Blood On The Floor

Now recently I have had plenty of things to say about one religion in particular (its hard to avoid them and their backwardness, as the death toll ratchets up) ....

Jesus Liked A Celebration And Knees Up ...

 

..... so its easy to forget that there are other religious groups who also hold strange views. Take the Jehovah's Witnesses .... a pacifist Christian group, and harmless to the rest of us (although their beliefs can make them dangerous to themselves).
They hold some very firm beliefs about blood being the symbol of life. This can cause some awkward ruptures with what most of us believe in. For example they consider that their 'God' Jehovah, is displeased by celebrations. This is actually an odd belief, when you consider the amount of feasting and partying that goes on in both the Old and New Testaments ... even Jesus attended celebrations such as the Marriage at Cana, which was a knees up of epic proportions, and he provided the wine!
 

But despite this, not only do Jehovah's Witnesses ban Christmas, but they also ban birthday celebrations. However perhaps a more serious problem is their belief that once blood is spilt or extracted from a human or animal body, then it should be thrown away and not used. This has impacts on both their dietary and medical lives.

In a manner rather like (but not identical with), both the Jews and Muslims, they can't eat certain blood products (such as black puddings, but also including some animal meat as well), unless they have been bled in a ritual method. However more importantly it means that they won't accept blood transfusion for themselves, nor their children.

Any Jehovah's Witness who breaches this 'used blood' prohibition, is outcast from the community, and its this that leads them into clashes with the law, especially over childcare, when they refuse any medical treatment that involves replacing blood ... the prohibition and outcast status, applies to children, just as much as adults.

So there you are .... not a mainstream Christian group by any means, but just shows that the oddness of belief that is a religion, can be found in any society.

The Church Militant May Rise Again ....

But for some quirks of history, we could easily be led by a 'Church Militant' with Christian 'suicide bombers' (aka Christian Martyrs), blowing up other Christian sects churches, and attacking Muslims.

Perhaps some of the more violent proponents of the current religion at war with the world, might want to reflect on what could come out of America after a certain man was made President?