Prohibition in reference to alcoholic beverages has always been a goal of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Ellen White wrote in 1881: “The advocates of temperance fail to do their whole duty unless they exert their influence by precept and example—by voice and pen and vote—in favor of prohibition and total abstinence” ( Review and Herald 58:290, Nov. 8, 1881).
The church has encouraged prohibition as one means of protecting society from the ravages of liquor. “Let laws be enacted and rigidly enforced prohibiting the sale and the use of ardent spirits as a beverage” ( GW 388).
Seventh-day Adventists took an active, often a leading, part in the campaign in the United States leading up to the enactment of the prohibition amendment in 1919, and have vigorously supported similar measures in other countries.
At the same time, the church recognizes that legal controls do not pose the whole answer to liquor problems. The cause lies deeper than mere law is able to remedy. “Let the appetite for intoxicating liquors be removed, and their use and sale is at an end” ( ibid. .).
Proper education of the public is necessary before legal controls can be made highly effective. For this reason the temperance program of the church in recent years has been based primarily on developing and presenting educational measures rather than on urging legal measures. However, the church’s program is carried on with the ultimate goal of banning alcoholic beverages. “Let the voice of the nation demand of its lawmakers that a stop be put to this infamous traffic” ( MH 346). See Temperance .