Should Catholics practice Kosher laws?

  • Thread starter Thread starter delefin
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

delefin

Guest
This isn’t a thread about going vegan but just the thought of Christians feeling a moral obligation in being humane towards God’s creatures.

I was horrified at some documentaries on how animals are butchered for meat, and I just don’t understand how animal cruelty isn’t a heavy sin.

I’ve been reading the OT/NT and I’ve noticed that unlike the Jewish and Muslims, we have 0 laws on the way we kill animals for meat. Jews have Kosher and Muslims have Halal, these are religious laws that involve not just the consumption of specific animals but how they are slaughtered.

The roots of their religious laws can be seen in the OT in where God talks about meat consumption. Other than giving rules on what animals can be eaten, God established very strict laws on how animals where treated. This hints me that God never really liked us eating meat but gave the permission because of our natural needs.

Now in the NT, I am aware that the banning of specific meats where lifted however no where does it change the way they are butchered. There is no evidence that God’s views towards the butchering of animals have changed.

Do you think the Church should return this type of laws?
 
Last edited:
If you wish to eat kosher or become a vegetarian, you are free to do so, but it is not something that can be imposed on others.
 
I understand, but don’t you think it should be imposed as doctrine? This isn’t about telling others what meats they can/can’t eat because the NT lifted that ban, but the way these animals are butchered is where it is wrong.

Am I allowed to upload videos here especially if it is graphic just to have my point understood better?
 
Last edited:
delefin said:
Do you think the Church should return this type of laws?
Click to expand...
I don’t know the reasoning behind halal and kosher laws, but if we’re just concerned about the humane treatment of animals then that’s already covered.

God’s creations should be treated with due respect. There is not much more that needs to be said unless someone just doesn’t understand what that means or how to apply it.
 
I respect your views, but I would like to read your reasons for it.

Please type farm to fridge on youtube

And then come back and answer how can this just be ok for Christians, especially since all this is breaking God’s laws?
 
Last edited:
Doesn’t Isaiah 40:8 come to mind?

“The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever”.

So if God established laws on what animals can/can’t be eaten in the OT then surely He meant it forever!

I see where you’re coming from!
 
Last edited:
It would be better if I could post videos here. I think with out videos my point can’t be fully understood.
 
You know, in slaughter houses, the animals are required to be stunned first. Halal and Kosher slaughter houses, they are not, according to several documentaries I have seen.
 
Many kosher laws make absolutely no sense (I.e., no mixing of dairy products and meat), particularly when viewed in context with other Jewish religious laws that are equally foreign to non-Jews (i.e. Some days of year an observant Jew is supposed to not bathe and wear dirty clothing; not shaving when a loved one dies, etc.). Those laws bear absolutely no correlation to, for example, the needless suffering of animals or other items of your apparent concern. In the Old Testament IIRC God gives man authority over all the things that are upon the earth to use as he sees fit.
Should we refrain from causing needless suffering in animals when they are slaughtered for food? Yes. But that’s a far cry from, say, being forbidden to prepare a dish containing milk and a dish containing meat in the same kitchen (!?). Are you aware that observant Jewish homes usually have 2 kitchens for this reason? There is absolutely no moral imperative for Catholics to follow these sorts of extreme laws.
 
I don’t think Jewish or Muslim dietary laws - at least in the period they were written - were motivated much through painlessness for the animal, although a contemporary follower of these faiths might combine these teachings with their views on the ethical treatment of animals. The dietary laws are spiritual or at least primarily spiritual.

A Catholic can use their prudence to determine what may be the most appropriate diet in regards to animals, the environment, and their health. For what it’s worth: we actually have a lot more history in regards to dietary disciplines than you might realize. Periods of abstinence, refraining from meat and other foods, fasting, etc., used to be much more frequent and strict throughout Christendom. Nowadays the Church leaves a lot more room for people to decide this stuff themselves.

Many of the monastics in the early Church and beyond followed a vegetarian diet; no wine; regular fasting, etc. A person can use their prudence and is certainly welcome to do these things.
 
Last edited:
Kosher involves a method called Shehitah which is slicing the trachea and the esophagus, this is actually very humane when understood scientifically. Shehitah, has rules such as no delay during the severing and it has to be quick.

I know the documentaries you are talking about, most of them such as from Peta are false representations of Kosher/Halal.

 
My argument is based off the slaughtering of animals. I don’t think banning milk and meat together is absolutely necessary to follow anymore but us consuming animals that have been put down sinfully is the problem.
 
You’re starting with a flawed assumption - that “animals are put down sinfully.” They’re not. The Church doesn’t say this, and you’re seeing sin where it’s not present.
 
delefin said:
Do you think the Church should return this type of laws?
Click to expand...
This is a form of the Judaizer heresy. Take a look at Acts 15. This is what the Council of Jerusalem was all about. We do not have to follow the OT Law.

ZP
 
I think that reviewing the way animals are slaughtered in meat plants could definitely be reviewed and improved upon and I think that is mostly what the OP is talking about…not the entire kosher requirements.

And I agree, we do need to see if there is a more painless and humane way to slaughter animals…and implement it.
 
You think so, and have decided everyone needs to keep kosher. No significant number of others agree with you as to the premise (animals are slaughtered sinfully) or the conclusion (we need to keep kosher).

This is falling into the category of “if you hang out on the web long enough you’ll find someone who thinks any particular act is a sin.” I’m sorry, I said my piece and I continue to think that the vast majority of kosher dietary laws make no sense and need not be followed. Disagree? OK, it’s a free country.
 
If they are very graphic they will most likely get flagged and removed.
 
I’d add that most kosher laws dramatically change the traste of food.
Kosher meat is extremely dry
Due to how the blood is drained. Kosher donuts (there’s a kosher Dunkin’ Donuts near me) are so tasteless as to be inedible. It’d be a really big ask to make kosher the law of the land.strong text
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top