i don't know where else to put this story.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 61,00.html

Indian Babies Dropped 50 Feet for Good Luck in Bizarre Ritual



A jaw-dropping ritual in India has infants plunging 50 feet from a tower to wish them good health. Devotees at a Muslim shrine in western India's Maharashtra state believe the act makes children stronger.

It is practised by couples who are blessed with a child after taking a vow at the Baba Sheikh Umar Saheb 'Dargah' (the Muslim place of worship) in the Musti village of Solapur.

The ritual has been observed for more than 500 years.

The devotees believe it is good for the health of the child but some onlookers were visibly shaken by it.

Locals claim no child who has been thrown has suffered any physical disability.

The ritual is observed by both Muslims and Hindus every year and takes place amid tight security.

One mother, named Jayashree, said: "If you do this, it is good for the child. They become healthy. It is to get the blessings of God. The babies are between nine months and 11 months old or sometimes are of even less age."

Another mother said: "It is to give them courage, intelligence and strength. This is an old tradition.

"These people have been doing this and we will continue to do this."

A health department worker added: "People have fear and devotion for the God. People do this so that the child becomes courageous. This is what people want. They feel it would benefit them."

Have you read the Bhagavad Gita?

And here are some more rituals:

The Seven Sacraments of the [Catholic] Church

Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life: they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life.

Following this analogy, the first chapter will expound the three sacraments of Christian initiation; the second, the sacraments of healing; and the third, the sacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful. This order, while not the only one possible, does allow one to see that the sacraments form an organic whole in which each particular sacrament has its own vital place. In this organic whole, the Eucharist occupies a unique place as the "Sacrament of sacraments": "all the other sacraments are ordered to it as to their end."

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2.htm

Nutters.

I'm having trouble making the connection between the sacraments of the Catholic Church and throwing babies off a roof. Unless you're suggesting infant baptism is putting the baby's life at risk of drowning?

Yeah. I officially have no idea what's going on now.

This thread is called rituals. The sacraments are rituals. Whether the rituals are dangerous or not makes no difference.

Here's a description of some of the rituals from The Church of Jesus Christ with Signs Following:

What Covington discovered, in that church and others like it, was a tradition of religious mysticism in which people cast out demons, speak in tongues, drink strychnine, run blowtorches up and down their arms, and drape themselves with rattlesnakes. If the people are truly filled with the Spirit when they do these things, which Covington makes clear that they actually do, then no harm comes to them. If their faith is weak, the blowtorches burn their flesh and the rattlers strike them down. In the minds of the faithful at The Church of Jesus Christ With Signs Following, the ability to dance in the Spirit with a rattlesnake is a sign of strong faith and sure convictions.

http://www.allsoulsnyc.org/publications ... nders.html

Ok.
It's just that when c_b makes a reference to religion it is usually in a negative light. So I assumed you were trying to make a connection to religion in a negative sense as well.

That last quote sounds to be specifically describing the Pentecostal church, scary stuff.

I write about religion all the time, don't I? I try not to be either negative or positive. I never write about my personal beliefs although you may be able to infer some things. I mainly just quote the ideas of others in response to certain questions and issues. I believe that lots of bad things happen in the name of religion, but if you look closely, religion is often just a smoke screen for much more complex issues. Parsing out the complexities of situations can be difficult, so people often jump on the most obvious explanations. And it doesn't just happen with religion, it can also involve ethnic conflicts as well. The abolition of religion wouldn't result in a safe and harmonious world.

That's why I was so confused.
I just assumed c_b was driving the thread to be more about negative effects of rituals/religion, so I was looking for something directly negative in your ritual reference. My mistake.
Further proof of what happens when you assume...

Your comment and the thread title made me really wonder about something. What are rituals that have no religious connotation? Are there any?

Sure there are.

I think every club or organization has some type of rituals. From the boy scouts to fraternities, etc...

of course. social rituals. the header story appears to be non-religious, though it is still an unfounded belief.

I grew up in a mining camp. I'm culturally ignorant.

Don't miners have rituals?

Perhaps, but they didn't share them with me.

px ftw

He should have been tossed 50 ft off a building when he was a baby.

in after cultural insensitivity
in before USA or USA-backed group is eventually blamed
in during liberal guilt