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The European Court of Justice has upheld a Belgian decision that effectively bans kosher and hallal slaughter—which are vital elements of religious life for millions of Jews and Muslims—by requiring that animals be stunned prior to slaughter.
Here's the curious part.
Here's the curious part.
In issuing its ruling, the court dismissed the argument that no such rules apply to hunting or killing animals as part of "cultural or sporting events" because, it said, such events "result at most in a marginal production of meat, which is not economically significant."
In other words, so long as you're killing an animal purely for sport, authorities won't require that you stun it before taking its life.
But if you're a Jew or a Muslim trying to practice your faith – well, then, "animal welfare" must be upheld, your religious freedom be damned.
But if you're a Jew or a Muslim trying to practice your faith – well, then, "animal welfare" must be upheld, your religious freedom be damned.
If this sounds strange and twisted to you, that's probably because it is. If "animal welfare" is so sacrosanct a value that the court is willing to sacrifice the religious freedom of millions of Jews and Muslims to protect it, the same rules should apply to everyone.
That the court appears to have discriminated against Jewish and Muslim religious slaughter should be cause for alarm.
This is a direct threat to the religious lives of millions of Jews and Muslims in Europe and it should be challenged and reversed.
This is a direct threat to the religious lives of millions of Jews and Muslims in Europe and it should be challenged and reversed.
