AIBU to not understand why religious people won't eat pork

[CreamolaFoamless]

I love a bit of pork

I have looked into the whole pork v's religion thing but I still am at a lose?

Why is eating pork so bad?

Does anybody actually know?

This has been bugging me for sometime so would love hear other peoples thoughts on this

so the devil invented fridges/freezers then

I'ts because pigs enjoy sex, innit?

Islamic rules also cover other contact with animals ie dogs, they are considered unclean and if one comes in contact with their saliva you must perform a ritual to cleanse yourself. They also think pigeons (doves) are sacred as they assisted the prophet. So if you go to a lot of muslim cities you will see people laying on the floor covered in seed letting the bird flap all over them. Whereas we in the west think pigeons are dirty and dogs less so.

Jewish rules for food also cover seafood or 'bottom feeders' or fish without scales. Or birds which eat meat (i think).

When I was in Thailand I did a poo outdoors (as I was miles from anywhere)

I heard a pig come running through the undergrowth towards me and my freshly steaming poo, and before my very eyes he snaffled it up !

Maybe that has something to do with it !

Fish on a Friday is a Christian thing not just tradition. It is based (among other reasons) on the fact that apostles were fishermen. In fact in medieval times more than 50% of days were religious days where only fish not meat were permitted - we have just culturally kept the Friday one. Good Friday you should always eat fish.

It's not so much to to with the practical fact of pigs being unclean/ parasite-ridden in desert countries. It's more to do with how we as cultures conceptually perceive and construct the world. Pigs aren't normal farm animals... they have cloven hooves, but do not chew the cud like cattle/ goats etc. Because of this anomaly, they are seen as taboo & 'dangerous', because they don't fit into neat categories. Likewise with shellfish in Leviticus... they are sea creatures, but don't have scales like fish. Anything that is ambiguous or liminal in this sense could be perceived as taboo by human cultures.

anthropology.uwaterloo.ca/courses/Anth311/Mary%20Douglas.htm

Meant to say also that Fridays in Catholocism are penitential days too so no meat. But this is interpretation.

Fish on Friday is a Catholic tradition, as traditionally you were not supposed to eat other kinds of meat on a Friday. Which is not to say you had to eat fish, but it was obviously an appealing option for many! I think that particular rule has been relaxed now, but some people still keep to it.

Personally I find many of these customs a bit odd, but it doesn't really bother me if someone doesn't want to eat a particular food. I don't eat meat or fish at all (not for religious reasons), which is my choice, and other people's dietary choices are valid too, even if their reasons wouldn't be compelling ones for me.

I googled "religious reasons for not eating pork"
perfectly easy to find out. this wiki link should tell you all you need to know

Why would i eat fish on Fridays? Odd question - I haven't eaten fish for twenty years!

Any Christian who eats fish only on certain days is doing so for historical, financial or a reason specific to their denomination - their is no biblical reason for doing so.

I thought the pig thing in Judaism stemmed from the fact that pigs root in the ground, and the middle eastern religions traditionally burying their dead outside of the city walls, it was likely that the wild pigs may have rooted up some human remains at some point hence the eating of them was banned and the idea that they were unclean touted to prevent people inadvertantly consuming human remains.

My DH said that Radio 4 said so.

Incidentally, pork wasn't traditionally eaten much in Scotland either, the more superstitious Scots believing pigs were posessed by the devil. Possibly stems from Leviticus as well though.

thank you MayaGoldfever interesting article

Some people think it's to do with things like Trichinosis which used to be fairly prevalent in pigs in that area at the time and is hard to get rid of without thorough cooking and is transferable to humans.

Some scholars argue that things become profane when when there is something 'wrong' about them or they are in the wrong place, such as having cloven hooves and not chewing cud or fish without scales etc.

that Mary Douglas article was exactly the one I was thinking of - only I couldn't remember who it was by, lol

Muslims think pigeons / doves are sacred?
Er.. No, they don't.

errrm CakeMixture that link you given me has this as the words

Religious restrictions on the consumption of pork.
Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Religious restrictions on the consumption of pork. in Wikipedia to check for alternative titles or spellings.

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Desk

So that should tell me everything I need to know ........hahahaha lol

Ephiny It's not just Catholic, the practice predates the reformation.

cake religious reasons in christianity do not just stem from the bible, theologians/the pope may have decreed a long time ago - it was still a religious reason to all those in the middle ages who would never have read a bible.

method after visiting many islamic countries i viewed the practice of feeding and caring for pigeons. When i asked the imam and at the blue mosque i was told this. Perhaps 'sacred' is the wrong word (lost in translation maybe).

After googling i found this: In Islam, doves and the pigeon clan in general are respected and favoured because they are believed to have assisted the final prophet of Islam, Muhammad, in distracting his enemies outside the cave of Thaw'r in the great Hijra.

I have come across Christians as well (not sure what denomination, although all the ones I have met have had a Jamaican background, not sure if that is relevant) who don't eat pork as it is stated as forbidden in Leviticus.

I'm using my phone - thus giving people links (who are perhaps too lady to look it up themselves) can be problematic -sorry about that

As an earlier poster said - you are being disingenuous
To paraphrase your words in your op: I am now at a lose!

Ok explain how exactly i'm being disgenious CakeMixture? Seriously explain that to me !

I am asking a question that has been on my mind

I suppose the disingenuous comment comes from you stating in your OP that you have 'looked into it but are still at a loss'. But simple googling would have given you the answers.

I don't care tho, i love arguing discussing religion ;)

And all Christians MUST eat fish on Fridays?!?!

Dear God OP (pick whichever one you like) read a fucking book occasionally. Or put the telly on. Or the wireless. There's a lot of information out there you know.

On that basis, Lumpy, we might as well shut down half of MN.

I want to know how Scottish children drank Cremola Foam and lived.

True, and it's the pork-ignorant half that's so amusing.

spuddy, I think that keeping pigeons is more about culture than religion. Indians (usually Hindu) are also pigeon enthusiasts.