Religious views on smoking
Therefore, these religions do not address it in their foundational teachings; however, modern practitioners have offered interpretations of their faith with regard to smoking.
[1] In the autumn of 1874 George Frederick Pentecost got into the so-called Daily Telegraph scandal: a smoking controversy, over which his counterpart Charles Spurgeon, known as the 'prince of preachers', was exploited by the tobacco industry.
However, Johann Sebastian Bach was known to enjoy smoking a pipe, and wrote poetry on how doing so enhanced his relationship with God.
One who smokes is considered to be polluting the "Temple of the Holy Spirit" (i.e., the body), which has been sanctified by the reception of the Sacred Mysteries (Sacraments).
God gave us a mind and a conscience and we should use them to determine what is right and what is wrong, whether or not the particular yes issue has been addressed in the canons or not.Smoking tobacco is a disgusting, filthy, addictive habit that turns the mouth of the smoker into an ashtray.
The holy book of Islam, the Qur'ān, does not specifically prohibit or denounce smoking, but gives behavioral guidance: and, in recent years, tobacco fatwas have been issued due to health concerns.
Greater appreciation of the risks associated with passive smoking, has also led recent jurists to cite the obligation to avoid causing willful annoyance, distress, or harm to other people.
[18]In practice, at least one recent survey (Abbottabad, Pakistan) found that observant Muslims tend to avoid smoking.
From the 1970s to the late 1990s, tobacco companies including British American Tobacco and Phillip Morris were involved in campaigns to undermine fatwas against smoking in Muslim majority countries by branding Muslims who opposed smoking as a "'fundamentalist' who wishes to return to sharia law", and be "a threat to existing government".
[22] A 1985 report from tobacco firm Philip Morris squarely blamed the WHO: "This ideological development has become a threat to our business because of the interference of the WHO ...
The WHO has not only joined forces with Muslim fundamentalists who view smoking as evil, but has gone yet further by encouraging religious leaders previously not active anti-smokers to take up the cause.
"[22] Early on in the Hasidic movement, the Baal Shem Tov taught that smoking tobacco can be used as a religious devotion, and can even help bring the Messianic Era.
Rabbi Dovid of Lelov taught that it is a good religious practice to smoke on Saturday nights after the Sabbath, and this practice is followed by the Rebbes of Lelov and Skulen, however the current Rebbe of Skulen discourages people from following his example, in light of current views opposing smoking, and he himself only takes a few brief puffs of a cigarette after Havdalah.
He considered it a health risk and a waste of time, and had little patience for those who claimed addiction, stating that they never should have started smoking in the first place.
The self-endangerment rule is grounded partly on a Biblical verse that is read as an injunction to watch one's health - "ונשמרתם מאד, לנפשתיכם" [Vi'nish'martem Me'od Li'naf'sho'tey'chem] Deut.
[28] The question of smoking isn't considered a significant Buddhist issue, unlike other topics like the consumption of meat.
A legend states that when Guru Gobind Singh Ji was riding his blue horse, Neela, it would not enter a tobacco field and reared up in front of it.
[citation needed] Among people of south Asian ancestry (primarily Punjabi Sikhs) residing in the Fraser Health Authority of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, the smoking rate was less than 5% in 2013–2014.
[39] The idea of smoking tobacco has been looked down upon in modern Zoroastrian communities due to the scientific knowledge of it causing harm to the body.
