[…]On The Separation of Church and Booze | The X Blog[…]…

Makes me miss Portland where there was an adult bookstore directly across the street from a church and almost directly next to a high school. The school didn’t have a problem with it – there is nothing for kids to see and they card people with gray hair. But the church fought hard to prevent them from opening – on the grounds they didn’t want their kids to see “that.” The city counselwoman for that district pointedly asked them what, exactly they didn’t want their kids to see. The store didn’t even have a sign with a name on it – just the address was displayed.

They then played up the notion that they were being oppressed…

The ridiculous part is that the ordinance was implemented in the 60s, when lots if people walked to their neighborhood church (in this part of Minneapolis, anyway) and might not have wanted to walk past a bar. Now, church attendance is down, and many churches in the city are closing. People generally drive to church, and although I might have exaggerated a little in my first paragraph, you’d have to go out of your way to get to any of the churches in lower Nordeast without passing at least three bars.

I should also mention that every festival I’ve attended at a Catholic church in Nordeast has served beer. At least now I know to decline any invitations to St. Cyril’s.

A highway marks the division between the two towns at one point. On one side, the Lewisville side, was a Presbyterian Church. Across the highway was a convenience store, in Flower Mound.

The owner of the store decided he wanted to sell booze, so he went to the FM city council and applied for a license. Well, Texas has local option, so FM could decide, as a local entity, to allow alcohol sales.

During the council meeting when this was discussed, the members of the church (from Lewisville, remember, a much larger city) packed the council chambers opposing the application based on its proximity to their church.

Given the the two cities had a long standing rivalry based on relative size, the city council of Flower Mound basically said to the Lewisville folks, “stick it where the sun don’t shine, we’re granting the license!”

So life went on, the store owner set up his expansion into the liquor business and everybody went back home.

A few months later, my wife and I were going to my mother’s for Sunday lunch and decided to bring a bottle of wine. Forgetting the State rules forbidding the sale of alcohol before noon on Sunday, we stopped by at about 11:30. Once the clerk told us he was sorry, but rules are rules, we just said, “Oh, that’s ok, we’ll just come by in a half hour.”

His reply: “Don’t bother, the church across the street gets out at 12 and we always get a run on beer about that time. Come back at 12:30!”

Just one of the many nails in the coffin of my religiosity!

They have announced they’ll be holding services there, which in effect means no new clubs can open (or apply for expanded licenses – say, for distilled drinks as well as beer/wine) in that neighborhood.

At first I suspected they intended to proselytize the partiers, but now I’m wondering whether the pastor has a “special understanding” with some grandfathered-in club owner(s) who now won’t have to worry about increased competition.

Either way, bless their little hearts!