Those verses in 1 Corinthians 8 where the Apostle Paul addressed the issue of food offered to idols seemed, until last weekend, to have very little contemporary relevance. Corinth's 1st century Christians lived in a city where much of the meat for sale in the marketplace has been sold on from the pagan temples - leftovers from animal sacrifices made to the pagan gods. Paul's advice to the Christians was not to eat any meat which they knew had been used in these sacrifices but not to raise any scruples if there was no indication as to where the meat had come from. Important guidance at the time, but of little use in the UK 2,000 years later, which is a very different place, surely?
Well, perhaps not. As the furore over Halal meat has erupted in the last few days, these verses have suddenly become worthy of dusting off the shelves, as they provide valuable guidelines for Christians concerned about buying Halal meat. No, we shouldn't be buying meat over which we know the cry "Allahu Akbar" has been uttered. For in so doing, we are endorsing a false religion just as the ancient Corinthian Christians feared they might be. We should likewise avoid food chains that serve up Halal meat, but if the meat isn't labelled, the Bible's teaching is that we should eat it without asking any questions.
Of course, the subject of animal cruelty is also relevant to this debate, but before jumping in, it is important to get the facts right as best we can. The truth seems to be that while some animals killed for Halal meat have their throats cut while still conscious, a number of Moslems have claimed that pre-stunning is permitted under Islamic law and that most Halal meat produced in the UK is pre-stunned. Who am I to dispute this, never having set foot in a slaughterhouse, and without the slightest desire to do so? Maybe it's not necessarily as cruel a method of slaughter as we were led to believe?
And indeed, there is a real danger of hypocrisy creeping in over the debate about Halal. The life and death of many animals reared for food is not a happy one. Battery cages, factory farming, transportation of surplus calves from the UK to the continent to be reared in cramped conditions for veal, to name but a few examples. Whether pre-stunned or not, death may well be a happy release for these unfortunate animals.
As an unashamed animal lover, I feel uncomfortable about this - indeed, I have wondered about becoming a vegetarian as I hate the thought of these poor creatures suffering, but I haven't been able to take the step. I must confess, I do like the taste of meat, but on the other hand, I know from first-hand experience that I couldn't kill anything much bigger than a wasp or mosquito unless I was dying of hunger. I recall a holiday with some friends about 20 years ago where we visited a trout farm. I caught one easily enough from the pond they were in, but could I bring myself to bash the poor thing over the head with a wooden block? No, I just couldn't, and if I'm too much of a softy to wallop a poor fish, there's no way I could kill a mammal - a sheep or a cow, let's say - unless I was literally starving.
I would suspect that I'm not the only person who must feel this sense of ambivalence about eating meat because of the cruelty that often accompanies modern farming practises. However, If the issue of killing animals without stunning them first has been addressed by Halal-compliant slaughterhouses in this country and probably few people apart from Christians are specifically uncomfortable about the "Allahu Akbar" business, it is apparent that the real controversy over Halal boils down to something other than animal welfare. Given that Kosher slaughter is similar and has never caused such a stir although it has been practised in this country for many years, the only conclusion one can reach is that the upset over Halal is really a reflection of the widespread antagonism felt towards Moslems in the UK by much of the rest of the community. People should at least be honest in this matter - it's multiculturalism, not the killing of cows and chickens that is really upsetting people.
Well, perhaps not. As the furore over Halal meat has erupted in the last few days, these verses have suddenly become worthy of dusting off the shelves, as they provide valuable guidelines for Christians concerned about buying Halal meat. No, we shouldn't be buying meat over which we know the cry "Allahu Akbar" has been uttered. For in so doing, we are endorsing a false religion just as the ancient Corinthian Christians feared they might be. We should likewise avoid food chains that serve up Halal meat, but if the meat isn't labelled, the Bible's teaching is that we should eat it without asking any questions.
Of course, the subject of animal cruelty is also relevant to this debate, but before jumping in, it is important to get the facts right as best we can. The truth seems to be that while some animals killed for Halal meat have their throats cut while still conscious, a number of Moslems have claimed that pre-stunning is permitted under Islamic law and that most Halal meat produced in the UK is pre-stunned. Who am I to dispute this, never having set foot in a slaughterhouse, and without the slightest desire to do so? Maybe it's not necessarily as cruel a method of slaughter as we were led to believe?
And indeed, there is a real danger of hypocrisy creeping in over the debate about Halal. The life and death of many animals reared for food is not a happy one. Battery cages, factory farming, transportation of surplus calves from the UK to the continent to be reared in cramped conditions for veal, to name but a few examples. Whether pre-stunned or not, death may well be a happy release for these unfortunate animals.
As an unashamed animal lover, I feel uncomfortable about this - indeed, I have wondered about becoming a vegetarian as I hate the thought of these poor creatures suffering, but I haven't been able to take the step. I must confess, I do like the taste of meat, but on the other hand, I know from first-hand experience that I couldn't kill anything much bigger than a wasp or mosquito unless I was dying of hunger. I recall a holiday with some friends about 20 years ago where we visited a trout farm. I caught one easily enough from the pond they were in, but could I bring myself to bash the poor thing over the head with a wooden block? No, I just couldn't, and if I'm too much of a softy to wallop a poor fish, there's no way I could kill a mammal - a sheep or a cow, let's say - unless I was literally starving.
I would suspect that I'm not the only person who must feel this sense of ambivalence about eating meat because of the cruelty that often accompanies modern farming practises. However, If the issue of killing animals without stunning them first has been addressed by Halal-compliant slaughterhouses in this country and probably few people apart from Christians are specifically uncomfortable about the "Allahu Akbar" business, it is apparent that the real controversy over Halal boils down to something other than animal welfare. Given that Kosher slaughter is similar and has never caused such a stir although it has been practised in this country for many years, the only conclusion one can reach is that the upset over Halal is really a reflection of the widespread antagonism felt towards Moslems in the UK by much of the rest of the community. People should at least be honest in this matter - it's multiculturalism, not the killing of cows and chickens that is really upsetting people.