Singelenberg R
Department of Cultural Anthropology, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Soc Sci Med. 1990;31(4):515-23. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(90)90048-w.
Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to accept a blood transfusion. According to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society this therapy is a transgression of divine precepts. Additionally, in the judgement of the believers, secular proof is abundant these days; to them AIDS is a powerful justification to abstain from blood. Founded on the work of the anthropologist Mary Douglas, it is argued that the rejection of this medical therapy is based on perceptions of pollution and purity inherent in the Watch Tower Society's ideological concept of anti-worldliness. Rooted in the movement's pre-war opposition to vaccination the implementation of the taboo was triggered by the prevailing social-political climate surrounding the Society during the Second World War, resulting in this intriguing and controversial religious proscription. For the community of Jehovah's Witnesses the blood transfusion taboo still functions as a significant mechanism of sectarian boundary maintenance.
耶和华见证人不被允许接受输血。根据守望台圣经书社的说法，这种治疗方法违反了神圣戒律。此外，在信徒们看来，如今世俗的证据比比皆是；对他们来说，艾滋病是拒绝输血的有力理由。基于人类学家玛丽·道格拉斯的研究，有人认为对这种医疗方法的拒绝是基于守望台社会反世俗意识形态概念中固有的污染和纯净观念。该禁忌源于该运动战前对疫苗接种的反对，二战期间该社会周围普遍的社会政治氛围引发了这一禁忌的实施，从而产生了这一有趣且有争议的宗教禁令。对于耶和华见证人社区来说，输血禁忌仍然是维护教派界限的重要机制。
