Why is halal legal?

[Faith No More]

I think it's a matter of perspective on which method you think is more "humane"? To me, slaughtering the animal vs. stunning the animal with a gun doesn't make a difference. We have to kill it anyways, and the Islamic method is to cut with a sharp knife, on the neck, as fast as possible. Also, the ritual is basically an act of sacrifice. When killing a cow, in that manner, it increases our gratitude for God's creation because we are sacrificing the animal. And we have to mention God's name right before the killing the animal.

So let me ask you this, aside from what you think your god would want because these animals don't give two shits about it. Would you rather get stunned first and then killed, or would you rather me slice you open alive so that you feel every cut? If that's what god wants then he's an asshole. And calling it a sacrifice doesn't make it any more humane. It's amazing to me the barbaric, stupid shit people will do in the name of god.

[The Grand Nudger]

Some of us are uncomfortable with the sort of despotism that regulating any sort of religious expression may promote. A justified position in and of itself. Others, like myself, have no problem fighting fire with fire as the old saw goes. Fortunately for us we've handled things like this in the past. Every now and again we assert totalitarian authority in response to the perceived evils of our fellow man.

[Faith No More]

Some of us are uncomfortable with the sort of despotism that regulating any sort of religious expression may promote. A justified position in and of itself. Others, like myself, have no problem fighting fire with fire as the old saw goes. Fortunately for us we've handled things like this in the past. Every now and again we assert totalitarian authority in response to the perceived evils of our fellow man.

But we already do regulate it a tiny bit. It is illegal to make human sacrifice for a religious practice. My question is why are we so squeamish and stop there? I'm like you, fight fire with fire.l

[The Grand Nudger]

To confront your post Rayaan. You (and by you I of course extend this to all people who subscribe to celestial regulations regarding food preparation) seem to know quite a bit about the mind of god when it comes to what we should eat, and how we should prepare it. Impressive, under the circumstances. Is it not even possible to you that these prohibitions and precautions may have been the particular obsession of the group of individuals who first proposed the idea?

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Don't know what to tell you Faith, other than "We've dealt with this in the past with some success, here's to hoping for a brighter tomorrow"....lol.

[Napoléon]

Sorry Rayaan, but there is no way you can even pull out the 'depends on your perspective' card.

Halal is barbaric.
The wiki article I quoted itself, gave sources and quotes from reputable people in the fields of medicine, science and animal welfare, that slitting the throat of an animal and letting it bleed out for up to 2 minutes in excruciating pain is NOT humane. It is NOT on a level par with stunning an animal first. Don't even go there. It's an argument which has been disproven already by people with far much more expertise than you and I.

I know we have to kill animals one way or another, but at the end of the day it's simply wrong that we kill animals in such a way, when a far better alternative is available. Why do we do it? For a fucking god? Well your god's a fucking prick.
It's about time we in the CIVILISED world outlawed this ridiculous 'ritual'.

[fr0d0]

I still think it's laughable that us with our extreme unethical treatment of animals can bleat on about someone else's faults.

Just saying a word before killing is as meaningless as it gets in my book. Talk about religious in words only.

[Faith No More]

Just saying a word before killing is as meaningless as it gets in my book.

It has nothing to do with saying words, it has to do with slaughtering the animal while it's still conscious. If we're going to eat meat we should make the practice as humane as possible.

[The Grand Nudger]

Sure Frodo, when I say that Halal is not an ethical or humane way to treat animals one could get the impression of the pot calling the kettle black. After all, I'll follow them through miles of brush to take a dodgy shot that might only catch them in the shoulder. I'm not arguing that I personally treat animals in a more ethical manner. I'm arguing that we..collectively, have decided to make certain things illegal, and yet some things (my obsession with hunting an equally valid example btw) escape that litigation due to the repeated claim that the believer MUST do things this way because god himself commanded it. In this argument, I may be the pot, but the kettle is still black isn't it. I'm not arguing that our laws regarding the ethical treatment of animals are beyond reproach, just that they exist, and are for reasons attributed to religion (in some cases) suspended.

[fr0d0]

No you completely miss the point Rhythm. You hunting is possibly quite ethical. The animal is free. You hunt it to kill it to eat it. Even if you do it for fun or sport, or to eradicate a pest, that in no way compares to the unethical farming that sees animals bred and kept in appaling conditions no reasonable person would tolerate if they had to see it.

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@ FaithNoMore

It's EXACTLY about saying the words. It's a traditional ritual elevated beyond meaning. We're thinking animals... it's an insult to us that we follow blind meaningless traditions such as this.

[The Grand Nudger]

I may not have mentioned it in this post, thought I had. I'm actually one of those people that have engaged in the "unethical farming", just admitting my bias in that regard. I still don't see how an argument about what is ethical, or who is more ethical, has anything to do with a law being applied in one context and yet completely ignored in another. Often in the same slaughterhouse btw.

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Here, let me make an amusing argument out of this. Why does my business have to invest in the equipment to meet laws regarding the ethical treatment of animals, whereas the halal business does not? It's a question of fair application of law, not moral posturing. Maybe others make that argument, I do not.