There isn't thousands of years of social precedence around winding down by shooting heroine with your friends.

No one's saying alcohol is healthy, but you're certainly cutting out a certain potential for social experiences by avoiding bars and alcohol. For some people the effect help them loosen up enough to have positive, meaningful interactions they wouldn't have otherwise.

As a past high functioning alcoholic. That line of reasoning sounds very familiar. I used to tell myself the same thing. But once you stop drinking, you start seeing that the drinking was adding to the stress, and personal relationships were not as 'meaningful' as I thought. Hanging out drinking is not as 'deep' as it appears when not drinking.

Many studies do show that alcohol leads to additional stress, which then drives the need for additional drinking.

EDIT

Don't take me wrong. You seemed to really focus on the Religious side. I'm just saying that there are a lot of valid Health Reasons (Non-Moral, Non-religious) reasons not to drink.

And, I'm not saying I don't like drinking. Just because I'm an addict doesn't mean I don't like drinking.