The Committee

The muta 
or the Committee
The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
Elder Ritchie - higher than Bishop Thorman's wife in the muta
They are at liberty to enforce moral laws all over the Divided Kingdom. They set up check points on roads.
The lay-by was only lit by Beryl’s headlamps and the torches of the Committee enforcers, but he could see there were six of them, all female, dressed in black and carrying bamboo canes.
Named Members
Erica Thorman
Commander Dreek, of the Blessed South Bannock Laity
Things the Focus On / Initiatives
Leaflets about circumcision
Annoyed Thorman straightened up and turned. He took the leaflet he had taken from Nimite and tossed it on the bed. ‘This is God’s work? Tormenting people? Don’t we all have enough problems without this nonsense? Have a word with Elder Richie.’
This was unprecedented defiance from Thorman, and his wife was incandescent with rage. She picked up the leaflet and threw at him as she yelled Bible verses.
‘This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised!’
Lunch
‘The scriptures are clear on this one,’ she said while holding the Bible in both hands. ‘No man should eat until evening. Elder Richie proposes a ban on lunch. For men anyway.’
‘Where is he getting that from?’ asked Thorman, finding himself being drawn into her arguments despite himself.
‘Samuel 14. But Saul … He made this oath: “If any man eats food before evening comes, before I finish defeating my enemies, he will be under a curse.”’
‘That’s…’ sighed Thorman as he tried to remember. ‘That’s been dealt with. It only applied to Saul’s soldiers.’
‘It applies to anyone wishing to defeat Philistines,’ countered his wife. ‘Elder Richie has been contacted by God.’
Black Pudding
‘All shops and restaurants should stop selling black pudding. Eating blood is directly against God’s law.’
‘Look, Erica,’ Thorman said as he pulled his food out of the microwave. ‘That was settled too, it was all settled. You’ll have a job on your hands trying to ban pudding suppers in the Evermarch chip shops.’
Amalekites
And don’t forget that Elder Richie wants all Amalekites slain, and all their possessions destroyed. The Bible is very clear on this.’
‘The Committee is quite happy to go over your head to Archbishop Sinclair on this one! I bet Angster is full of Amalekites. Allow in the Committee Purity Unit and we’ll do it all for you.’
Methodists
‘They too must be punished for their heresies!’ she declared, working herself up into a fervour. ‘Exodus 34:13, but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: for thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.’
‘But they do worship God!’
‘Not the way they are meant to!’
Farm Truck Drivers (Chapter 7)
That evening he and McQuade watched three of the Committee trucks leave, heading down to the main track before turning south. The trucks were driven by armed Committee men, men with long dark beards and sullen black eyes, almost hidden by the black baseball caps they wore. A group of Committee women saw them off.
Purity Unit
Separate from general Committee members. A unit will consist of a purity specialist, his two helpers and several armed guards. They are used to go into areas, find heretics and the like, then leave.
(Chapter 10): ‘I can’t stand the hostel any longer,’ she griped. ‘They sent round a Purity Unit three times in the last week. They looking for Amalekites and the Dagon Worshipers. Any woman on her monthly liable to be taken up. Anyone with a fassy batty get taken up. They always poking at us, poking at our bits and our battys. You hear me? I can’t be having me bits poked at all the time!’ 
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