(February 9, 2019 at 10:27 am)Anomalocaris Wrote:(February 8, 2019 at 11:45 am)Yonadav Wrote: Yeah, it took about 30 seconds of research to find that you guys are misrepresenting this. It looks like the Catholic church did not say that beaver are fish.
According to Dolly Jørgensen, an environmental historian in Sweden, the medieval theological debate about forbidden foods during Lent didn't distinguish between mammals and fish, but rather, creatures of the land and sea. So, while meat from chicken, cows and sheep was considered off limits, "other animals that spent their time in the water qualified as aquatic and could be eaten at Lent,"
There are far more juicy things that you can make fun of. For example, there is a Talmudic discussion about why the cheese made by gentiles without Jewish supervision is not kosher. One of the Sages says that it is because gentiles are not careful with storing their cheese, and snakes bite it. This is one of several reasons given by different Sages, but one Sage says that the Sage who says that snake bites are the reason is obviously correct. This is because there are complex rules by which it is determined which Sage is deferred to, and the rules say the snake bite Sage is the one who is deferred to within this context. So you can argue that Jews don't eat cheese that isn't kosher because snakes bite it. (But that isn't really the reason that Jews don't eat cheese that isn't kosher).
Yet it took only 29 seconds of research to hear, straight from the horse’s mouth as it were, that you guys were not only not mistaken about beaver being fish in the eyes of the holy church, but missed many other four legged gill-less catholic fishes that can be eaten during lent to boot.
Who the heck are you calling 'you guys'. I know nothing about Catholicism, and yet it only took me 30 seconds to find the basis for permitting Catholics to eat weird things in lieu of fish. Are the Catholics pretty weird? They sure are. Did they really decide that beaver are actually fish? No, not exactly.
We do not inherit the world from our parents. We borrow it from our children.