Posted by wendy b. on November 26, 2002, at 18:03:14
In reply to Re: false statements (2) » BeardedLady, posted by Lou Pilder on November 26, 2002, at 16:29:09
Lou,
And your point is...? Truly, I'm not interested in whether blood-drinking is prohibited by most religions. Does this mean it's BEYOND discussion? I would have to maintain that it is not.
Yes, my remarks were humorous, and from the e-mails I received, it wasn't only Beardy who found them funny. Relax, Lou, it's only humor, not some kind of plot to undermine the major religions of the world...
I remember attending a lecture on Haitian religious practices at the Museum of Natural History in New York, many moons ago. It's called Voodoo:
Main Entry: 1. voo·doo
Pronunciation: 'vü-(")dü
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural voodoos
Etymology: Louisiana Creole voudou, probably from Ewe vódu tutelary deity, demon
Date: 1850
1 : a religion that is derived from African polytheism and ancestor worship and is practiced chiefly in Haiti
2 a : a person who deals in spells and necromancy b (1) : a sorcerer's spell : HEX (2) : a hexed object : CHARM
- voodoo adjectiveAnyway, ritualistic blood-letting and drinking are part of that culture. I thought it was interesting. I didn't immediately reject it as a practice. Haitain voodoo is a civilized, human-made religious act. Not to be put down, but, rather: accepted.
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For another, entirely different example, read this, written by a born-again Christian, on the practice of vampirism (sorry, but it made me laugh - oops there's that HUMOR again...):"True vampirism is not a joke, nor is it a ghost story. Christians need to understand that this is a real (albeit uncommon) affliction, just like drug abuse or child abuse. Sadly, it is getting more common. Because of the universal taboos and biblical commands against blood drinking, many newly saved Christians, whose past included vampirism, now struggle with serious issues. "Can I be a Born Again vampire?" "Can God forgive me?" "Will the church ever accept such a monster as I?" "
The web citation is:
http://www.chick.com/seasonal/halloween/vampireletter.asp
It's a serious discussion.
__________________
Also see another discussion on the demonization of Satanism and Wicca:
"Shortly after the mass suicide of Heaven's Gate members, a local reporter contacted Chico State'sSarah Pike, professor of Religious Studies, for her perspective on the event. That evening, when she sat down to watch the news, she was horrified to see her comments worked into a feature about vampire cults in Chico. Members of a neo-pagan group in southern Indiana known as the Elflore Family must have been similarly horrified when the police who showed up at one of their woodland festivals described it as a satanic gathering and claimed to have seen celebrants drinking blood and consuming human flesh. Why do Americans have such a need to demonize strange religions? Why must we define the Other as evil? These questions interest Pike, whose talk, "Evil in Your Back Yard: Strange Cults and America'sStruggle with Religious Diversity," wrapped up the Center for Multi-Cultural and Gender Studies' "Conversations on Diversity" series for fall.
All religious movements start small, Pike noted, usually have a charismatic leader, and frequently, if not always, face disparagement, ridicule, or worse. We tend to assume members of these religions are brainwashed by their "gurus" or insane to begin with. And we tend to call these religions cults. "A cult is something other people don't like," said Pike, who has done extensive research on contemporary pagan festivals and, in the process, uncovered a huge literature, beginning for the most part in the mid-eighties, that attempts to link New Age and neo-pagan beliefs with satanism, a phenomenon some sociologists have labeled "satanic panic." "which is from:
http://www.csuchico.edu/pub/inside/archive/97_12_11/divers.html
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Also this, on communion and drinking "blood":"... thousands and thousands of years ago, there developed and evolved basic ritualistic behavioral patterns, and mythological motifs, or themes, that have spread by a process of diffusion from, at least, the Neanderthal period through Cro-Magnon caves, and into the Christian churches and cathedrals of 20th-century America.
One of the more obvious of these is the "sacred meal" or ritualistic cannibalism. We still practice this ritual today in the Protestant and Roman Catholic communion, where we eat the body and drink the blood of the divine leader.
The Christian church calls it "communion," or "taking communion." The communicant eats and drinks, symbolically or literally, the flesh and blood of the divine "leader." The traditional invitation to Communion, spoken by the presiding clergy, is this: "Take, eat, this is my body . . . this cup is the new covenant is my blood . . . drink."
Eating a body and drinking blood is a cannibalistic theme, no matter how hard the clergy try to water it down, or theo-babble around it by calling it "only symbolic" cannibalism. In the 9th century, the clergy said that God made the flesh of Jesus only look like a wafer so as not to upset the worshipers. They were really cannibals, but they didn't have to face up to it, admit it, or be vividly aware of it.
How convenient. History reeks with Theo-babble. ("Theo" God-babble.) One anthropological scholar who has spent a lifetime studying this ritual is Dr. Jean-Paul Dumont, professor of anthropology at the University of Washington. He writes: "Cannibalism has always been a part of religious behavior. The principle is the same . . . acquiring through ingestion the powers of something, whether human or divine. The purpose has always been to take on the qualities of the person being eaten. Through the ritual you share in the divinity of the one being eaten. In our Christian traditions we still practice this cannibalistic ritual in taking Communion."quoted from:
http://www.banned-books.com/truth-seeker/1996archive/123_1/12communion.html
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So Lou, don't think you've got a lock on what true believers say and do. Here are three (out of many many more) discussions about blood-drinking, in some form or fashion. You can't ban THOUGHT.There's a lot of controversy out there - just waiting for you...
Salutations,
Wendy
> BL,
> Are you saying tat Wendy's remarks about eating blood are humorous?
> A resonable person that has a faith in a particular God could construe the remark to constitute confrontation and/or ridicule. There are many faiths that have the prohibition of eating blood. The Witnesses of Jahovah do not even take blood transfusions. Observant Jewish people do not even allow blood to be in the meat that they eat. Islamic people also. Other Christiandom groups also have the prohibition of eating blood. Religious groups that are vegetarians also prohibit the eating of blood.
> I agree with the moderator here in flagging the post in question so that others would abide by the goals of the faith board to only post content that supports faith in God. Those posts that have the potential to arrouse ant-God feelings could be posted on another board, although IMO, those type of posts would be inappropriate on any board here because I do not see how they could offer support to those that come here seeking light and understanding about their afflictions, and are searching for support to overcome them. The faith board is [unique] in respect that offering support in faith in God is its only purpose and all other thought that is antagonistic to [faith in God] is not supportive.
> Lou
>
poster:wendy b.
thread:8293
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020918/msgs/8332.html