Re: virus: Re: communion

Eva-Lise Carlstrom (eva-lise@efn.org)
Mon, 30 Nov 1998 14:31:01 -0800 (PST)


On Fri, 27 Nov 1998, stephen fleming wrote:

> on the subject of communion....
>
> I was thinking about this a while ago... its pretty bizzarre. The whole
> thing may have started as a 'sharing of food' sortof thing... something
> that builds community, etc. Very bonding and 'democratic' (tho thats not
> the right word). Consider its current form; the involvement of the
> communicants (?) is reduced to kneeling meekly and having wafers put in
> their mouths (I don't believe they even have to CHEW)... All personal
> action is removed. Very disempowering.
> Metaphorically its something like "swallow everything".
> The original sharing food as a community idea has been replaced with a
> menes that mathaphorically increases the receptiveness of commincants to
> the religions meme complex.
> Or something...

Actually, I understand Catholics taking Communion are required *not* to
chew or bite the Eucharist--they must let it dissolve on the tongue. I
have not heard such a requirement for other sects, some of which use
actual bread, for which such a procedure would be less viable.

--Eva,
who once explained Comminion as ritual cannibalism, to a roomful of
blank-faced high school students and a scandalized Spanish teacher.