There’s some dispute regarding appearance standards in which a young woman has insisted that her pierced nose is part of her religious beliefs. Long story short–she does not want to remove the piercing on religious grounds because she is a member of the "Church of Body Modification."
The Church of Body Modification espouses an open minded approach to what it calls ancient body modification rites that are essential to spirituality. Funny, that’s what most ancient body modification cultures said to justify ritual human sacrifice. You know, removing the heart, chopping off heads, that sort of thing. Had to do it to appease the gods. Millions ‘modified.’
And aren’t clitorectomies and ancient religious form of body modification? I wonder if they are tolerant of those as well? Stoning women is another winner–not so much spiritual, but a religiously motivated modification none the less.
I realize these are circumstances where the person being modified might be the ‘I’ in T-E-A-M, and that the Church of body modification is really talking about creating a safe place to excuse self mutilation by validating it as a form of spirituality, but I can say the exact same thing about Cheesburgers and fries. At the Church of Cheeseburgers and Fries we are very open minded, and not at all critical–unless the food is cold or one of the "brothers of the folded paper hat" screws up our order.
There are literally thousands of sacred temples globally where we can "worship" with a manifold of diversity unlike that found in any other ‘faith.’ There are dozens if not hundreds of different denominations to choose from and in most cases the tithing is accessible to even the most austere budget. And let’s be honest, this will eventually modify my body–with almost no chance of infection, unlike cutting and piercing.
Throw in a sacramental Sam Adams Boston Lager and….mm-mm-mmmm.
So what if my combined cholesterol score surpasses 1000 and my blood moves like molasses in January. Too bad if I need a whole row of seats to fly coach. Michelle Obama and her obesity initiative can take a powder–this is a spiritual exercise. I have a religious right to participate in the ancient ritual of stuffing my face if for no other reason than it is spiritually fulfilling. That is what those pains are right? My hungry spirit? Now where’s that damn remote?
So you see adding a few (or a few hundred) new points of possible infection to the human body is just as deserving of first amendment religious protections as eating at the Church of Cheeseburgers and Fries. So you narrow minded haters back off. This is America. We have rights.
