- At it again: Denmark bans slaughter of animals, “not stunned” before slaughter. Gak! Stunning reasons!

- It’s unethical: This is what the country says about the way an animal is slaughtered to make it halal. Well, what’s ethical about the stunning, one may ask?

- Freedom of religion: It can wait in Denmark till everybody becomes secular in the Western sense of the terminology.

- Animal rights: They come before religious rights, this is what Denmark’s Food Minister Dan Jorgensen said on Feb. 17 after the ban.

- Rights group: Party for the Animals says, “Kill animals, but in a friendly manner.” What’s friendly about it?

- Anti-Religious: Jewish and Muslim groups cry foul. Such laws are egged on by reports prepared by those opposed to ritual slaughter, they say.

- Spurring hatred: Surveys show that over 60% of Danes supported the bill, thanks to radical parties’ sustained campaign against halal meat.

- Dutch law: In the past it supported halal and kosher methods, but later it was changed to ban the way the Muslims and Jews slaughter. Wild laws!

- Gone Unheeded: Muslims and Jews insisted their slaughter methods cause minimal suffering to the animals; also hygienic, as blood which is impure is drained out;

- Ban all that is Danish: Some Muslims react; but, will it make any impact, I'm not sure.

10 things missing from the debate:

- Europe has largely accepted Islam and Muslims.

- Muslims are a fast growing community there.

- A 2006 study says Denmark has some 115 mosques, some of them are the most beautiful ones in the world.

- Several Muslim schools there teach Arabic and Islamic studies.

- Ritual slaughtering banned, but import of halal or kosher meat continues. It is not against Islam, the govt has clarified.

- The rise of right-wing politics is however a matter of concern to Muslims as much as to the European culture.

- Growing secularism has little respect for religious sentiments

- Hard-line Christians are sometimes seen as hatching conspiracies to purge Muslims and Jews from their society.

- Such bans come as a boon too – spurring Muslim nations to start their own industries.

- In the secular vs. faith fight, Muslims can present their own case of Islam with greater force to make truth prevail over ignorance.


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