# How Did Christianity End Up With No Notions Of Ritual Impurity?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christianity-end-up-with-no-notions-of-ritual-impurity/556687>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [October 10, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christianity-end-up-with-no-notions-of-ritual-impurity/556687 "2010-10-10T16:37:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christianity-end-up-with-no-notions-of-ritual-impurity/556687/41 "2010-10-14T20:50:05Z")

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> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> > [@Huerta88](#):
> >
> > What other religions do/don’t have literal doctrines of impure or taboo things/foods/people, that make you cursed or spiritually-diminished by mere contact with, in all circumstances, and why?
> 
> Muslims always wash their hands and faces before prayer, and I believe they consider dogs unclean, in the sense that if you touch one after washing, you need to wash again before praying.

You need to ritually wash before praying if anything has gone in or out of your body since the last time you were ritually clean. That is, if you’ve eaten, drunk, pissed, shit, vomited, ejaculated, etc.

> [@bengangmo](#):
>
> This is exactly my view, I always considered that dietary laws came about for one of three reasons (two of which are quite blasphemous, but forgive me)
> 
> 1. The prophet (whichever one you wish to nominate) noticed a link between disease and a particular food, so to “save” people from disease he just said that god told him this food cannot eat (yeah, its an oversimplification, so shoot me)
> 2. The prophet had a business interest in a chicken farm 😃
> 3. The leader simply didn’t like pork
> 
> Do feel free to substitute prophet here for whoever was spreading the word, recording it or otherwise disseminating it.

Item 3 isn’t as out-there as you might think. The eating of shellfish isn’t specifically prohibited in the Quran, but some Muslims avoid shellfish anyway because Mohammed is said to have described shellfish as “distasteful” or “disgusting.”

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**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christianity-end-up-with-no-notions-of-ritual-impurity/556687/42 "2010-10-15T02:51:13Z")

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> [@Huerta88](#):
>
> > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
> >
> > It is symbolic washing, but it’s Jewish in origin, not Christian. Jews were doing mikvahs long before Jesus came along. Christian baptism is actually one of the few retentions of Jewish purity rituals.
> 
> Yeeesss . . . but not quite I think.
> 
> Baptism as a prerequisite to (ultimate, spiritual, non-limbo\*\*\* inclusion) in the after life? Yes.

No, the idea of the mikva has nothing to do with going to heaven. It’s more or less about being able to perform certain actions.

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