to not understand the fuss over halal meat?

[StuckInTheMiddleWithYou]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317312/Waitrose-forced-ditch-halal-lamb-Duchy-range.html

Why on earth are people objecting so much? Do they really think that the standard method of killing an animal is any less cruel?

Quite mad.

Its a very fair question why no fuss over Kosher food.

Isn't it sad that we're discussing levels of immense cruelty and that for the majority one or another style of killing animals is acceptable?

herbietea writes above that she wants to have choice.

So do the poor creatures in the slaughterhouse.

StuckInTheMiddleWithYou, YANBU. It's all cruel and it's all totally unnecessary.

There is a fuss over Kosher food, link above. Kosher food hasn't been slipped into the food chain in the same manner that Halal has. You can't accidentally buy Kosher food.

If all KFC meat is halal then I will never eat there again. I want the choice of what meat I eat. I am not muslim so why should I eat Halal?

Arf at that being the reason not to eat KFC

it is common now for animals to be gased before they have their throats cuts for halal meat so that the animal is asleep or unconscious when it happens. I think this is the fairest way to kill animals as it takes some of the fear and pain away

Riven, I for one was not being anti-islamic when disapproving of halal. I assumed we were only talking about halal since it was in the media most recently, but that really we were debating all inhumane methods of slaughter for religious reasons.

I have no problem with saying that Jews do things I despise just as Muslims and Christians do.

I wish religious people would get it straight that as an atheist I don't care which cult any of you belong to - it's only important to those in it.

I am human and my needs override those of animals so I will eat as many as I like.
However animal cruelty is bad for the society that does it. Cruelty for pleasure or because the voices told you to is not something to encourage.

As I said before if you say that religion trumps local laws and decency in this then you must allow any religious practice on the same basis.

islam is a religion not a cult

I think the athiests objecting to Halal on the grounds of religion are taking a rather strange attitude. I don't see how a ritual that you don't believe in can make any difference to you.

If there was a religion that said all walls had to be built by right handed bricklayers would you insist on a left handed one?

Alouiseg - what has been slipped into the food chain is meat that is absolutly identical to all the other meat.

I object because I think we have all sorts of nonsensical religious tripe in everyday life to deal with (all schools having religious afficilation, bishops in the house of lords) without adding new ones to the mix.

I don't give a monkeys how animals are killed (as long as they comply with UK law as it stands) but to have a situation where every cow is prayed over prior to death in order to satisfy the religious requirements of a minority just doesn't make sense to me at all.

We seem to be moving ever further away from a secular society.

NordicPrincess define the difference in terms that don't include "because my god said so"

TheCoalitionNeedsYou, My objections are not really about the religion behind it, but still I thought I'd reply to your example.

You see I might object if it meant left handed bricklayers couldn't get work etc. Doing things without a rational basis tends to have consequences. In the halal case it leads to unnecessary animal cruelty which we have already decided in this country is not acceptable.

GetOrfMoiLand - BUT IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE!

if it makes no difference then let's go back to the more humane way and just tell muslims/jews etc that it is all halal/kosher :o

Onagar - The cruelty case is, as we can see from this thread, debatable. If the animals are stunned first, then it makes no difference. But the objections of many don't seem to be that. It is that they don't want someone to say prayers over their meat - an action that cannot possibly affect them.

Onagar - Well, that would work for me.

cults are non traditional religions unlike islam, christianity, judaism etc.. usually smaller groups that form from more novel beliefs and practices.

Riven - According to coalitionism I can bless food both persistently, distantly and automatically. So by performing a small rite, which I am doing right now ALL meat slaughtered now and in the future will have been killed according to the rituals of Coalitionism. This does rather fuck up the Sikhs as well as the those who think that a rite they don't believe in still affects them, but collateral damage an' all that.

Religions are successful cults.