Why doesn't MODERN muslims (and jews) eat pork?

[FuxieDK]

Both Jews and Muslims have banned pork for human consumption, but why?

- Pork is unclean/filthy.... That might have been true, centuries ago, when the rules were first implemented. It made sense 1000-3000 years ago. But not today.. Pig farms have atleast the same hygene standards as cow/sheep farms, so clean/filthy is no longer an issue..
- Only eat mammals that chew cud AND have spit hooves.. This disqualifies pig, because it doesn't chew cud.. But why? To me, it seems like a limitation, ONLY for the sake of limitation. This rule, also disqualifies rodents (mice and rats etc), but aren't they mostly covered above?

So, the question remains: Why is pork still banned?

No flaming or religious bashing please.. Also, personal taste is not a valid reason for pork to stay banned, as taste cannot be argued..

[Combatbutler]

Both Jews and Muslims have banned pork for human consumption, but why?

- Pork is unclean/filthy.... That might have been true, centuries ago, when the rules were first implemented. It made sense 1000-3000 years ago. But not today.. Pig farms have atleast the same hygene standards as cow/sheep farms, so clean/filthy is no longer an issue..
- Only eat mammals that chew cud AND have spit hooves.. This disqualifies pig, because it doesn't chew cud.. But why? To me, it seems like a limitation, ONLY for the sake of limitation. This rule, also disqualifies rodents (mice and rats etc), but aren't they mostly covered above?

So, the question remains: Why is pork still banned?

No flaming or religious bashing please.. Also, personal taste is not a valid reason for pork to stay banned, as taste cannot be argued..

One word Tradition.

[Deleted]

they wont eat any animal that eats its own shit

[Deleted]

Religious rules exist so that religious leaders can control their population.
Simple.

[Rucati]

It's actually a pretty good question, especially considering that the Bible says not to eat shellfish (muscle, lobster, etc.) yet all religions currently do that. I don't really have an answer, I can say though my dad is Jewish and his favorite food is ham and we ate pork like once a week. But he was never really overly religious, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of Jews have kind of stopped worrying about not eating certain foods, at least the ones I know.

[Deleted]

It's like Halal meat which is a facist idea that creates jobs for only muslim people.

[Deleted]

Old habbits die hard.

[Deleted]

Their book forbids it. Religion is not about logic or questioning things. It's about accepting whatever it presents to you as truth.

[Deleted]

Religious rules exist so that religious leaders can control their population.
Simple.

Yeah... Making eating pork bad, is sooo much controlling the population

[Gwiez]

Some Jews do, and probably Muslims too. The ones who aren't intensely devout.

In short, though: dogma and piety. It wasn't banned because of hygiene, but because of some arbitrary whim of the people founding the religion. Probably some nearby group of people thought their god(s) liked pigs, so to differentiate themselves from those other tribes, the proto-jewish group said their god banned pork, just like it bans haircuts that were popular among nearby non-protojewish tribes.

[Elite Peon]

Religious rules exist so that religious leaders can control their population.
Simple.

That is not true entirely ...isn't funny that a diet with a lot of pig in it has been found to increase the chances of heart disease greatly ...isn't it funny they new this thousands of years ago . Isn't funny that the foods that are allowed turn out to be heart healthy such as a diet rich in fish and lean meats such as non carrion birds ..lie Turkey and such..etc etc..just a little odd that they somehow they figured out that a diet rich in fruit and veggies and lean meat was the most healthiest thousands of years before modern science figured out the same thing ..but I mean that is just religious mumbo jumbo ...coincidence

[oxymoronic]

Their book forbids it. Religion is not about logic or questioning things. It's about accepting whatever it presents to you as truth.

Which is why I'm always shocked when somebody intelligent believes in religion.

[Gwiez]

That is not true entirely ...isn't funny that a diet with a lot of pig in it has been found to increase the chances of heart disease greatly ...isn't it funny they new this thousands of years ago . Isn't funny that the foods that are allowed turn out to heart healthy such as a diet rich in fish ..lean meat such as non carrion birds ..Turkey and such..etc etc..just a little odd that they someone figured out that a diet rich in fruit and veggies and lean meat was the most healthiest ..

It's funny that you think they knew a diet high in pork lead to higher chance of heart disease thousands of years ago. Oh, and beef and lamb will raise your chance of heart disease too. Oops, not the healthiest after all. And crab and mussels, although religiously banned shellfish, have more omega-3 than tuna or cod. They didn't figure anything out.

[Jackmoves]

Different traditions.

Why do we not eat sharkfins? Or why don't we eat dog? Rat? Cat? etc.
Grilled Rat is a common dish in parts of south america, Peru for example.

Why don't americans eat horse?

Traditions.

[Heathy]

I don't think they avoid it just because its 'filthy' its because pig will eat their own shit and themselves if given the chance, although i agree in most ways a pig is hardly more filthy than any other food animal. it really is up to them tbh, but i bet if they had a choice between bacon or death the attitude would soon change.

i wouldn't eat dog, out of principle but if i were starving and there was a lump of cooked meat put in front of me i probably wouldn't think twice.

[pucGG]

Religious rules exist so that religious leaders can control their population.
Simple.

Yeah beacuse the Muslim leaders have an interest in breeding pig armies for world domination.


Or maybe it's tradition. Why don't you eat dogs, OP? Emotional attachment? Come on man, it's the modern world.

[Elite Peon]

It's funny that you think they knew a diet high in pork lead to higher chance of heart disease thousands of years ago. Oh, and beef and lamb will raise your chance of heart disease too. Oops, not the healthiest after all. They didn't figure anything out.

Except that they only ate beef and lamb at passover ...very rare ...so try again

[Gwiez]

Except that they only ate beef and lamb at passover ...very rare ...so try again

Except that you just made that up. so try again. Don't worry, when you stop making up stories to back up bald, erroneous assertions, we'll slaughter a fatted calf for you. Mmmm... cholesterol and animal cruelty.

[Elim Garak]

Yeah... Making eating pork bad, is sooo much controlling the population

When suddenly some groups of people who eat pork become your enemies because they eat pork....
Not to mention the business side of that... pork is out of business... so are the people who raise pigs...

[Klingers]

Actually, let's take this a step further: Remember that $750,000 beef burger grown from bovine stem cells a few months back?

Would lab-grown bacon strips cultured in a sterile environment from pig stem cells be considered kosher or halal? If not, why not?

What if you sequenced in zebrafish genes into the stem cells to make glow in the dark bacon? If you have sterily-grown bioluminescent bacon and you've changed the genome, can Jews and Muslim eat that?

Would the Zebrafish genes introduced into the pig genome mean that yes, you could eat it, but only on Fridays?