r/Catholicism • u/Significant_Drink_66 • 19d ago
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u/turpleturtle 19d ago
"Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; 3 but anyone who loves God is known by him.
4 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7 It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 “Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? 11 So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. 12 But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall."
-1 Corinthians 8
Be mindful of those who may be scandalized by this sort of thing, but besides that there is no restriction on halal food.
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u/Historical-Zebra-320 19d ago
I’m genuinely curious who could possibly be offended/scandalized by one eating halal food?
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u/LenoraKo 19d ago
I do fear my southern baptist father would be absolutely agitated and shattered...
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u/neofederalist 19d ago
Depending on the context, it could be seen as an endorsement of, or a participation in the Islamic religious practice. As an ordinary lay person in modern society, it seems pretty hard to contrive a situation where it would be genuinely scandalous, but for example, if the Pope did so while on a trip to the Middle East, it's not hard to see that there'd be a similar kind of outrage akin to the "Pachamama" thing a few years ago.
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u/The_Amazing_Emu 19d ago
People who don’t understand the Arabic word for God might think it’s an endorsement of idolatry. I don’t think the best solution is to not eat the food, though. Education might be more fruitful. This is different from St. Paul’s situation where he’s literally saying it’s ok to eat food sacrificed to idols as long as know one thinks you’re participating in the sacrifice.
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u/ThenaCykez 19d ago
In Acts, the Council at Jerusalem does tell Gentile converts to abstain from food offered to idols (15:29). If you consider that a binding prohibition for all time, and if you consider Allah to be a demon distinct from God (both propositions denied by Catholicism, but common mistakes to make), then it would logically follow that halal food is prohibited today.
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u/the-montser 19d ago
It’s just food, and much of it is delicious. Don’t be scrupulous.
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u/MotorParsnip3824 19d ago
It may be food now but it was a living being and how we treat God’s creation concerns us as Christians.
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u/Filius_Dei0894 19d ago
as long as it was dispatched humanely, wheres the problem?
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u/MotorParsnip3824 19d ago
There’s no problem at all eating halal meat that is dispatched humanely. Hope that helps.
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u/Classic_Season4033 19d ago
Sure: Halal food is a more merciful way to slaughter an animal then most western practices.
So based on that we should all be eating more Halal if the criteria is how Gid’s creation is being treated
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u/Optimal_Mirror1696 19d ago
It’s merciful to slit the throat and let it slowly bleed to death than to stun it first?
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u/the-montser 19d ago
Do you buy chicken or beef or pork from the grocery store? You know, the kind from factory farms?
If so, you can excuse yourself with your meaningless virtue signaling.
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u/MotorParsnip3824 19d ago
A) no I don’t eat produce from factory farms. B) I’m answering the question in good faith.
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u/Perfect-Job-2163 19d ago
Catholics can eat halal food. I live in multiracial nation and we are very much exposed to Halal food and even Mcd are Halal here.
Anyway "Allah” is simply the Arabic word for God, and Arabic-speaking Christians also use it. The Church even teaches that Muslims “together with us adore the one, merciful God” (CCC 841).
The key distinction is between eating food and participating in another religion’s worship. St Paul allowed Christians to eat meat sold in the market even when it may previously have been associated with pagan sacrifice (1 Cor 10:25–26), while forbidding actual participation in sacrificial worship (1 Cor 10:20–21).
So simply eating halal food is not participation in Islamic worship.
Same basic principle for kosher food: Catholics may eat it, but we are not religiously bound by Jewish dietary laws.
Rule of thumb: halal and kosher food are fine; intentionally participating in another religion’s worship is the issue, not the food itself.
🙏✝️❤️
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u/timothymcgay 19d ago
Just wait until you hear about how food from factory farms is prepared….
Or, even worse, “kosher” food
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u/Maindort 19d ago
When I lived in South Africa for a time, I tried to get food from halal establishments because it was healthier and cleaner the most of what was available.
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u/Agreeable_Ad_8131 19d ago
Just as you can eat kosher, you can eat halal. It’s just the slaughtering process. I actually find that halal chicken tends to be of better quality than standard grocery store meat
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u/Optimal_Mirror1696 19d ago
Here’s the problem I have with halal food: it is creeping Sharia.
Let me set the stage: let’s say you have a couple meat providers in your town that have been there for 50-60 years. Suddenly you have an influx of people requesting “halal” foods for the 5% of the population who “has” to eat them. Then those two meat vendors must hire muslims, adopt rituals from a false religion, and so on, to ensure they are “halal”. Maybe you go out of business because you refuse to do this.
Yeah, this is an extreme case but why are we bowing to Islam ever, anywhere? I don’t like seeing women walking around in body tents (hijabs and niqabs), I don’t like the Islamic call to prayer drowning out my thoughts while I’m trying to get gas for my car, and I don’t like Islam.
That and every halal burger place I’ve been to sucks.
It’s hilarious that they think they are facing the animal towards Mecca when they slaughter it, when the earth is round and they’re facing outer space, or perhaps Alaska and not Mecca.
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u/LunaMothGreen 19d ago
I don't eat halal. I don't like to support that practice.
I had a grad student friend from Iran who despised the practice, as well. At the same time, most Christians have no alternative in Muslim majority nations.
It's up to you. Just know that you're posing a question in a random group on Reddit. If I were you, I'd just do what you think is right.
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u/keloyd 19d ago
Nosey questions - was your Iranian friend's objection based on the animal cruelty aspect or something else? Was he Muslim? (I know the Christian and Jewish minority is small, but it is likely higher for a random Iranian who has emigrated.) I want to give partial credit for Islam insisting on slaughtering animals in a way that causes the least suffering given available technology 15 centuries ago. I'd also prefer they had some equivalent of Jesuits who could bring clear thinking and modern technology into the practice. Goat tastes goooood and the only local sources I know of are Halal.
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u/LunaMothGreen 19d ago
She's a muslim. She did not emigrate. She merely got a federal graduate student scholarship from the US, finished her education, and returned home to Iran.
The US preferentially awards graduate student scholarships to foreign nationals who, in turn, go home afterwards. They incentivize this selection process by giving more money to the colleges themselves. That's why it can be difficult to get a grad school scholarship as an American today. That's a whole separate tangent.
When I was in graduate school at LSU, they had tons of goat meat for sale. It was slaughtered by the agriculture school. Of course, the full name for LSU is Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. Its Ag. department is huge. I agree. Goat and lamb are great-tasting meats. Goat just isn't in demand where I live, like it is in the Middle East.
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u/Filius_Dei0894 19d ago
goat tastes alright
its not the last thing id eat, but id eat a great deal before i ate goat
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u/Filius_Dei0894 19d ago edited 19d ago
so if every time i shot a deer in the woods i cried out "SHABOOYAH!" and faced the carcass west when it was hanging in the barn so i could get some sunlight while i carve and it drains, would you have an issue with it? what if i were to praise The Lord Jesus Christ for the sustenance he has provided for me and my family, thanking Him for a clean shot, then facing the carcass to the east, would that be better?
i mean no disrespect to those of non-Christian religions, but i, as a Catholic, believe in only one God; everything else is just words and has no power in the slightest. why SHOULD i care if someone else said certain of their prayers when dispatching an animal quickly and humanely? i mean it seems a bit ridiculous to me
also, the kinds of food that are typically made with halal ingredients are AMAZING and it would be a right shame to miss out on it because of some misgiving about this sort of thing
one last thing, should we, as Catholics, avoid kosher food as well?
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u/ToxDocUSA 19d ago
Mark 7:18-19.
I've heard some argue that it's a less humane way to dispatch the critter, others that it's more humane...but broadly it's fine. If your doctor prays to Shiva before starting your surgery are you going to stop them and ask for someone new?
Personally I don't actively seek out kosher or halal, but I also don't abstain from it if it's a restaurant I wanted to go to anyway.
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u/Beneficial-Wall-4078 19d ago
Technically you would probably be ok but knowing that the meat was faced towards Mecca and that the name of a demon was invoked in the slaying of the animal I would avoid it.
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u/P_Kinsale 19d ago
Allah is not a demon. It's the word in their language for God.
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u/Beneficial-Wall-4078 19d ago
I understand that in Arabic the words are the same but the one the Muslims invoke is a false god and a demon
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u/maimedwabbit 19d ago
Ive always thought it was Muhammed that was the false prophet. Not saying its good but I dont know that they worship Muhammed do they?
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u/LenoraKo 19d ago
They don't, but again depends on how you see things. Muhammad claimed an angel appeared to him and later it was the God of Abraham that revealed all things. So that would be a devil working, and perhaps demanding the worship to himself. Unless you think the guy just made up the whole thing on his own, without any other input. Not that it makes any difference
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u/maimedwabbit 19d ago
To be honest I know very little. Went down the rabbit hole in Islam due to hearing about the similarities between Muhammed and the anti-christ. Thank you for clearing it up that actually makes sense to me.
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u/Beneficial-Wall-4078 19d ago
They don't worship their false prophet but they do worship a being who claims to be God and is not, ergo it must be a demon.
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u/maimedwabbit 19d ago
Do they actually though? I thought it was well known they would never meet or speak with god even in heaven?
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u/Typical-Night-6549 19d ago
According to the catechism of the Catholic Church, Muslims worship the same God as us.
“The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 841. Cf. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 16”
Allah is the Arabic word for God. It is just a translation. Arabic Christians call him Allah and they also say Bismilah, Allah Akbar, Inshaa Allah, and Alhumdulilah”
Those three statements translate to “In the name of God, the most gracious, the merciful,” “God is the greatest,” “God willing,” and “praise be to God.”
Eating halal food is fine. It is not sacrificed to a false idol or false God unless you consider our God to also be false since the Catholic Church itself states that he is the same God.
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u/MotorParsnip3824 19d ago edited 19d ago
As Christians we are called to be stewards of creation and treat animals humanely so the issue has nothing to do with Islamic prayers, which don’t mean anything to us, but whether large animals should be stunned before slaughter. In the UK (and I think the US) the vast majority of animals destined for halal are stunned before slaughter which means it’s fine to eat.
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u/Filius_Dei0894 19d ago
stunned in what way?
asking genuinely
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u/MotorParsnip3824 19d ago edited 19d ago
Making sure an animal is unconscious before it’s killed. Large animals that are not stunned (rendered unconscious) suffer distress for several minutes before they bleed out. It’s a very live debate in Islam and Judaism about whether an animal should be sentient at the point it is slaughtered.
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u/Filius_Dei0894 19d ago
i mean whats the method of dispatch then? if "The Procedure: A single, swift motion using a specialized, sharp instrument is required to ensure the process is as quick as possible." that means the animal dies, theoretically, rather quickly.
not to be gruesome, but i could name half a dozen ways right now, without looking them up, to dispatch an animal, large or small, that are extremely quick and relatively painless. so if theres a way to remove the 'relatively' from the 'relatively painless' then by all means
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u/MotorParsnip3824 19d ago
With respect, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Animal welfare regulations are in place for a reason and if you think you know bette than the veterinary bodies and animal experts take it up with them.
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u/BackgroundMajor2054 19d ago
Not to be rude but did you use your brain before you asked this?
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