Oklahoma Journeys

Week of May 20, 2007

Sacramental Wine Case, 1913

Prohibition in Oklahoma came into being along with the state in 1907. From 1907 then until the end of prohibition in 1959, it was illegal to produce, import or sell any form of alcohol. Oklahomans dealt with this situation in several ways most notably by developing a thriving bootleg trade. Others took their case to court and that’s the topic of this week’s Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating our Centennial from the Oklahoma Historical Society.

From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating our Centennial. I'm Michael Dean.

For most Oklahoman's the decision to make the state free of alcohol was not a life-altering event. If you were a drinker, liquor or beer was easily obtained in almost any town or region. Every county had bootleggers or smugglers and more often than not the local law enforcement was either in on the operation or gladly turned a blind eye to the obvious. So productive was the state's liquor and beer industry during prohibition that no one really cared about fighting the anti-liquor law. Only when the law was finally enforced in the mid-fifties did people take offense and remove the prohibition measure. For some residents of the state, however, the law did prove to be extremely irritating and even morally devastating at times. For the Catholics, Lutherans and Episcopalians of the state this law prevented them from obtaining the sacramental wine necessary for their ceremonies. Despite the fact that local Baptist and Church of Christ officials claimed Christ really drank grape juice at the last supper, the Catholics and others continued to pursue the right to practice the religion of their choice as stated in and guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Setting off the actual battle was an incident in which a case of sacramental wine was confiscated from a train in Norman even though the bottles clearly had labels proclaiming them to be, "for church use only." The laws of Oklahoma, the religious groups claimed, were threatening to stop a 2,000 year-old tradition, one that Christ himself had created. The situation reached a boiling point in 1917 ending up in a court case against the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. The initial court decision went against the religious groups and upheld the law banning wine from the state. In an appeal, however, the Oklahoma Supreme Court in a unanimous decision reversed the lower court and allowed the various religions to continue using wine in their services. It was in this week of 1918 that the state supreme court handed down their ruling bringing great relief to the Catholics, Lutherans and Episcopalians of the state. The state court argued that banning the sacramental wine was legally within the letter of the law but didn't really fit with the spirit of the law, meaning that while it was technically against the law, using wine in church didn’t interfere with the intended purpose of prohibition. Religious freedom emerges victorious this week in 1918. The sacramental wine case was covered extensively by Oklahoma newspapers which are available for viewing in the research library of the Oklahoma History Center. The History Center is located on NE 23rd street just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating our Centennial is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society dedicated to the collection, preservation and sharing of our state's past. I'm Michael Dean.