Bob Terwilliger wrote:
>
> Some religions (Orthodox Christianity, for example) have proscriptions on
> oil (including butter) during fasting periods. To counter, Orthodox
> followers use margarine, and apparently feel that they're following the fast
> because they're adhering to the letter of the law -- never mind that
> margarine didn't exist when the law was written, or it would have been
> prohibited too! Some religions *do* believe that the letter of the law is
> what matters, rather like a legal system where precedent matters more than
> the spirit of the law.

That's for sure. I'm reminded of a Catholic I worked with
who announced she was giving up stress for Lent. Huh?
I thought you were supposed to give up something you like,
like chocolate or coffee.

Or the orthodox Jews who were trapped in their homes on
their sabbath when a freak snowstorm hit Jerusalem and
knocked down the rope encircling the Jewish quarter and
symbolically made that part of Jerusalem a single
household, so people go out shopping on the sabbath
as long as they stayed within the rope.