Another way writers have handled this, from the Dungeons & Dragons Standard Reference Document:
How is this done?
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I read a short story in which a vampire calls on a pair of uber-Yuppies in their upper Manhattan penthouse. When the he-Yuppie realizes that death is quickly approaching with sharp pointy fangs, he first tries to brandish a small cross his wife is wearing. The vamp laughs and keeps coming, and the guy panics and starts pulling cash out of his wallet and throwing it at the vamp, screaming, “Take it all! Just leave us alone!” The cash banished the vampire.
Don’t remember who the author is, but I thought it was a pretty clever take on the whole “it’s not the object, it’s the faith” theory.
A plot point used in Jeffrey Sackett’s BLOOD OF THE IMPALER- secular Jew Jerry, buddy to Malcolm Harker (descendent of Keanu & Winona 
), drinks a flask of wine, not knowing that it was consecrated Eucharistic wine kept by Malcolm for anti-vampire protection. Revived Vamp Lucy Westenra soon after bites drunk Jerry & so enthralls him to her. As Jerry’s Eucharistically-drunk blood courses through her, she gets feverish & finally explodes.
The book is totally cool & woefully out of print!
Who? This is interesting!
I always thought that you had to believe in vampires for them to be a danger to you. By believe, I mean that vampires need to be part of your cultural mythology.
Seriously, can you see a vampire going after a Hindu? “Dr Patel, I vant to suck your blood!” just doesn’t cut it…
Interesting about the holy water.
In “Carpe Jugulum” Terry Pratchett writes about a family of vampires who teach themselves to discredit all vampire lore.
In a way he shows us a world in which one’s belief in the holy items doesn’t matter; it’s the VAMPIRES who have to believe in the holy items.
Bryan Ekers, if I recall correctly, what Beni said is actually the beginning of almost all the Jewish prayers (“Baruch atah adonai”). It’s an instantly recognizable phrase that wouldn’t require speaking or understanding Hebrew to get.
Later scenes indicated that Imhotep managed to explain his plans in detail to Beni, and presumably Beni was able to explain certain facts to Imhotep, suggesting they could communicate well beyond simple phrase recognition.
Easy. “Magic is shaped by belief, and as a vampire, I am a magical creature. Since people believe crosses harm vampires, crosses harm me. It’s no different than my inability to cross running water, and hardly qualifies as proof of God !” < vampire bursts into flame from saying “God” >
There was a book, The Logical Magician, where holy objects stopped working on vampires for just that reason; too many people stopped regarding religion as pure good.
Barbara Hambly and Those Who Hunt The Night, right ?
Of course, holy symbols won’t work on non-supernatural vampires; I remember the ending of one story with those where a Soviet official tried to stop one with a cross. “Comrade, Comrade ! And I thought you’d be a good Communist to the end !”
Another interesting variation from Blue Moon by Laurell Hamilton. When Anita Blake ( vampire hunter, devout Christian and necromancer ) and some Odin worshiping werewolves are at the werewolves holy tree, they are attacked by a hundred or so vampires. The tree was consecrated to the wrong religion, but it was consecrated with death rituals ( it’s where the werewolves hung their dead to honor Odin ); she used her necromancy to wake up the tree’s holy magic, and the entire area became holy ground, frying all the vampires.
Let’s say you’re an atheist, and you live in a world where vampires can only be affected by the faithful. Do you have to seek protection from your pious buddy, or can you use your faith in human intellect or something? Maybe your symbol could be a Darwin fish, or a Flying Spaghetti Monster t-shirt.
Jewish Vampires…
I’ve never thought about this and it is strangely appealing and MST3K .
We’ve had these discussions about what stops vampires and what affects non-Christian vampires before. I’ve said quite a bit back then, and I’m not going to repeat it.
I just want to comment on the OP – to tell the truth, I don’t recall anywhere that a vampire can’t enter a church. If vampires were excluded fronm “Holy Ground”, that weould include the cemetaries where they’re buried, wouldn’t it?
I think the OP’s original assumption is flawed.
Of course, it seems tio me that , to a Christan vampie, a cemetary must be one of the scariest places around.
All those crosses on the tombstones, you know.
I’m amazed they have the presence of mind to retrieve their coffins and some of the burial earth to rest in…
They probably hire some goons.
But what could a Jewish vampire exist on? Surely blood isn’t kosher…
For your reference:
There’s a scene in which a jewish vampire chases a girl who tries to ward him off with a cross.
His response: “It vouldn’t help, shixsa!”
Very weird movie btw…
Sorry - didn’t realize that was the same movie!
Well, we’ve already mentioned that vampires supposedly have problems with going into any building, let alone a holy one.
I suspect that the “vampires can’t enter churches” myth is related to “the Devil can’t enter churches” - as vampires were (presumably) seen as part of or belonging to the Devil, it makes sense that they too would be restricted as he was.
The subject is dealt with in the graphic novel Greenberg The Vampire. Without spoiling anything, he lives off blood collected by his brother Ira, who is a kosher butcher.
White Wolf has occasionally touched on the issue of Jewish vampires.
