Markets in everything, Jesus vs. germs edition

A company called Purity Communion Solutions
was founded in 2007 to market "germ-free products that take the worry
out of contracting germs while receiving communion, and ultimately
increasing communion participation and church attendance." Purity
Communion Solutions already has 375,000 client churches, church supply
houses and the like, and its Web site features all sorts of information
about the H1N1 virus, as well as products that aim to keep you in
church, and keep you healthy. They include an automated host dispenser
in gold, silver, or white, as well as wafers infused with wine:
"Improved taste and texture" and "eliminates germs, spills &
waste."

And if you don't already know:

Christians [sic] not only gather together for worship at least weekly, but
they also dip their fingers in common fonts of holy water, pass baskets
up and down the pews to collect donations, exchange handshakes and hugs
at the sign of peace, and — in varying formats — share bread and wine
at communion, sometimes drinking from a single chalice or picking from
a loaf of bread. Those churches in which a priest or minister gives out
individual wafers of consecrated bread aren't much better off, studies
show, especially if the minister is dipping the Host in a chalice or
placing it on each communicant's tongue.

Here is the full story and I thank The Browser for the pointer.

Addendum: Here is a related article.

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