Should the religious slaughter of animals be banned?

I don’t think it would be necessary to ban it, as long as the animal doesn’t suffer unneccesarily.

I am not a fan of killing animals at all, but I think of it like this…I eat meat..so technically I shouldn’t be the one to complain.

shes right its wrong! if we don’t stop them the rest of the animals will get angry and attack us and devour us alive. that is what karma will get us! thats far from nirvana.

I think it should be ok to kill animals in general, although maybe not if it involves long drawn out agony. Religious sacrifice tends to be quick, as you stated, and so I can’t see a problem with it.

From a legal perspective, whatever rights we wish to bestow upon animals must trump religious usage of animals.

I HATE the idea of killing animals, but if it was my religion I’m sure that I would find it sacred and necessary. I would not take their religion away from them.

Mandyloo, the methods you’re talking about (shechita and dhabh) are not ritual sacrifices… it’s not a slaughter for religious ceremonies… it’s not a sacrifice as such… it is just the way they kill their animals for meat… it’s simply one way of slaughter… (to produce kosher or halaal meat) I dont know enough about it to say whether it is humane or not… however it is a seperate thing from when animals are sacrificed…

ITS THE GOVERNMENTS JOBS TO GET THERE HANDS IN PEOPLES BUSINESS. IF THEY DONT KNOW AOUT SOMETHING THEN HOW CAN THEY CHANGE IT AND MAKE IT BETTER AND MORE MORAL? IF THE GOVERNMENT DIDN’T TAKE NOTE THEN HINK ABOUT ALL SORTS OF CRIMES THAT WOULD GO UNPUNISHED!

I THINK IT IS WRONG, WHY WOULD KILLING A DEFENCELESS ANIMAL MAKE you A MORE RELIGIUS PERSON?, A BETTER WORSHIPPER?, HELP YOU FIND THE ULTIMATE “NIRVANA”? IT WONT! THATS THIS THING WITH RELIGION- IT’S SO MESSED UP AND CAUSES SO MUCH HAGRO, HURT, PAIN AND DEATH UNECCASERILY.

NO HUMAN, NO ANIMAL BIG NOR SMALL SHOULD DIE FROM RELIGIOS WORSHIP OR ANYTHING ELSE!

Beth - if you feel that strongly about animals having right and not being killed - you should not be eating meat - even if it’s only a little bit.

You ever seen National Geographic? Animals in the wild do not die very humanely. Watch what a Komodo dragon does to a bull. It’s mouth is full of nasty diseases and it bites the prey, returning days later after it has died a horrible death. Just one example…

I think as long as people are not exploiting animals, and or creating excessive harm for the purposes of sport, the government should get its dirty hands out of other peoples business.

The government is already a guardian in your back yard, you want more?

in my opinion, killing animals for religion really isnt a good thing to do I find it disgusting that the very people who beleive that there “god” created evreything, would want to kill animals just to make him happy I do think something should be done about this, it should be illegal its just as bad as regular people killing animals for no reason really theres no NEED to do it however, becauuse people used to make up the stupidest of rules hundreds of years ago people beleived everything they heard and were told so they follow inhumane and disgusting traditions because they think its right when really its just an old horrible rule that needs to be stoped because people are finally realising its not right and people shouldnt be doing it

NO animals should be killed, I know someone said thats what happens in the wild but come on wake up- were supposed to be civilized- comparing us to animals? Well speak for yourself because im not an animal!

I admit, I eat meat, but very rarely and could easily live without it if it was stopped alltogether.

I stand my ground in the believe that animals deserve rights like everyone else. I often say I prefer animals to humans and I mean it aswell !

Oh, by the way for those concerned, I have not said which side I am on, I was just curious as to other’s responses and opinions on the topic as it was something that was brought up in a group of friends of mine.

I think if hunting is legal and just for fun why shouldnt someones sacred religion be/

Ty and Ramba, I think nailed this question.

I never said that I wanted it benned - I am just asking other’s opinions on the topic. Thank you.

I am a vegetarian and an animal rights activist. There will always be meat eaters, that is a given. My goal would be to change the way animals are treated before AND during slaughter. Factory farming is a deplorable practice that does not take the animal’s nature into account. It contains no aspect of respect for the animal. The method of slaughter is also horrible cruel. I am jewish and know that not many of the kosher slaughterhouses are “good” or “quick and painless” in the way the animals are killed. Kosher slaughter houses are horrible and cruel. The animals are stressed and aren’t allowed to be “stunned” before killing. They are aware and afraid, horrified.

Temple Grandin, a leading designer of animal handling systems, wrote, on visiting a shechita slaughterhouse, “I will never forget having nightmares after visiting the now defunct Spencer Foods plant in Spencer, Iowa fifteen years ago. Employees wearing football helmets attached a nose tong to the nose of a writhing beast suspended by a chain wrapped around one back leg. Each terrified animal was forced with an electric prod to run into a small stall which had a slick floor on a forty-five degree angle. This caused the animal to slip and fall so that workers could attach the chain to its rear leg [in order to raise it into the air]. As I watched this nightmare, I thought, ‘This should not be happening in a civilized society.’ In my diary I wrote, ‘If hell exists, I am in it.’ I vowed that I would replace the plant from hell with a kinder and gentler system.” However, Dr Grandin has said that “When the cut is done correctly, the animal appears not to feel it. From an animal welfare standpoint, the major concern during ritual slaughter are the stressful and cruel methods of restraint (holding) that are used in some plants.”

It is one thing to slaughter animals for food, it is another thing to torture them in the process.

Humans are sinners. Cats used to be tied by the tails and thrown over the clothesline for badness. Bad boys quickly sickened of burning cats with gasoline when the cat ran under the house. Boys mature. Those things have been punished as practical. Our civilisation is evolving. With such evolution is freedoms, nation-dependent. The topic is very difficult to feel good about when secularity and multiculturalism introduce things that no longer promote Catholic & Protestant teachings of sins, gifts, and commandments. To ban animal sacrifice in religion is to consider conversion of humanity to Hinduism, I think. Even a fruit fly squat on the wall is cause for disassociation. I suggest you build your feminist self with morals of Christianity so as to present your opinion in a light of God’s purpose. I like killing sewer rats with rat poison in my stool, it isn’t religious but I thank God for helping me to keep my sanity because animals are not humans and the difference is literal. I am impressed with your concern.

There was an interesting Supreme Court precedent on this from 1993, called Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye vs. City of Hialeah. Basically, the city of Hialeah passed a series of ordinances forbidding ritual slaughter of animals, not for food consumption purposes. The Santerians, a religious group that practices such sacrifice, protested and the case ended up in the SC. The Court determined that the laws passed by Hialeah were unconstitutional in that they specifically targeted ritual slaughter as practiced by the Santerians. Such laws were not neutral toward religion and in violation of the First Amendment.

Personally, I think that ritual sacrifice should be permitted as long as it does not endanger public health. But any such rules would have to be neutral, I.e. apply to all religious groups and their rituals. The issue of pain and suffering for the animal is not relevant, and won’t be until the issues raised by utopia are dealt with, I.e. animals are treated miserably by the food industry so why should ritual sacrifice be held to a higher standard?