Doctors from Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick, Australia, have won the right to administer a blood transfusion to a 17-year-old boy who refuses the treatment on the grounds of his faith as one of Jehovah’s Witness.
New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Ian Gzell handed down the order on March 28, At the time he noted that his orders “may only extend (the boy’s) life for 10 months – when he becomes an adult and may stop the treatment”.
The boy is being treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the Sydney Morning Herald says.
He told the doctors that being sedated for a blood transfusion would be akin to being raped.
According to the paper
On a whiteboard in his hospital room, X’s father wrote a scripture reference to abstaining from blood, which is forbidden for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The teachings of the Watch Tower, the entity behind the movement of Jehovah’s Witnesses, regarding blood transfusions are unbiblical. While the religious sect identifies itself as a Christian movement, it is widely considered to be theologically a cult of Christianity — meaning that its teachings and practices fall outside the boundaries of the Christian faith.
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions?
Jehovah’s Witnesses & Blood Transfusions
New organization takes on Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Watch Tower Society
Saudi Arabia deports ‘irresistible’ men deemed ‘too handsome’ to women
At Religion News Blog we have documented many instances of what we consider to be prime examples of ‘religious insanity.’
Today’s example comes from Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam.
Three men from the United Arab Emirates attended the annual Jenadrivah Heritage & Culture Festival in Riyadh, when officers from the country’s religious police stormed the stand and evicted the men because “they are too handsome,” according to the Arabic language newspaper, Elaph.
The Telegraph quotes the paper as saying
“A festival official said the three Emiratis were taken out on the grounds they are too handsome and that the Commission [for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices] members feared female visitors could fall for them.”
The Telegraph also notes that Saudi Arabia is “a deeply religious and ultraconservative society” in which woman are forbidden from interacting with unrelated males, do not have the same rights as men, and are not allowed to drive.
Now… back to the 21st century.
Email rules loosened for Mormon Missionaries
Mormon Missionaries must abide by a long list of rigid rules during their two year mission.
But as the Associated Press reports, now the rules covering email have been “loosened a bit to allow them to send emails to friends, priesthood leaders and new converts.”
LDS spokesman Eric Hawkins said Wednesday that missionaries must get permission from their mission president before sending emails to converts or people of the opposite gender, under the new rules.
And they are still restricted to sending emails through the church’s filtered email service and on the designated preparation day each week. Emails also must be sent from public computers at somewhere like a library where a fellow missionary can see the screen.