[Emily25368]

We Are NOT scared of pork!! In the Jewish religion pork is not kosher (lawfully eaten) In the Torah (Deutoronomy), Moses instructs his people not to eat pork and shellfish unless it is vital for life (In the Nazi death camps, we had to eat pork), because pork is considered unclean (ever seen the slop that pigs eat?) and so is shellfish. Same with Muslims. Othodox Jews may not handle pork, either. But when a man asked if his son could work at a hog farm, his rabbi said ‘Yes, as it would provide money to feed the family.’ Many Jews (myself included) do not keep kosher, because shellfish is so darn tasty!

User Detail :  

Name : Emily25368, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 10, City : Annandale, State : VA, Country : United States, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Amanad]

I’m not Jewish, mind you, but I study the Torah and adhere to many (not all yet) of its teachings. While I can’t answer the question of why a Muslim would be ‘afraid’ of pork, I can understand why a Jew would avoid it. Pigs are ‘unclean’ animals, this is a concept that has many different connotations, and many different people have many different concepts of what ‘unclean’ means. For some, if something is ‘unclean’ it means that it is diseased, for others it means this person or object is spiritually ‘unclean’. For most though, the term ‘unclean’ implies that if you come into contact with it, this results in some form of contamination, and if something has been contaminated it must either be cleansed or destroyed. I seriously doubt anyone might be stoned for touching a pig, but some may have to mikvah (take a ritual bath) and possibly abstain from fellowship. While these things aren’t necessarily fatal or harmful, they can at the very least be very inconvenient.

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Name : Amanad, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Hebrew Roots, Age : 20, City : Brandon, State : FL, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, 

[Fossihundt]

As a matter of fact, pork can harbor a disease. It’s caused by a parasitic nematode worm named Trichinella spiralis. This parasite lives in muscle tissue. If you undercook muscle tissue from an animal, such as a pig with this parasite, the nematode will leave your intestine and burrow into your muscle tissue, causing symptoms such as ‘fever, nausea, vomiting and sweats’ (this last taken from the book ‘Or Perish in the Attempt’ by David Peck, D.O. about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This parasite can also be found in bears; the members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition had many a meal featuring bear meat.

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Name : Fossihundt, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Native American, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 54, City : Orlando, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : Science background, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Debora]

Pork is not allowed for Muslims. Pigs are considered unclean. I don’t know why a Muslim would touch a package of pork, even trying to get to something else- for myself, I would not bother with three sets of gloves, I would rather leave whatever is under the pork chops alone. There is a misconception by some that Muslims deny themselves pork for ascetic reasons. This is not the case. Nor is there any kind of spirituality involved – pigs are just considered unclean – touching pork for Muslims, is closer to touching dung than to touching something ‘clean,’ like beef or chicken. Muslims tend to wonder why Christians eat pig meat, because Jesus never said in the Gospels that it was OK to eat pork.

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Name : Debora, Gender : F, Religion : Muslim, Age : 40, City : Virginia Beach, State : VA, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Margo]

I’m not Jewish or Muslim, so will bow to the superior knowledge of anyone who is, but I understand that it has nothing to do with fear of disease, but that pork is ritually unclean, and so not touching pork is a matter of religious observance, sticking to the rules laid out in the Torah or Quran about what is and is not acceptable. I think that the reason that pigs (and therefore pork) is seen as unlean is that pigs are omnivores (so you don’t know what other ritually unclean product you might be eating secondhand) and that they are cloven-footed animals but don’t chew the cud. It isn’t particularly logical, but then since when did logic have anything to do with religion?

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Name : Margo, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 27, City : Manchester, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : lawyer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Jamasiel]

Different parts of each religion will have different takes on it – from not touching, to ignoring the religious rules as outdated and eating it anyway.

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Name : Jamasiel, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : Mixed mongrel., Religion : Taoist, Age : 32, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Occupation : Web Developer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[John29398]

I’ve known for a while that Muslims don’t eat pork. I was going to an international Spanish language school in Spain in 1999. I befriended a Turkish girl. So I’m thinking: ‘those poor Muslims. They’ll never taste a ham sandwich.’ The Spaniards love to eat pork. I didn’t live with a family, but every butcher shop has lots of pork hanging in the window. Lots of the meals in Tapas (think pub-fare) bars are pork based. So, when we passed by one of the butcher shops, she made a scrunched-up face and said ‘Ew! Pork!’ It’s seems like they view eating pork the way most people I know view eating small wild animals. She might as well have said, ‘Ew!! ‘Possum!’

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Name : John29398, Gender : M, City : Chestnut Ridge, State : NY, Country : United States, 

[Jasmine]

For Muslims, the eating, touching and utilizing of products derived from pigs is strictly prohibited. As in it’s a huge sin. Don’t ask why. I’ve been wondering my whole life, too. A few explanation are that pigs were thought of ‘unclean’ (and we all know the Islamic obsession with cleanliness) because they were observed to roll in mud and consume their own excretion while being reared in pens. Another is that back in the day I’m assuming before ham was cured pork could potentially carry diseases, and pigs could spread hand, foot and mouth disease. It was thought that the prophet banned it outright to play it safe. The other is that pigs are very much like humans in their skin, DNA and organs. So it would be a bit like caanibalism. Technically if she picked it up with gloves it’s still a sin. Oh well.

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Name : Jasmine, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Ceylonese, Religion : Secular Humanist, Age : 24, City : Singapore, State : NA, Country : Singapore, Occupation : Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[S Howard]

Thanks. Are all Muslims alike? I have Jewish and Muslim friends. If only God made a vaccine against Satan’s pork diseases

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Name : S Howard, Gender : M, City : Nwe York, State : NY, Country : United States, 

[Mara]

what about an animal that’s been fed commercial feed, which often contains bone meal? These days, good luck finding commercial meat that’s grass/grain fed. If you can, and you trust the supplier to be honest, then it’ll cost you a pretty penny.

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Name : Mara, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 40, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Occupation : data entry, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, 

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