Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts

Saturday, March 26, 2016

UN Report On Religious Freedom In Denmark Released

On March 22, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief filed his Preliminary Findings (full text) on his visit to Denmark to review the status of religious freedom there.  The Evangelical Lutheran church is the established church of the country.  Some 160 other groups enjoy either "recognition" or "acknowledgement."  The lengthy report observes in part:
The existing system is obviously non-egalitarian. While virtually no one questions the spirit of freedom that prevails in Denmark, including in the area of religion or belief, the principle of equality certainly does not govern the treatment of diverse religious communities. This contrasts starkly with the everyday culture in Denmark which indeed is markedly egalitarian....
[T]he understanding of religion in Denmark very much focuses on the dimension of the person’s inner conviction. This seems to echo a Christian and more specifically Lutheran understanding of redemption through faith alone (“sola fide”). As a result, aspects of ritual or ceremonial religious practice are relegated into a mere external sphere, which allegedly has less relevance and is less worthy of recognition. From the perspective of non-Christian religions, this can become worrisome. Two issues have arisen in various talks over the last few days, namely, the ban on ritual slaughter without prior stunning of the animal, enacted in February 2014, and public demands to outlaw religiously motivated circumcision of male infants.
[Thanks to Niels Valdemar Vinding via Religionlaw for the lead.] 

Friday, February 14, 2014

New Danish Administrative Regulation Prohibits Kosher and Halal Slaughter Without Prior Stunning of Animal

World Jewish Congress reported yesterday that Denmark's Agriculture and Food Minister has signed a new regulation that takes effect Feb. 17  requiring all animal slaughter to be carried out with prior stunning. Traditionally both kosher and halal slaughter prohibits prior stunning of an animal, and the new regulation was strongly opposed by the Jewish and Muslim communities in Denmark.

Under the new rule, the provision in current Danish regulations that allows an exemption for ritual slaughter that follows elaborate procedures, including stunning immediately after slaughter, will be eliminated. Apparently the regulatory change will have little practical effect at least on the supply of kosher meat, since for the past ten years all kosher meat sold in Denmark has been imported from abroad.

The Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry's website says: "In Denmark all ritual slaughter of animals at slaughterhouses is performed with previous stunning at the moment." JTA reports that according to the president of Denmark's Jewish community, Danish Jews agreed in 1998 to the certification as kosher of meat from cattle that were stunned with non-penetrative captive bolt pistols.  However a Danish rabbi disputes this, saying the agreement probably referred to post-cut stunning, but since no kosher slaughter has taken place in Denmark for at least 10 years, it is unclear. In discussing the new regulation, Agriculture and Food Minister Dan Jørgensen told Danish television: "Animal rights come before religion."