Categories: life-and-musings, faith
Date: 16 July 2007 21:24:44
Cows are sacred to Hindus. Chastity rings are not sacred to Christians. They're not even mandated, like the Sikh five K's are, or the veil is if you are a Muslim from a certain cultural background.
Therefore, you can't compare the two cases (for people not from the UK, or people who have been living under a rock for the last three months, see here (sacred cows) and here (silver rings)).
I think a Hindu being asked to consent to the death of a cow would be like a Catholic being required to desecrate the Host - we regard the Host as literally being the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, so by desecrating the Host, we are attacking God.
By telling someone to take off a ring, we are not preventing them from manifesting their faith, or asking them to do something totally against their faith, since the ring is not in itself a part of the faith. Nobody is forcing the girl in the chastity ring case to have sex if she takes her ring off (and if the only thing stopping you having a night of wild monkey sex is a bit of silver, you've got more problems than I can deal with in a blog post). However, as I understand it, by asking a Hindu to kill an animal, you are going against some of the deepest tenets of their faith.
If I was told that I could no longer wear my Dominican cross at work, I'd shrug. Might go down to the St Paul's Bookshop by the Cathedral and get a pair of Miraculous Medal earrings, Just Because, but the lack of cross won't matter. The outward symbol is not what makes me a Dominican, it's the inner conviction, shown by outer action. And the stack of theology books all over the sitting room floor. Must tidy up.
Likewise, the silver ring shouldn't be what's making this girl celibate, it should be her inner convictions that make her say "no, I will not have wild monkey sex with you, young man." The ring might serve as a handy reminder, but your outward actions need to be a sign of your inward grace, and your outward actions shouldn't need to include brandishing a ring under someone's nose.