Theos-Talk Archives (February 2003 Message tt00351)

Steve Stubbs wrote:
> the US for permitting ritual slaughter of animals I thought it was 
> Jewish ritual slaughter that you were referring to.
I was referring to the Yoruba religion and its descendants, such as 
Santeria and Voodoo. Essentially, their sacrificial ceremonies are not 
that different than the traditional American Thanksgiving. And there is 
a basic legal principle in the United States that if an activity is 
allowed for non-religious reasons, then it cannot be limited for 
religious reasons (this came up recently when a police officer who 
wanted to wear a beard for religious purposes, violating the dress code. 
It turned out that the police department had a medical exemption to the 
no-beard policy, and that was sufficient to create a religious exemption).

Bart Lidofsky