Update: The Theological Necessity of Goats
The ongoing legal battle between Euless, Texas and Santeria priest Jose Merced over the issue of animal sacrifice starts its next round in court today as arguments are heard in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Merced, backed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, is appealing an earlier ruling that the ban against Merced sacrificing goats is legal due to public health issues (even though slaughtering your own chickens and deer are legal in Euless).
“Jose Merced accused the city of Euless of violating his constitutional freedom of religious exercise, but U.S. District Judge John McBryde of Fort Worth sided with the city and dismissed the Puerto Rico native’s claims last year. Merced asks the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn McBryde’s ruling. A three-judge panel is to hear the case Wednesday in New Orleans. Euless says certain animal sacrifices pose a threat to public health and violate its slaughterhouse and animal cruelty ordinances. Merced’s lawyer say he’s sacrificed animals at his Euless home for 16 years without incident.”
The goal here is to prove that the law in Euless is arbitrary and unfairly burdens his religious practice. In 1993 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye vs. the City of Hialeah, Florida, that laws governing the slaughter of animals must be neutral and generally applicable. Since Euless already allows for the home slaughter of various (potentially) pathogen-carrying “tablefare animals” (chickens, turkeys), to single out Merced’s sacrifice of goats certainly seems arbitrary. Also questionable is the fact that only Merced has been singled out in the enforcement of these “slaughterhouse” and “animal cruelty” ordinances.
“Euless argued that applying these ordinances was justified because Merced’s rituals affect public health. However, Euless has moved to protect the public health only with respect to Merced’s actions. Euless has not targeted restaurants, veterinarians or others who pose equivalent threats to the public health.”
For more information, check out the Becket Fund’s fact sheet on the case and this video press release:
This is an important case, and a win here would greatly increase the established legal rights for the humane and sanitary home slaughter of animals for religious purposes. While it is certainly understandable that some in our communities view such practices as retrograde and unnecessary, we should not forget that animal sacrifice was a bedrock of ancient paganism, and that some Pagan groups today engage (or wish to engage) in similar rites. We should support our “cousins” in Santeria, if only because ensuring their religious freedoms also ensures ours.
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