Between Ritual Slaughter and a Sacred Cow
Keywords:
animal well-being, ritual slaughter, legal system, normative values, normative consensus/conflict, cultureAbstract
This article deals with relations between the established law and ethical values resulting from tradition in a culturally changing reality. In a world where more and more people are living in multicultural environments, the key element of social consensus is the relationship between values that are important for particular ethnic and religious groups and the law established in public society. Culture is a factor shaping the legal system as well as controlling behaviors assessed normatively and often diversely in different religious or ethnic groups. This text presents some theoretical approaches to the concept of law and the culture that builds it. The author indicates which of them are the closest to reaching a social consensus.
The analyzed issue in this article is illustrated through the problem of differing approaches to animals and their slaughter and through the statements of both rabbi and imam religious leaders of communities engaged in ritual slaughter, living in Poland.
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