Local news last night was dominated by the story of a floor collapsing in a Katy home sending dozens of people to the hospital. The floor, in a garage apartment that was being dedicated as a temple crashed under the weight of dozens of people gathered for the ceremony.
Most of the injuries were minor, with only a couple of the people from the gathering hospitalized.
The worshipers were followers of Jainism, the fourth largest religion in India. I didn’t know anything about the religion, so I did a little research.
First, while they believe that absolute truth exists, Jainists believe that it can only be partially perceived from an individual’s limited point of view. Therefore, adherence to dogma, even their own, is potentially harmful. Okay, I thought, I could get behind that.
Jainists are pacifists and because they avoid doing harm to any living thing, they are total vegans. I would have problems with that, but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until I read that their diet excluded garlic, onions and even potatoes because pulling the plants up by the roots might cause them pain.
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