Changes

Hygiene too is sacred. The earliest examples of enforced hygiene are probably the codes written down in the 2nd millennium BC for washing your hands after touching anything that is polluting. These laws, to be found in the Laws of Mani or in the laws of the Old Testament, were designed to make unforgettable and unavoidable, the ritual of hand washing as both a sacred responsibility and a necessary health protection measure. In Islam this is manifest in the ritual washing before the five prayer times each day – wudu as it is known – and therefore in the need to provide running water and proper drainage in the mosques. In Japan, when you enter a Shinto shrine, you wash your hands and mouth and so running water and proper drainage are a central part of the shrine complex.

=Secular organisations working with faith groups=