Editing Jehovah's Witnesses practices (section)

==Blood==
{{Main|Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions}}
{{See also|Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses}}
[[File:Bloedafname Sanquin.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Jehovah's Witnesses officially reject transfusions of whole [[allogeneic]] blood and some of its fractionated components.]]
Jehovah's Witnesses are taught that the Bible prohibits the consumption, storage and transfusion of [[blood]], based on their understanding of scriptures such as Leviticus 17:10, 11: "I will certainly set my face against the one who is eating the blood" and Acts 15:29: "abstain from&nbsp;… blood." This standpoint is applied even in emergencies. ''The Watchtower'' introduced this view in 1945, and it has developed since then.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Watch Tower Society|title=How Can Blood Save Your Life?}}</ref> Accordingly, the organization has established Hospital Information Services (HIS), which provides education and facilitation of [[bloodless surgery]]. This service also maintains Hospital Liaison Committees, which support adherents facing surgery and provide information to the medical community on bloodless surgery techniques and alternatives to blood.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Awake!|date=November 22, 1993|pages=24–25|publisher=Watch Tower Society|title=Jehovah's Witnesses and the Medical Profession Cooperate}}</ref>

Though accepted by most members, some within the Jehovah's Witness community do not endorse the doctrine.<ref>Lee Elder, The Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood, "Why some Jehovah's Witnesses accept blood and conscientiously reject official Watchtower Society blood policy", ''Journal of Medical Ethics'', 2000, Vol 26, pages 375–380.</ref>

Dutch anthropologist Richard Singelenberg has suggested the Watch Tower Society's prohibition on blood transfusions—as well as its edict against fellowship with outsiders—are rooted in the religious desire to maintain a communal state of purity worthy of divine favor. He noted: "Rules of pollution and purity are instrumental in creating structural boundaries around group members. And the more distinctive when formulated into divine precepts, the clearer the dividing lines between the faithful and those excluded."<ref>{{cite journal | last =Singelenberg| first = Richard | title =The blood transufion taboo of Jehovah's Witnesses: origin, development and function of a controversial doctrine | journal =Social Science & Medicine | volume = 31 | issue = 4 | pages =521–522 | date = 1990 | doi = 10.1016/0277-9536(90)90048-W | pmid = 2218633 }}</ref>