While today's ruling from Poland's Constitutional Court may have been based on freedom of religion, the actual primary benefactor of the court’s ruling is Poland’s agricultural industry.
Poland Overturns Ritual Slaughter Ban
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Poland's Constitutional Court overturned a ban on ritual slaughter today, the AP reported. The ban, passed into law by the Polish parliament last year, prohibited all ritual slaughter of animals but primarily impacted the Jewish and Muslim communities.
Arguing that Poland’s constitution guarantees freedom of religious practice, the court overturned the ban.
But while its ruling may have been based on freedom of religion, the actual primary benefactor of the court’s ruling is Poland’s agricultural industry.
Before the ban on ritual slaughter was put in place, Poland was a major exporter of ritually slaughtered halal meat and kosher meat, exporting about 500 million euros ($620 million) of meat per year to Israel and Muslim countries, and the Polish meat and agriculture industries strongly advocated for the overturning of the ban as did Poland’s pro-business government.
Animal welfare activists oppose ritual slaughter because it is carried out without first stunning or sedating the animal.
The government was unable to overcome the will of animal welfare advocates in parliament, and it was ultimately an appeal to the Constitutional Court brought by Jewish groups that undid the law banning ritual slaughter, and Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich said he was grateful for the court’s ruling and proud to be living in Poland.
"I am proud to live in a Poland today that fully guarantees religious rights and freedoms," Schudrich reportedly said.