Look, I know plenty of people, if not everyone on this forum, loves to drink and people get incredibly defensive when discussing this subject so I'm probably
going to stand alone with my belief that it truly is the most destructive force in human history. Aside from it's use in the medical field, or perhaps a cooking ingredient,
it serves no useful purpose. Not one.

It's: cheap, addictive, it lowers your inhibitions, it impairs your judgement and wits and worst of all, it's legal.

Even for people who drink occasionally/socially, why? I've been told that it "helps bring people together".
This just sounds like a euphemism for, it intoxicates you to a mild degree of stupidity so that you can be easily amused and think less before you speak.
It also sounds like it robs you of the opportunity to develop actual social skills, so you wont feel nervous or shy around people you don't know in a social setting.

I'd like this to be a discussion, but if it turns into an argument, so be it, but I ask anyone to tell me one good thing about drinking because for my entire life, I've never
been able to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNunMOV5t6U&ab_channel=SUCCESSCHASERS

My vote is for the gun.

That said, 1 to 2 drinks per day is actually healthy, according to a lot of scientific research regarding heart attacks and strokes. If you have a family of history, this is relevant. In contrast, binge drinking (having a lot on weekends) is a different matter. And in terms of cancer, it is a carcinogen.

The gun is a tool, which has been used to harm and protect, intent is the issue. People killed one another before guns were invented
and crimes are still committed without them.

1 to 2 drinks a day is healthy?
A quick Google search revealed that most of the talk around 1-2 drinks per day being "healthy" is inaccurate. Healthy, in this sense seems to be defined as what falls within the definition of moderation. Therefore, "manageable" would be
a more suitable adjective.

https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/moderate-drinking.htm#:~:text=To%20reduce%20the%20risk%20of,days%20when%20alcohol%20is%20consumed.

I did find this article which suggests that light intake of beer there MAY be linked to some health benefits, specifically the reduction in getting heart disease.
However, it's a 'MAY' and of course, the risks outweigh the benefits, it's a desperate argument. Furthermore, why the hell would I drink a beer because it MAY decrease my risk of heart disease
when I can just exercise regularly, eat healthy, take regular walks and guarantee myself exponentially lower risk of heart disease?

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-beer-good-for-you#benefits

In the US:

Alcohol is a factor in 40% of violent crimes.

37% of rapes and sexual assaults
15% of robberies
27% of aggravated assaults
25% of simple assaults

https://www.sasc-dbq.org/alcohol-and-crime

A much stronger case than a "May reduce the risk of heart disease" needs to be made, particularly as you can guarantee a reduction in heart disease by just having a healthy lifestyle.

I'd like this to be a discussion, but if it turns into an argument, so be it, but I ask anyone to tell me one good thing about religion because for my entire adult life, I've never been able to.

I grew up going to the largest denomination in the US; as I often say, every time the church was open, we were there.

But as I matured, I have grown to see it as incredibly damaging.  My natural feelings were sinful, I was not worthy, I needed some mystical relationship with a brutal, capricious supernatural being who gives brain cancer to small children because it's somehow educational or something for those who loved them.  I could get more personal but I won't.   A God who told us that Jews must be persecuted because they killed Jesus.  A God who these days says we should support a guy who claims grabbing them by the p***y doesn't matter because he's ... IDK, the kind of good businessman that bankrupts casinos? 

Even if the flavor isn't the same as yours, all the ones I know of have some similar characteristics: leading pogroms or crashing planes into buildings, spending years on Crusades to crush Infidels, getting your own planet or drinking poison kool-aid.  Okay, they don't all state that up front but there is a definite othering and disdain of the outside group, an insistence on committing no matter what, and I know all about "love the sinner, hate the sin," but if the sin is your sexual destiny as you see it, there's only two ways about it: live a lie or kill yourself.  And just have a look at how "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland largely lie along Catholic v Protestant lines.   But the damage of some religions is more subtle.

For instance, I went to Kathmandu a few years ago, and it is a hellhole of poverty and religion.  Virtually every street corner has a temple or stupa where mendicants spend money to alleviate their ills, buying candles or oil--food oil, I should point out.  But there is no national education system in Nepal, there are no railroads, for that matter, and the roads are deplorable, a lot of them closed for the winter season.  No, they spend their money in supplication to their dozens of gods--Hindu and Buddhist both. 

In the largest city, Kathmandu, they have "load-shedding" which is controlled blackouts of electricity in various areas (the schedule printed each day in the paper), because they can't supply sufficient electrical power.  Now, this country has access to the largest meltwater dam/hydroelectric catchment on the planet via the effing Himalayas, but can't get 24 hour power? It's the 16th poorest country?  What?

But, you might argue that their religion makes them happy.   It just doesn't.   They want money.  I was regularly followed around by touts and beggars--Sure, you say, that's common in tourist areas--but I have been to a lot of places, and seen a lot of sh*t, but there is no place more miserable than Nepal.  Dirt roads which overflow with human offal when it rains too much.  What I never saw anywhere else was when I paid, say, the bicycle rickshaw guy, everyone nearby crowded around to actually see their friend actually get money from the rich foreigner.  The manager of the place I stayed in Nagarkot bragged to me about how a few thousand Nepalis were actually working in Korea--you know, those awful agriculture jobs where you work sixty hours and live in a dorm with a hundred other guys? 

And I'm not sh*tting on them, to be clear, they're improving their lives with those sh*tty jobs, and good for them.  But the reason those jobs are good is because they're not dumping half their pay into the Toothache Tree or whatever.  And to be honest, you can't say that the power, transport and social infrastructure fail Nepal totally due to religion.  The corrupt government sells electricity to India rather than supply it to their own people, but they remain in power largely by playing on religion, so ...

Anyhoo, next time we'll talk about how I almost died in Bangkok when the tuk-tuk driver swerved to avoid a cat that might have been his grandfather.

But just before we go, I know someone or two are going to say: As an atheist (I'm an agnostic, but anyway), where do you get your moral values from?  What is there to prevent you from raping someone?

I like Penn Jillette's answer to this, which is, that I commit all the rapes I want to, which is none.  I murder all the people I want to, which is none.  Basically, it's being at Kohlberg's 6th level of moral development.  If you need religion to help in that, you should give growing up a try.

Last time you posed this question, I suggested that your cultural upbringing might give you a different perspective on this than most. :)

I am not a regular drinker, but I enjoy a glass of wine or a beer now and then.  Very rarely a nice single malt.

They have alcohol in them, yes, but my intent isn’t to get drunk, to lower my (or anyone else’s) inhibitions, or to forget my troubles.

They are just interesting tastes… like oysters, or blue cheese, or fresh bread (which also has alcohol in it!)  You wouldn’t want to overdo any of those either!

Lately, by “brew of choice” is something called Moussy, a nonalcoholic malt beverage made in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (I think it is originally Swiss). In fact, I opened one just before I read this post!

Well it is indeed obvious that Aristocrat's attitude towards alcohol are somewhat tainted by  and intertwined with his religious beliefs and cultural upbringing. One wonders why anyone could think his views, or even his understanding  of 'the topic of this thread', could possibly be objective. This much is abundantly clear by his responses to this thread thus far. He is going to have try a lot harder to convince us of his capacity for a sober discussion.
Unfortunately, the evidence he has presented doesn't quite match the hyperbolic language of his thesis statement. Perhaps, he could work provide us with some evidence of how a night on the piss resulted in a pogrom and/or major international conflict. 

Yes but you see, if anyone does something bad for religious reasons (especially Islam) it's actually because of their culture, not the relgion itself. Or so we've been told. My vote, in terms of numbers directly killed would obviously be Communism

One could contend that the difference between religion and ideology is a often a very subtle one.

Most destructive force?? Probably not.

My top ones; Christianity, diseases, greed.

My question has still gone unanswered so I'll type it again, and in bold for the benefit of people like MR C, who struggle to read.

NAME ONE GOOD THING ABOUT DRINKING.
(on an individual and a societal level)

This was not a question about what you think the most destructive force is.

Last time you posed this question, I suggested that your cultural upbringing might give you a different perspective on this than most. :)

Uh, no.  The topic was "The most destructive force in human history".  You posited alcohol.  I disagree.  I think it's religion. 

Well it is indeed obvious that Aristocrat's attitude towards alcohol are somewhat tainted by  and intertwined with his religious beliefs and cultural upbringing.

Textbook ad hominem right here and exactly what I was afraid of. I posted a link of Jordan Peterson claiming how destructive alcohol is. Is JP a Muslim? No, he's a professor of Psychology who chose alcohol as the subject of his PHD.
If I wasn't Muslim you people wouldn't have anything to say.

JNM was somewhat on the right track, but simply mentioned his habits and how it did not negatively affect his lifestyle. I didn't mention anything personal or anecdotal because I simply don't need to and it's not relevant, that's how you remain objective and unbiased (JNM, MR C and Adel). Think about that before accusing someone of being biased for Religious beliefs they didn't even mention.

Anyway, JNM failed to mention how his drinking habits have improved his life and how drinking improves society.

Uh, no.  The topic was "The most destructive force in human history". 

Look again, it's "Alcohol, the most destructive force in human history"
The subject of the sentence is 'Alcohol'. As I said, start a Religious thread, I'm sure the mods wont mind and it'll be my pleasure to bitch-slap your sad argument.

Textbook ad hominem right here and exactly what I was afraid of. I posted a link of Jordan Peterson claiming how destructive alcohol is. Is JP a Muslim? No, he's a professor of Psychology who chose alcohol as the subject of his PHD.
If I wasn't Muslim you people wouldn't have anything to say.

Whether Peterson is a Muslim is beside the point but  he didn't suggest Alcohol is the most destructive force in human history. Nonetheless that is how you titled this thread. If you'd like to discover a few good things about drinking on a societal level,  I might suggest a  wine tasting tour of the Barossa Valley, but I imagine your religious and cultural upbringings might sour the trip. 
Please continue though. I'm sure you'll convince us eventually!

and homicide is simply an axe in a chest.

These guys need a drink to calm them down. It could be beneficial. In any case I'd suggest they'd do a lot less damage with a bottle of shiraz than those AK47s.