A good schoolboy knows that Nebraska has the only unicameral state legislature. The 49 senators of this, the 100th Legislature, have gotten more than normal scrutiny this year from the faith community for Sen. Lowen Kruses bill that would have barred underage teens and children from consuming alcohol during communion in religious services.Kruse got wide press, little legislative support and scolding from all sorts of church folks when he introduced LB261, a bill with two key provisions to change the current underage drinking law and eliminate two exceptions: Allowing minors to drink alcohol in their own homes and and in places of worship during religious ceremonies.The retired United Methodist minister had said in a constituent newsletter, I contend the public policy should be that teens NOT be allowed to drink anywhere. A few Christians are contending that communion is drinking. That is ridiculous, but we will change the language to make it clear. All along, he explained he did not favor any law that would compromise religious ceremony, but the current language needed reworking. I do question the mixed message by a priest who, as one parent complained to me, tells teens not to drink but forces an altar boy to drink some wine. Why, he wondered aloud, did churches then let pregnant women and recovering alcoholics to take valid Eucharist that is without wine.There is humor here, he said. A Missouri Synod Lutheran, who supports my bill, says it really is not an issue for them: They put water in the cup, and God changes it to wine. Arrest God.Kruse said he had special reason to close the provision that allows teens to drink at home. He told constituents that his son was injured and paralyzed in an accident by a minor, impaired by alcohol. He quoted law enforcement stories that when they raise a teen keg party and see kids obviously drunk, the kids know to say they were drunk when they left home (or the church bazaar?) and so they cant be arrested.Catholics especially were instrumental in get Kruse to remove his plan to restrict alcohol for minors in churches. Catholic League President Bill Donahue called it an excessive intrusion that violates citizens religious liberties. The idea that kids are leaving religious ceremonies inebriated are absurd, Donahue said. At one point, Kruse changed his bill to allow minors to consume up to a half an ounce of alcohol during religious services like communion. According to the Catholic News Service, another Catholic League representative, Kiera McCaffrey, noted, Even under Prohibition, when alcohol was denied to everyone, no one had a problem with alcohol use in religious services. Kruse talked about putting a two-ounce limit on wine to cover the Eucharist, but the critics did not back down. In mid-January, Kruse gave up and removed all reference to banning teens drinking in religious settings. The rest of the bill was on the Nebraska Legislatures docket to have its hearing in the Judiciary committee today, March 21. The wording: "LB 261 would provide that the only exemption for the consumption of alcohol by persons under 21 is for religious observances only, either in te home or in place of worship." But given a long tradition of responsible families claiming sovereignty over their children and teaching them to learn to drink responsibly, especially wine with meals, the ban on drinking at home doesnt seem likely to go anywhere. Say a little meal prayer, and couldn’t it all be called a religious observance? Twenty-two states now allow underage drinking under certain conditiions, according to Catholic News Service.

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