Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Forward and backwards.

Forward

In Nepal, menstruating women have been permitted back into their houses.
There is a tradition in parts of Nepal of keeping women in cow-sheds during their period.
[...]
The Supreme Court has ordered the government to declare the practice as evil and given it one month to begin stamping the practice out.
Meanwhile, in America, it's the men in the cow sheds, and they're hiding. Oh, and no one look at the inconvinient verses in Leviticus which suggest that Jews might have once thought along the same lines, back when we were a little more serious about tahara and tummah. Though the Torah never changes, the Jews do. And thank God for that.

Backwards

In Italy, the Pope moved ahead of the president in the race to see who can turn the clock back the most centuries, urging participants in an exorcist convention "to carry on their important work in the service of the church." In a related story Martin Luther, John Wesley, and John Calvin, were quoted saying "Ha! Told you so." There was no comment from the kabbalists and gilgul-hunters.