r/MurderedByWords Apr 02 '20

Wholesome Murder Salam brother

Post image
48.1k Upvotes

2.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.5k

u/smokecat20 Apr 02 '20

I think it was viruses, bacteria, infections that influenced religious rituals, e.g. cover your head, don’t eat swine, cows, etc. I think half the Bible was about warning of plagues, droughts, famine, etc . but was reappropriated by the few and powerful as a means to control people instead.

443

u/Nomadicminds Apr 02 '20

I was told of theories like tapeworms and rabies could’ve influenced aversion to certain animals as food or contact?

19

u/Rhamni Apr 02 '20

Yeah, pork in particular can carry very nasty parasites if not cooked properly. So back then any cultural awareness of the dangers of xyz was just absorbed into the local religions. You see the same warnings in non-Abrahamic religions in the same areas.