SInce Germ Theory is only just a theory, is washing our hands after using the bathroom really necessary?

Well I don't know about you, but I tend to wash mine before going to the loo. I can tell you exactly where my old feller has been all day, but I couldn't tell you what my hands have been exposed to...

yes vernon as a medical laboratory tech. at one point in my life I've seen the nastiness that comes from unwashed and unsanitary hands. then those people without even thinking touch others. their faces, their hands, even their DUN DUN DUN FOOOOOOOOOOD! do you want feces in your food (and remember it's not your own feces darlin)

@God's Servant: Apparently, you did not read this part of your link: The newest findings, the researchers said, are more consistent with birds having evolved separately from dinosaurs and developing their own unique characteristics, including feathers, wings and a unique lung and locomotion system. There are some similarities between birds and dinosaurs, and it is possible, they said, that birds and dinosaurs may have shared a common ancestor, such as the small, reptilian "thecodonts," which may then have evolved on separate evolutionary paths into birds, crocodiles and dinosaurs. The lung structure and physiology of crocodiles, in fact, is much more similar to dinosaurs than it is to birds. "We aren't suggesting that dinosaurs and birds may not have had a common ancestor somewhere in the distant past," Quick said. "That's quite possible and is routinely found in evolution. It just seems pretty clear now that birds were evolving all along on their own and did not descend directly from the theropod dinosaurs, which lived many millions of years later." Sorry, Vernon, for going off on a tangent. And you're right...how do we know it's the bacteria that is causing the problems - it could be the little framuses living in the bacteria that were put there by You Know Who to throw us off the track.

Theory means a totally different thing in science than it does to us laymen. In science it means a collection of concrete ideas that have been proven and put into a cohesive package. So the Germ Theory is really a bunch of facts compiled into what we know as germs. Same with the theory of Evolution and the Theory of Gravity.

Washing your hands after using the bathroom? Pff, who does that?

It may not be, but I think it's gross not to wash your hands after a trip to the bathroom. Nobody needs to share that with anybody. No thank you.

Germs have stopped being "just a theory" in 1676 when they were first observed by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. That's when the "theory" was validated, and since then they're a scientific fact. Scientific theories, even the unvalidated ones, have a practical value, of being able to predict certain behaviors. The "theory of gravity" (and I assume you mean the Newtonian, not the standard model), does not explain WHY gravity exists, but it is accurate enough to calculate how much time it would to reach the ground, had someone accidentally pushed you off from a tower, while being tied to a large brick. A scientific theory is expected to have practical applications - A famous quote by George E. P. Box is "All models are wrong, some are useful".

it cant hurt you by practicing it...

I'm pretty sure germs can be seen with a microscope, so that would mean that it is always a good idea to wash your hands often.