Foot-Washing

My great-grandmother and her folk were Primitive Baptists, for whom foot-washing was a crucial annual ritual (as it is for the Pope). My mother tells me stories about how carefully prepared were the feet of all the parishioners come Maundy Thursday, lest any rumors get around that they weren't perfectly upkept, those feet belonging to very hard working men and women from the mountains of rural Tennessee. 

Muslims do it five times a day, at least they're meant to do. In Texas there's a little controversy about it.

One of the justifications for installing the foot-washing stations is that travelers performing Wudu were washing their feet in ordinary bathroom sinks, which is disgusting and incredibly unhygienic. Can you imagine walking in on that? 

Indeed I can! I have encountered that fairly often in my life, first in China where a number of the folk in our residence hall were African Muslims. I don't know that it's any more unhygenic than washing their hands in the sink; our issue was that they washed their feet and their hands several times a day, but very rarely their armpits or other areas that might have benefitted from more regular attention. I was more than happy for them to wash. I only wished that they did a more thoroughgoing job of it.

There is probably a reasonable point of balance between "We don't want to favor any religion in public accommodations, especially not Islam as Muslims sometimes confuse accommodations with conquest," and "I really would prefer you not wash your feet in our shared sink." 

Dangerous Gentlemen

One of my county commissioners is apparently on a mission from God. 

Next time I run into that guy I'm going to ask him just what he means by "dangerous gentlemen." In principle it's compatible with my 2004 essay Social Harmony. All the same, religious angles make me suspicious when they come from a politician.