Ritual slaughter : legal and theological inconsistencies

When speaking about ritual slaughter, we should take into consideration the respect of both specific cultural-religious differences and animal welfare. Although disapproving of a particular cultural custom risks discrimination, potentially, it is equally dangerous to approve all othered cultural practices in the name of tolerance, without considering justice. In this specific case, it is also paradoxical to promote a particular kind of slaughter as “more merciful” (read: “more just”) since we are still talking about killing a living being, that is, an animal for non-necessary goals: humans do not need meat in order to survive. In the light of these contradictions and aware of the interests that are at play, in this presentation we will try to delineate the paradoxes and contradictions in the actual European legislation about slaughter and ritual slaughter, moving from a legal and theologian point of view. Religious slaughter has been performed in Europe for centuries alongside conventional slaughtering (the one that involves preslaughter stunning). Relevant legislation of the European Union, such as the Council Directive 93/119/EC on the protection of animals at the time of slaughter or killing (1993), deals with animal welfare during slaughtering but allows derogations so that Member States can retain the right to authorize religious slaughter without prestunning in their own territory under official veterinary involvement. There are principally two types of religious slaughter: the Muslim method for Halal meat and Shechita for obtaining Kosher meat for Jewish consumers. However, some considerable variations in current practices produce confusion about the rules regarding religious requirements; regulatory frameworks are based upon conflicting principles (animal welfare considerations vs. human rights issue). So there is a need for reviewing religious requirements as well as the pertinent legislation, with particular reference to obtaining information relating to current guarantees of animal welfare offered in the field of religious slaughter. It is proposed: • a synthetic analysis of current literature concerning academic and public debates on religious slaughter compared to conventional slaughter and on animal suffering and standards for protection; • a reflection on the controversial and fiercely debated area of the ultimate slaughter of sentient beings: if it is to meet economic and consumer demand more than the same dogmas, that induces Governments to accept ritual slaughter as a right of religious freedom, up to permit deviation from the requirement to stun animals prior to slaughter. Moving from a theological perspective, the discussion on ritual slaughter will be con- ducted on the base of two concepts: compassion – which is a fundamental regulation of the three Abrahamitic religion – and justice. Considering some notable passages from Torah, Qur’an and the New Testament we will try to show the futility and also impiety of killing animals for food, especially in a society where non-cruel food is not only easily available but also environmentally and socially recommended.