Panel data were used from a probability sample of 1,553 adolescents who were 12 through 14 years old. Maternal religiosity was predictive negatively of alcohol use by adolescents. Maternal religious attendance was more predictive than was maternal religious importance. The association between maternal religiosity and adolescent alcohol use was not explained by race, gender, or age of the adolescent; maternal education, maternal religious denomination, or maternal cigarette smoking status; family structure; or the number of friends who smoke cigarettes; or by the elements of the Hirschi control theory. Apparently, maternal religiosity had an effect on adolescent alcohol use through mechanisms other than those tested in the study. Future studies should determine whether the findings of this study generalize to religious denominations other than Protestants. Future studies also should determine whether the findings of the current study can be generalized to various ethnic groups within a denomination and when considering paternal religiosity. 3 tables, 1 figure, and 65 references