When Sunday alcohol sales legislation finally got through the Capitol after five years of heated lobbying -- waiting for teetotaler Sonny Perdue, who vowed to veto any such measure, to leave the governor’s office -- it appeared the fight would move to the local level.
But in the final weeks before voters in more than 100 jurisdictions statewide decide whether to allow stores in their communities to sell liquor, wine and beer on Sundays, there’s little sign of a battle going on.
So far, no organized “vote no” campaign has materialized, not in metro Atlanta where 51 jurisdictions will vote on the local-level measures Nov. 8 or anywhere else in the state.
The Georgia Christian Coalition only last week began an attempt to rouse an opposition movement, sending out 12,000 emails imploring pastors and other church officials, parishioners, religious organizations, and civic clubs across the state to unite against Sunday sales. Its traditional allies have shown little interest in getting involved, even if they prefer the ban.
The Rev. Barry McCarty, the pastor of Peachtree Christian Church in Midtown Atlanta, which he described as "evangelical conservative," said he is passing on the coalition’s request. The church only gets involved in politics when there's a strong moral issue at stake, McCarty said, and that's not the case with Sunday package sales.
Drunkenness is a sin, he said, not drinking. Though McCarty would like to see the Sunday ban continue, keeping a restraint on weekend consumption, he said he can't spread that message from the pulpit.
"If it's permissible for someone to drink wine without becoming intoxicated, as to what day he buys it on, I think Scripture is neutral on that," McCarty said. "I'm not comfortable looking my people in the eye and saying, ‘This is how you should vote.' "
Jerry Luquire, president of the Georgia Christian Coalition, said churches' complacency has been a disappointment.
But even Luquire, who promises another mass email will go out next week, is pressing to continue the ban more as a safety issue than a matter of violating the Sabbath. The former broadcaster, who quit drinking three decades ago, says Sunday beer, wine and liquor sales will prompt impulse buys on what should be a day of leisure, putting more drunken drivers on the roads.
"It turns Sunday into another Saturday," he said, "and you can ask any police officer about the drinking that goes on on Saturday night."
Scholarly research, however, has found little connection between Sunday sales and increased traffic deaths. Mothers Against Drunk Driving is staying out of the fray, the Georgia affiliate's stance being that it doesn't oppose responsible adult drinking but being drunk behind the wheel any day of the week.
The lack of pushback has surprised some public officials.
Lawrenceville Mayor Judy Jordan Johnson once worried that if the City Council put the alcohol question on the November ballot, it would dominate local debate and end up being why voters choose one candidate over another in municipal elections. But at a candidates forum earlier this month, the topic didn't come up.
University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock is also surprised by the lack of organized opposition.
He said that if Luquire's rallying effort falls flat, it could further erode the Georgia Christian Coalition’s clout in the state. If Luquire succeeds, though, heated debates could erupt along religious lines.
"One could make the case that the Christian Coalition is not as powerful as it was 10 years ago," Bullock said. "It could be a swan song for the organization, or it might be a means to attract more people back in and raise money."
While Luquire has seen no interest from religious organizations to fight Sunday sales, he has received hundreds of vitriolic calls and messages from those who want to buy alcohol seven days a week.
"People see alcohol use on Sunday as more of a religious issue than a safety issue," he said, "and they do not want to be dictated to by someone else's religion or even their own."
That's the case with Will Pollock, a freelance writer in Midtown Atlanta who's tired of having to shop on Saturdays for parties he throws on Sundays.
"It's not about the inconvenience for me. This is about conservative, devout Christians who don't want to see alcohol sales on Sunday," he said. "Every person I know is in favor of this law to end. It's puritanical."
Some religious groups with wide spheres of influence said fighting Sunday sales isn't worth their limited resources, especially in a failing economy.
The Rev. Gerald Durley, pastor of Atlanta's Providence Missionary Baptist Church and co-chairman of the Atlanta Regional Council of Churches, said he's more concerned with HIV and teen pregnancy prevention and opposing the death penalty.
"If I thought it was going to stop drinking, we might have something," Durley said. "People are going to buy alcohol whether we want them to or not. We went through this with Prohibition."
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