Millions of animals are suffering unnecessarily by being slaughtered without stunning to meet religious demands.
That's why we campaign to end religious exemptions to animal welfare laws.
Animal welfare law requires animals to be stunned before slaughter to minimise their pain, suffering and distress. The only exemption is for Jewish and Muslim communities to meet kosher and halal religious dietary preferences.
The scientific consensus is clear that it is more humane to stun an animal prior to slaughter. The slaughter of animals without pre-stunning is permitted in the UK despite a recommendation by the government's own advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), that the practice should be banned. FAWC concluded that animals slaughtered without pre-stunning are likely to experience "very significant pain and distress".
RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming and the British Veterinary Association all support an end to non-stun slaughter to improve animal welfare at the time of death.
- 70% of Brits think stunning animals before slaughtering them is more ethical.
- 72% of the population think food produced from religious non-stun slaughter methods should be clearly labelled.
We support the right to religious freedom. But this is not an absolute right. Religious exemptions shouldn't be made to laws meant to prevent unnecessary animal cruelty.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to end the religious exemption that allows animals to be slaughtered without pre-stunning.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Catholic Bishops step into Poland’s religious slaughter debate – and create a Church-state confrontation
Posted: Wed, 2 Oct 2013 14:17
The Polish Catholic Bishops Conference has issued a statement in support of the campaign to reverse the country's ban on religious slaughter of animals.
In a declaration last week, the Presidium of the Conference of the Polish Episcopate said "throughout our long history Polish legislation never questioned the right to religious freedom". It also said that it shared "the view that Jewish religious communities and believers of Islam are entitled to preserve and implement their fundamental rights to freedom of religion and worship. It is their right to preserve their customs, including the ritual slaughter of animals".
The Bishops also criticised a "lack of consistency of legislators with respect to two conflicting laws, the law on the protection of animals on the one hand and the law governing the relationship between the Polish state and Jewish communities on the other hand".
The statement follows a recent visit to the Vatican by delegates from the World Jewish Congress who extracted from Pope Francis a promise that he would "look into the matter".
Ronald S. Lauder President of World Jewish Congress said on Monday: "We appreciate this statement, and we will hope that it will lead Polish legislators to revert the wrong decision they took".
In July, the Polish parliament, the Sjem, rejected a Government initiative to overturn the prohibition on religious slaughter citing animal welfare.
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, commented: "This is obviously a Vatican initiative which has turned it into a confrontation between the Church and the state. We are told that Poland's Catholicism is weakening, so it will be interesting to see if the Bishops can force their will on to the parliament as easily as they have been able to in the past. This is a test of the strength of Poland's democracy in the face of a manipulative and determined theocratic power".
Pope adds to the pressure on Poland to reverse its ban on ritual slaughter
Posted: Tue, 3 Sep 2013 13:25
The Pope has promised Jewish and Muslim leaders in Poland that he will do his best to overturn the ban on religious slaughter that was agreed by the Polish Constitutional Court in January. The Court ruled that ritual slaughter is incompatible with animal welfare regulations.
The Pope has assigned a senior church official to "investigate" the ban, which he said was against the "religious freedom of Polish Jewry".
Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich expressed gratitude for the pope's decision to get involved in the debate over Kosher slaughter, telling The Jerusalem Post that "anyone who supports shechita anywhere in the world is something that is very welcome and encouraging and especially coming from the pope, it really gives us encouragement that together with the Polish government we will find a wise and quick solution."
The Pope met Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) — which represents Jewish communities outside Israel — on Monday to discuss the ban, among other issues.
"The Pope specifically expressed concern about the bans on kosher slaughter in Poland and directed Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Vatican's Commission for Relations with the Jews, to investigate and host a follow-up meeting as early as next week," the WJC said in a statement after their talks.
The Jewish and Muslim communities each number around 20,000 to 30,000 people in Poland, a country of some 38 million people.
European Union rules on the slaughter of livestock are designed to minimise suffering for animals when they are killed, but religious groups are exempted from a requirement that animals be stunned before death.
Kosher and halal slaughter require an animal be killed by slitting its throat and permitting it to bleed to death while conscious.
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: "It is not the Pope's business to try to interfere with the democratic processes of an independent nation like Poland. We know that the Catholic Church wields inordinate power in Poland, but this should not be used to try and overturn parliamentary or judicial decisions.
"If this ban is revoked after the Vatican intervenes it will be a blow to democracy in Poland. It also poses a potential threat to the independence of every other country that has a large Catholic population and whose government happens to make a decision the pope doesn't like."
