Which matters more: animal rights or the rights of religious minorities?
The BBC's Caroline Wyatt asks "Which matters more: animal rights or the rights of religious minorities?" and looks at some of the issues regarding this emotive subject.
Which matters more: animal rights or the rights of religious minorities?
And which will gain more votes among undecided voters on polling day?
Always an emotive issue, religious slaughter has become an unexpected political battleground as the general election approaches.
Animal rights campaigners have long called for a ban on halal or shechita slaughter, which amongst other requirements specify slitting an animal's throat quickly with a sharp knife while it is still conscious.
The British Veterinary Association, the RSPCA and Animal Aid, as well as the National Secular Society, all want ritual or religious slaughter to be banned. Animal Aid wants all slaughter of animals banned.
However, in the run-up to the general election, opposition to those methods of slaughter would also seem to have become dog whistle politics: shorthand for targeting a specific religious minority - Muslims - without saying as much.
UKIP last week said it would ban all slaughter methods that didn't involve pre-stunning - causing controversy amongst British Muslims and Jews, some of whom warned that any such ban would in effect drive those who observe religious dietary laws out of the UK.
Should ritual slaughter be banned in the UK?
By Caroline Wyatt
BBC News
PUBLISHED: 16 February 2015
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