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I would imagine that most modern wine is not necessarily the same type as the wine that would have been used as (presumably) table wine at the last supper. Ind

I would imagine that most modern wine is not necessarily the same type as the wine that would have been used as (presumably) table wine at the last supper. Indeed it seems likely based on archaeological evidence that common wines drunk in the region and at the time contained additives for flavor! See https://www.vivino.com/wine-news/searching-for-the-wine-from-the-last-supper https://www.vivino.com/wine-news/searching-for-the-wine-from... Furthermore, how far should one take this silly adherence to imagined fact? If we discover that in Jerusalem they drank predominantly wine from some now extinct local varietal, does that make all masses since invalid? I, like the poster you’re replying to, grew up Catholic, and this sort of slavish adherence to stuff some church person made up at some point in the past has always struck me as one of the more ridiculous parts of the religion.

tialaramex 3y ago
Catholicism is a mass religion, which means you need to be able to have a functioning society of Catholics (whereas if you're just making a religion to get a few dozen people into your cult so you can exploit them however you please, it isn't important whether an entire working society with this religion is even possible) so the rules can't just be complete nonsense. But on the other hand it's important for your religion to stand out. Unless it's going to result in mass persecution or genocide, you want your believers to stand out, the requirements of your religion to impact on everybody else. So you get silly rules - not really that tricky to obey but seemingly pointless because hey, if nobody is grousing about your silly rules, nobody is noticing your religion exists. This sort of thing is only a big problem once it tilts the whole society. People will probably vary in their tolerance but somewhere between "The weird logo on my groceries apparently signifies that a specific religious group may consume this product" and "Your existence is prohibited by the established religion in this country and so you'll be executed" there's a line crossed.
- mplanchard 3y ago
  Yeah you’re absolutely right, and that’s a good point. For some reason to me it feels sillier when I have an inside perspective than looking at similar things in other religions. Because I have experienced and discarded Catholicism, those arbitrary rules strike me as particularly ridiculous. I don’t have the same knowledge of or disdain for the arbitrary rules of other religions, probably mostly because of lack of familiarity, but maybe also because I have never personally rebelled against them.

tialaramex 3y ago

Catholicism is a mass religion, which means you need to be able to have a functioning society of Catholics (whereas if you're just making a religion to get a few dozen people into your cult so you can exploit them however you please, it isn't important whether an entire working society with this religion is even possible) so the rules can't just be complete nonsense. But on the other hand it's important for your religion to stand out. Unless it's going to result in mass persecution or genocide, you want your believers to stand out, the requirements of your religion to impact on everybody else. So you get silly rules - not really that tricky to obey but seemingly pointless because hey, if nobody is grousing about your silly rules, nobody is noticing your religion exists. This sort of thing is only a big problem once it tilts the whole society. People will probably vary in their tolerance but somewhere between "The weird logo on my groceries apparently signifies that a specific religious group may consume this product" and "Your existence is prohibited by the established religion in this country and so you'll be executed" there's a line crossed.

mplanchard 3y ago
Yeah you’re absolutely right, and that’s a good point. For some reason to me it feels sillier when I have an inside perspective than looking at similar things in other religions. Because I have experienced and discarded Catholicism, those arbitrary rules strike me as particularly ridiculous. I don’t have the same knowledge of or disdain for the arbitrary rules of other religions, probably mostly because of lack of familiarity, but maybe also because I have never personally rebelled against them.