“Pious Jews at this moment are trying to breed the spotlessly pure ‘red heifer’ mentioned in the book of Numbers, cahpter 19, which if slaughtered again according to the exact and meticulous ritual will bring about the return of animal sacrifices in the Third Temple, and hasten the end of time and the coming of the Messiah… like-minded Christian maniac farmers are attempting…to help their co-fundamentalists by employing special breeding techniques…to produce a perfect Red Angus beast in Nebrska.” Quoted from God Is Not Great (Christopher Hitchens). This return may be sooner than we think: according to McDonald’s and various taste testers, their relatively new and mteituclously prepared one-third pound heifer patty, advertised as the Angus Burger, has attained as thorough a perfection as is likely to be found in the fast food world. Will time end? Will the Messiah now appear? This is still open, but keep checking the parking lot.
…Oh, and here’s another aspect of this fanaticism: These same religious zealots in Israel are trying to raise a child “in a pure ‘bubble’ free from contamination, who at the attainment of the right age will be privileged to cut the heifer’s throat.”
