AP reported that the number of Colorado swine flu cases has gone down this week, but that hasn't stopped congregations worldwide from tweaking their religious rituals to stop the spread of germs. Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail wrote a great story about some techniques.
One idea came from an Italian inventor, who made an electronic holy water dispenser that squirts a little onto worshippers' hands so they don't have to put their fingers in communal bowls swimming in germs. Then there's the church who passed out communion bread on toothpicks. A Rabbi in Montreal gives visitors an elbow bump instead of a handshake and asks them not to touch or kiss the Torah as it is carried through the temple. Some imams ask worshippers to take extra care when carrying out their ritual hand and face cleaning.
Get weirded out when shaking a ton of hands after mass? (I did too-- I was a blossoming germaphobe as a kid in church.) What do your churches, mosques, temples or meditation areas do to keep germs at bay as you pray?
