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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
 Posted - 04/26/2002 : 05:42:54
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There is an epedemic in Greece. Already several people are dead. In reaction schools, kindergaten and univerities have been closed until mid-may. The government tells people to avoid a lot of things including kissing as precautions. Some say that everyone is being overcautious and just spreading panic, but most would be found overcautious then dead.
The Greek media has suggested that the illness could be transmitted during the holy communion of the Greek Orthodox Church. Instead of arguing on basis of science that the reports unrealistic or changing the ceremony to be more hygenic they have found their own way to counter the claims.
They say that it is blasphemy to even consider that the illness might be spread to the holy ceremony!
That is a good argument right there. Welcome to the dark-ages.
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2002 : 06:32:27 [Permalink]
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When I was in high school I went to an Episcopal Church, and I thought the communion was disgusting, everyone in the place drinking out of the same cup, with the priest wiping the rim with the same hankerchief after every sip.
Should the Health Department give them a rating, as they do restaurants? 
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Truth above pride and ego; truth above all |
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Wiley
Skeptic Friend
68 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2002 : 10:17:16 [Permalink]
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As a (lapsed) Epsicopalian, I've always worried about the sanitariness of the communion. I have always assumed/hoped that the alchohol would kill most things and my fellow churchgoers remembered the unwritten no-backwash rule.
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2002 : 11:58:11 [Permalink]
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quote:
There is an epedemic in Greece. Already several people are dead. In reaction schools, kindergaten and univerities have been closed until mid-may. The government tells people to avoid a lot of things including kissing as precautions. Some say that everyone is being overcautious and just spreading panic, but most would be found overcautious then dead.
The Greek media has suggested that the illness could be transmitted during the holy communion of the Greek Orthodox Church. Instead of arguing on basis of science that the reports unrealistic or changing the ceremony to be more hygenic they have found their own way to counter the claims.
They say that it is blasphemy to even consider that the illness might be spread to the holy ceremony!
That is a good argument right there. Welcome to the dark-ages.
Wasn't this the same thinking that declared ballistics heresy? Didn't make the concerns any less valid. Although alcohol will kill most any germ, the underside of the cup could remain contaminated and infect the next person. That is if the strain of this disease is as virulent as they claim. If it was, with the way people travel, the US would have seen signs of this disease here.
I think it's partially hype and partially overreaction to closing a possible infection point. Lets see what the setback-o-meter says.
(BING) 500.
That means this shows about a 500 year step back for science and religion.
Cthulu/Asmodeus, when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. |
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Donnie B.
Skeptic Friend
417 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2002 : 19:14:08 [Permalink]
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Hmmm... in the enlightened Lutheran church I was raised in, every communicant was given an individual glass (like a miniature shot glass) with the wine, and an individual wafer. The glasses were not reused until after they were washed.
This reminds me of the resistance to lightning rods on the part of some 18th-century religious leaders, who deemed them an affront to the Almighty. After all, if God wants to strike down Farmer Bill's barn with a holy bolt, who are we to interfere?
It's poetic justice, however, that the tallest structure in many towns in those days was the church steeple. I won't extend that part of the metaphor to the current situation...
-- Donnie B.
Brian: "No, no! You have to think for yourselves!" Crowd: "Yes! We have to think for ourselves!" |
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2002 : 20:29:41 [Permalink]
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Its probably an urban legend, but I heard the first businesses to buy into the newfangled lightening rods were the brothels. Hence, the churches got zapped and the whorehouses didn't.
Don't know if this is true, but the irony of it makes for a good story.
Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room. |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 10:43:08 [Permalink]
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quote:
When I was in high school I went to an Episcopal Church, and I thought the communion was disgusting, everyone in the place drinking out of the same cup, with the priest wiping the rim with the same hankerchief after every sip.
The thing I hated the most (granted I was a kid) was the womens lipstick left behind on the chalis. I did wonder if people who were sick should be allowed to drink from the chalis. Oh well.
Donnie, don't think that would work in the church where I was in high school. Seemed that our church was a bit unusual - people were standing outside for mass because they couldn't seem to fit inside the church.
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...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young |
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Badger
Skeptic Friend
Canada
257 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 22:41:57 [Permalink]
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I'm thinkin if you're stupid enough to beleive.......
Darwinism in action???
If you think it's work, you're doing it wrong. |
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