Open and informed debate the first step
NZ Herald, 14 April 2008
The Binge Drinking Culture - what can we do about it? There has been a great deal of recent media attention on youth drinking, binge drinking in particular, and the well known harmful effects of abusing alcohol. Starting with the infamous "Undie 500" which televised students running wild, fuelled by excess quantities of alcohol, there's been an ongoing series of alarming headlines. more...
In this excellent article Professor Ross McCormick from the University of Auckland, begins by defining binge drinking before looking at it's effects along with its origins and causes, and possible solutions. His assessment is that it is a complex issue which no one strategy will solve. He calls for an assessment of what is and isn't working, and discussion on what we want our society to be like.
1 comments:
Thanks for highlighting this Murray.
Binge drinking is certainly a huge issue here at Lincoln Uni - it has a reputation as a hard drinking place, which is often true for the pakeha portion of the student body.
It's fantastic to see the TSCF group rising to the challenge of their environment. They seek to speak for Jesus and live for Jesus and in their drinking culture that means two main things -
1. Some full on discussions about how as Christians they approach alcohol - abstain, or moderation, or inbetween? Drunkenness clearly prohibited in Scripture so what's pros and cons of each end of the continuum? How can we remain a united TSCF mission team on campus with members who take a different line on this? Good on them in their open-Bible discussions.
2. Secondly, they hold a weekly toastie-town operation - selling $1 toasties 11pm-2am each Wed night (local pub student night) to inebriated halls students. Without fail, every week, students ask 'you're not being paid to do this? So why are you?' which opens doors to speak about the gospel. Just great stuff.
I'm encouraged by the TSCF students at Lincoln uni contexualising the gospel in their very binge drinking culture; hope readers are too.
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