I don't usually post replies on this thread....
But that Leviticus thread was so insanely wrong that I had to reply.

Leviticus is far from a business document. It is in fact a public health guide.

Recommendations not to touch the skin of a pig are related to the unsanitary conditions in which pigs live - and the likelyhood of infection as a result - the same reasons that the Jews originally did not eat pork.

The advice about Shellfish was the same, when not properly prepared, Shellfish can be dangerous and lead to food poisoning - and the people at the time had only limited knowledge of how to prepare Shellfish properly.

Wearing garments made of cotton and wool is actually bad for you - a mixed element garment is more absorbant - and thus will absorb sweat far more than a single element garment. Since sweat includes many bacteria etc. this leads to unhealthy clothing.

The various sexual regulations are also there for health reasons - most of the chapter is warning about incest, which many ordinary people back then would not have been aware of.


Therefore one should not see the passage as misplaced religious ideology, but as a 3000 year old public health guide.
(R-T-C Got arbitrage profits?, Fri 18 Mar 2005, 9:47, Reply)