Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill, which passed its
second reading in the Lords. The Bill overhauls domestic violence law
and gives victims rights to support, advice and information.

He also focused on the "devastating effect" on children as the "hidden
victims" of violence in the home. He highlighted research showing how
many thousands of children were involved in domestic violence each year.

He told the Lords, "It takes little imagination to see what devastating
effects witnessing violence might have upon those children. I refer to
the sense of powerlessness among young boys, unable to protect their
mothers from their violent fathers and stepfathers - an anger which has
to be dealt with in some way and which may well result in themselves
becoming violent in adolescence and adulthood. And the same sense of
powerlessness among young girls which may then become internalised and
gnaw away at their own self-esteem.

"If in two years in one English city there were 1,100 children caught up
in domestic violence, and one multiplies that figure by the number of
cities in the UK, thousands of children would be seriously damaged by
all that they see and hear. I concentrate on the children because they
are the hidden victims whose voice is rarely heard."

The Bishop also pointed to the "profound spiritual malaise" to be found
within domestic violence. He said that if people were abusive or violent
towards others or indeed towards themselves, it suggested that they had
no concept of their or the other person's inherent worth.

"It means that I do not regard myself or the other person as in any
sense being made - as the Judaeo-Christian tradition would express it -
in the image of God. So, I do not see myself coming from God, being
surrounded by God or at death going towards God.

"Therefore, many people are alienated in the profoundest way from their
own inherent dignity and alienated from that worth, which in my view is
conferred upon us by God as creator. That alienation is then expressed
in cries of anguish."

He called on the government to involve churches and other faith groups
in initiatives to combat domestic violence, and applauded the work that
many groups are already doing. He said, "As we strive to understand the
causes of violence, please let us not forget what volunteer
organisations and faith communities already do to try to address those
causes.

"As we rightly strive to offer compassion to the victims, please can we
have some joined-up thinking that recognises that words such as
'healing' and 'wholeness' have a rich and long-standing religious,
spiritual and human content?"

Responding to the debate for the government, Baroness Scotland said, "We
welcome the engagement of the faith communities and all others who will
willingly take up arms with us against this terrible ill."

The full text of the Bishop's speech can be found at:
www.stalbans.anglican.org

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