Boycotting halal Butterballs

[The Archivist]

Apparently this was a big deal during Thanksgiving, but somehow I didn't hear about it.

Trust Candy to fill me in, however! She states in a recent post that Butterball turkeys are halal-certified, and thus...SINFUL FOR CHRISTIANS TO KNOWINGLY EAT.

joyfulchristianhomemaking.blogspot.com/2012/01/holidays-meat-sacrificed-to-idols-and.html

The anti-Islamic atmosphere of the US has really gotten batshit insane.

The funniest part is, the part of the halal requirements anti-Islamists are most upset about are the "ritual prayers" said over the slaughtered animal - and this is the part Butterball admits they do not do.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/the-isl ... certified/

Which actually makes their turkeys not really halal, just humanely slaughtered and ready for ritual prayers, should some halal distributor choose to do so.

[Buzzard]

Some things are Kosher for the same reason and no one knows about it. Honestly, I love meat and would buy humanely slaughtered animals if more readily available. Couldnt care less what prayer was said when it was killed.

[rachelmom]

Snopes has already debunked this:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/halal.asp

[The Archivist]

That's an interesting article about halal myths, but not specifically about Butterballs and whether it's sinful!!!!!!!!! for Christians to eat them.

[Hane]

I love Snopes so much I want to marry it. Fortunately, I live in a marriage-equality state, so I may not have long to wait.

[GeoBQn]

People were freaking out about this on Messianic Keepers at Home. I think their issue was that they think eating Halal meat violates a commandment not to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols. Whatever, I've heard of Muslims eating kosher meat if Halal meat isn't available.

[The Archivist]

I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally don't think that halal meat has been "sacrificed to idols" no matter how fucked-up your crazy fundie Bible interpretation skillz are. Especially since Christians and Muslims are understood historically to worship the same god.

[samurai_sarah]

Thanks for the info. I always - simplistically- equated "halal" with "kosher". My Catholic parish priest used to advise us to only go to "kosher" restaurants, when in Israel. He held the opinion that as far as health and safety were concerned, it was your best bet, if you were concerned about that. He's the one who told me that "halal" was "kosher". So. . . obviously, I never worried about what sort of prayers anyone says. And even if, I were sure of having "the one and only Christian truth", wouldn't saying grace just negate all else? Maybe I got this wrong, but to me it sounds like admitting that another form of worship is more powerful than yours.

[Wolfie]

Once, I was picking up a lamb I'd had butchered. (I didn't raise it, I bought it and it went right to the butcher.) While I was there, I watched a Halal slaughter. Pretty simple, the family had picked out two goats from a pen outside, they brought them in, somebody who was there with the family prayed and slit the throats and the goats quickly died and bled out. Nothing offensive or painful about it. (no long drawn out death or any abuse, it all went very fast.)

[Effie]

The funniest part is, the part of the halal requirements anti-Islamists are most upset about are the "ritual prayers" said over the slaughtered animal - and this is the part Butterball admits they do not do.

I'm not anti-Muslim or anti-Islam. However I'm anti-Islamists. I oppose religious fundamentalism like Islamism, which I think has little to do with Islam. Most Muslims are not Islamists.

[candycanehead]

dont they just slit the animals throat and let it bleed? because that is how i would slaughter my chickens during my brief stint at backyard chicken farming..it was quick and humane. (and way too much work, so i am lazy and get my chicken from the store now)

[treemom]

As I said on fb next up in candy world is the secret Jew extortion that is the parve and kosher symbols.

(just for reference http://www.snopes.com/racial/business/kosher.asp)

[Buzzard]

As I said on fb next up in candy world is the secret Jew extortion that is the parve and kosher symbols.

(just for reference http://www.snopes.com/racial/business/kosher.asp)

Shhhhh :shhh: dont tell teh internetz our diabolical secretz :whistle:

[ilovetchotchkes]

Shhhhh :shhh: dont tell teh internetz our diabolical secretz :whistle:

Mmmmm Jew-oreos....... *noms whole package down*

[HijabiLady]

dont they just slit the animals throat and let it bleed? because that is how i would slaughter my chickens during my brief stint at backyard chicken farming..it was quick and humane. (and way too much work, so i am lazy and get my chicken from the store now)

The animal is supposed to be raised humanely during it's lifetime. Then when it is slaughtered it is to be taken out of the sight of the other animals, faced East and an extremely sharp blade used to cut it's throat. (during this time you say, "Allah Akbar" aka God is great) The stroke must be quick as well as immediately sever the carotid and jugular so the animal is usually unconscious in a matter of seconds. The irony is most of these fundie Christians don't realize Allah is simply the Arabic word for God. The Arab Christians say Allah when talking about God. It is the same god os Abraham, Isaac, Jesus, etc.,

Muslims are allowed to eat any animal slaughtered by al-kitaab or people of the book. If the method is done correctly by a Jew or Christian then it is considered "halal." However very few Christians slaughter the halal manner so the store meat is often off limits to us. Kosher meat is slaughtered according to our specifications so we are permitted to eat it.

[DistantStar]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression was that halal rules center mostly around how the animal is cared for and dispatched -- and I am all for humanely treating and slaughtering an animal I'm going to eat! -- while kosher rules start there but, as we all know, go waaaaaaaay beyond. So meat that is kosher is more or less halal but a full meal that is halal is not necessarily within lightyears of kosher.

My usual store has started carrying a few frozen halal dinners. Sadly, the couple I bought I wasn't a huge fan of. But I'll keep buying them just to spite the bigots!

[HijabiLady]

Distant Star,

Kosher laws are a lot more rigid and all encompassing than halal rules. Halaal food basically means the meat is permissible, Kosher means a lot more I believe. I was talking to a fairly observant Jewish doctor during my 3rd year of med school and he was telling me even the salads had to be kosher approved. Lettuce is simply lettuce to us Muslims. Also, we are permitted to eat anything from the sea my DH eats lots of shrimp, crabs, etc.,

[treemom]

Kosher and halal are not always interchangeable. Islam forbids alcohol for instance so chocolate that is kosher is usually not halal. (damn vanillin and vanilla!)

[Witsec7]

We have a halal butcher in town and I called him to see if he wanted to buy some kids when I was raising goats. The man insisted on visiting and seeing how my goats were kept. He told me he never bought lambs or goats at auction. He was a very dependable resource and I was comfortable knowing the care that would be provided to them before their demise. It was also a very subtle way I could support our local Moslem community.

[Wolfie]

The animal is supposed to be raised humanely during it's lifetime. Then when it is slaughtered it is to be taken out of the sight of the other animals, faced East and an extremely sharp blade used to cut it's throat. (during this time you say, "Allah Akbar" aka God is great) The stroke must be quick as well as immediately sever the carotid and jugular so the animal is usually unconscious in a matter of seconds. The irony is most of these fundie Christians don't realize Allah is simply the Arabic word for God. The Arab Christians say Allah when talking about God. It is the same god os Abraham, Isaac, Jesus, etc.,

That's what I saw. They brought the goats in to a separate pen, holding one goat just out of sight until the first one was done, then bringing in the second one.

[JesusFightClub]

That was a great article. I burst out laughing at the bit where she warns us not to use Election Day as an excuse for debauchery. How often does this happen?

"Hey, babe, it's Election Day. Let's fuck." :D

[JesusFightClub]

Reading on and banishing inappropriate Election Day thoughts from my mind...

"Appearance of evil". This one winds me up. I remember this from being Christian. It means "evil shit which appears" not "innocent things you do which others might see as evil". So if you innocently go to the cinema, or you innocently go and do anything, it doesn't matter what onlookers think. You have abstained from doing evil because you haven't done any, and if the chance of doing evil arose, you didn't do it.

If you took "appearance of evil" srsly in modern American English you would be utterly paralysed. What if you were getting a haircut or buying fabric to make a dress and someone saw you and thought "She's doing that to attract men and cause them to sin." Completely innocent act, check. Appearance of sin, well it looked sinful to SOMEONE therefore you shouldn't have done it.

The weaker brother thing is totally off as well. What I was taught about that was it's letting the weaker brother find his own pace and not confusing him. Like, don't torment him with stuff. Like you wouldn't wave chips in front of your Muslim friend's face during Ramadan to prove a point, don't aggravate the brother who says "Um, I'm not sure if this is right or not, I need to think" by bellowing at him "Well I'm going to FUCKING DO IT, WATCH ME AND MY EPIC FREEDOMS".

It is thinking about other people and not being an arsehole. A weaker brother isn't a rubbish Christian, they just have a difficulty. You probably have one in a different area which the weaker brother might have got past. So respect his convictions and let him work in his own time without parading the fact you are doing *so much better*.

[Sola]

I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally don't think that halal meat has been "sacrificed to idols" no matter how fucked-up your crazy fundie Bible interpretation skillz are. Especially since Christians and Muslims are understood historically to worship the same god.

Ah but they aren't you see! According to True Christians™, Allah is not the same god as the Christian god! It doesn't matter that the word 'Allah' is just the arabic word for 'god'.....

[Terrie]

Even Zsuzsu knows that Allah is simply the Arabic word for god. How crazy do you have to be to make her look reasonable?

[2xx1xy1JD]

Distant Star,

Kosher laws are a lot more rigid and all encompassing than halal rules. Halaal food basically means the meat is permissible, Kosher means a lot more I believe. I was talking to a fairly observant Jewish doctor during my 3rd year of med school and he was telling me even the salads had to be kosher approved. Lettuce is simply lettuce to us Muslims. Also, we are permitted to eat anything from the sea my DH eats lots of shrimp, crabs, etc.,

I know a number of Muslims who will eat kosher meat. The kosher symbol is also used to identify foods that don't have issues with lard or gelatin. Some prepared foods would be an issue due to the alcohol - I cook meatball and beef stew with wine, so that would be an issue.

Muslims don't have problems with milk/meat combinations or seafood, so those can still be issues for kosher Jews. Middle Eastern and Indian/Pakistani restaurants may use yogurts with meats. I used to eat a fair bit of halal food when I lived in downtown Toronto, because it was available across the street and kosher restaurants weren't anywhere near us. I just checked the ingredients carefully.

The whole idolatry idea is pure ignorance. Anyone who knows anything about Islam would know that it's purely monotheistic, and arguably goes to greater lengths to avoid anyone resembling idolatry than most Christian denominations. That's why Islamic art generally consists of abstract designs instead of people, animals or anything in nature.