Is Ritual Animal Sacrifice Worse than Veal-Eating?

It was 8 pm in tony Northern Palm Beach County, and Dave and I, and two other couples were sitting outside (it was 70 degrees with low-er humidity), under hundreds of little white lights at an Italian restaurant. With Frank Sinatra playing in the background, the waitperson came to our table to take our order.

The backstory is that exactly one year prior, the same six people were at a different Italian restaurant, sitting inside (it was too humid and our hair wouldn’t have taken it well). Three of the six (no, Dave wasn’t one of them) ordered veal, and when the waitperson, who happened to be the chef, came around to me, I asked if he had any dog meat.

Dave and everyone else at the table nearly plotzed, and certainly didn’t appreciate my query. Meanwhile, because the restaurant was a-buzzin’, the chef didn’t quite catch my query, and though I was asking if he personally had any dogs. Either that, or he heard the question but couldn’t fathom that it was really the question. I didn’t rephrase and push the issue, as five sets of eyes were telling me to behave, and I had already made my point. The chef didn’t have to hear my question correctly; it wasn’t for him.

The other couples are the same ones who thought veal crates were a myth. Fast forward one year to last night, and I’m fully prepared for everyone to order veal and I don’t even care.  Any Animal Person who can’t get someone to stop eating veal is a complete failure.

Lo and behold, perhaps due to some kind of stealthy sensitivity training by Dave, everyone’s all about me and how they can get me what I need and how they’re no longer eating veal–for me. I didn’t want to act grateful, as it’s got nothing to do with me, and frankly, abstaining from veal-eating isn’t something to be particularly proud of. It’s a hideous product and it should be illegal everywhere. Should I be proud that I didn’t chain my cat in a box today? I think not.

Ah, but I must play the game. Sort of. So I respond, "The cows thank you, but more important, your karma thanks you, too."

In case you’re wondering, I rigged up a vegan meal of cheeseless pizza with grilled veggies, and didn’t order dessert (although I did have a bite of a cavity-inducing tiramisu). The only problem was that it was loaded with garlic, despite my request in the opposite direction, and I’m quasi-allergic to garlic. (It won’t kill me, but it will roll me up into an excruciating fetal ball for several hours.) The good news is that the evening ended (promptly at 12:01 for me), and I have 364 days to plan better for next year.

Deciding what to write about this morning was initially a no-brainer. "Animal Sacrifices Maim 1,400 in Turkey" was just screaming for attention, and sure to contain a handful of outrageous material for an Animal Person. But not in the way you might think.

Let’s deconstruct:

• Yesterday was the 1st day of a Muslim feast called Eid al-Adha. So far so good.
• For four joyous days, Muslims commemorate God’s provision of a ram for Abraham to sacrifice as he was about to slay his son. Note to self: This is not the kind of God I would choose to believe in. My God wouldn’t make me sacrifice anyone in his name, nor provide me with a swap if I wanted to kill someone. But it’s their story, and they’re stickin’ to it, and I’m not gonna stop them.
• As I was saying: To commemorate the glorious slaughter of the ram, Muslims, to this day, sacrifice cows, sheep, goats and bulls during the four-day holiday. Please note that I don’t find Muslim feasts any more or less frightening in their clinging to archaic and oftentimes-harmful rituals, than other religions.
• 1,400 Turks ended up in emergency rooms "after stabbing themselves or suffering other injuries while sacrificing startled animals." Hmmmm. Perhaps they might want to take that as a sign.
• My favorite part of the story is the end, which states that there are fines for people "who slaughter animals outside facilities set up by local municipalities."

At first, I thought: Wow, this is all exceptionally barbaric. Uncivilized. But although ritual animal sacrifice is in no way a plus for civilization and isn’t going to aid in the evolution our global consciousness any time soon, neither is the production of veal. There are socially-acceptable horrible acts, and socially-unacceptable horrible acts. That’s one of the main differences among "cultures." We find ritual animal sacrifice appalling. Yet we have institutionalized forms of cruelty–like factory farming–that are no better, and some might argue that they’re worse (if the animals used in the rituals had unfettered lives where they got to behave in biologically and socially-appropriate ways).

So I ask you: Is ritual animal sacrifice worse than veal-eating, and if so, why?