Dogma keeps you in the dark

Orthodox Jews don’t turn on the lights on the Sabbath. They tie it back to Exodus 35:3, which prohibits lighting fires.

But what about when a sensor turns the lights on automatically?

A couple have taken legal action after claiming motion sensors installed at their holiday flat in Dorset breached their rights as Orthodox Jews.

Gordon and Dena Coleman said they cannot leave or enter their Bournemouth flat on the Sabbath because the hallway sensors automatically switch on lights.

The couple’s religious code bans lights and other electrical equipment being switched on during Jewish holidays.

They have now issued a county court writ claiming religious discrimination.

My religious background instilled in me an ability to weasel my way around arcane rules. I can think of all kinds of ways around this, and if they can’t, it means they’re not trying.

First, isn’t there any leeway for intentionality? If you don’t trigger the light on purpose, are you really turning on the light? Or how about compartmentalising? You’re triggering the sensor, but it’s really the sensor that’s turning on the light. It’s not your fault if your action instigates a chain of events that results in a light going on.

And, in my experience, religious people are really fond of attributing all technological advances to a god, as in “God made modern medicine and the Internet.” Why not capitalise on that? It’s not their fault that the light; it’s actually God that invented the sensor that’s turning the lights on. “Oh, Lord, if you do not want the lights to go on, you have the power to stop them.” Guess it’s okay by him.

But if they can’t come up with any of these rationalisations on their own, then I say they can just sit in their flat in the dark. Perhaps they could use the time to ponder the idiocy of adopting a stupid and unworkable philosophy.