[pelagius]

Clearly, coffee, tea, and adult beverages are a litmus test. It is certainly fair to argue that in the grand scheme of things that observance of these things is not that important. I think there is some truth to that argument. On the other hand, observance of these prohibitions has a lot to do with boundary maintenance as a people ("tribe"). It is a way to set ourselves apart that is costly but not so costly that it causes major problems for the church (which was the case for 19th century identity markers). So yes, honesty is probably a more important quality for day to day interaction with someone, but it is a inferior signal in terms of group identity. It doesn't strike me as unreasonable for the leadership to require that people signal in this way if they want to fully participant in the church.