Raising pigs is a vital staple of many farmers around the world and a major source of food for many areas. For as nearly as long as humans have been domesticating animals, humans have been raising pigs. Archaeological evidence suggests that pigs were domesticated from wild boar as early as 13,000–12,700 BC in the Near East in the Tigris Basin.
But of the 3 major monotheistic faiths of the world – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, only Christians consume pork, while the others consider the pig to be “unclean” or “haram”. Why is pork forbidden in those religions, but not in Christianity?
The religious restriction of pigs goes back millennia. Both the Torah (Leviticus 11:7) and the Quran (An-Naĥl 16:115) explicitly forbid eating pigs. The view of the pig in the ancient world was that pigs were unclean because of their nature, for example, rolling in mud. Additionally, it was likely that because of farming and improper cooking methods at the time, the flesh of pigs was a common cause of bacterial infections.
The view of pigs being unclean carried over to the very first Christians. Being that the Apostles were are all Jews, they followed the Old Covenant dietary laws. But as more and more gentiles were converted, there arose debate as to whether or not they were bound by Jewish dietary law also.
In Acts 10, though, things change. Cornelius, a God-fearing Roman centurion, has a vision in which he is instructed to send for Saint Peter. At the time, it was forbidden for Jews to eat or associate with Gentiles. The next day, while the men who were sent to deliver Cornelius’ message to Peter were on their way, Saint Peter also had a vision.
In his vision, “He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all the earth’s four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky. A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.” But Peter said, “Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean.” The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.” (Acts 10:11:15)
After his vision, the men sent by Cornelius arrived and Peter accompanied them back to the Centurion’s home. When arriving, despite the restriction of Jews and Gentiles eating together, Peter baptized Cornelius and his entire family, and stayed with him.
From that point on, and specifically decreed in Acts 15, Christians were not bound by the dietary restrictions against pork. This was the culmination of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 15, where He says “It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person, but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”
Today, there are millions of people around the world, particularly in desperately poor areas, who directly depend on pigs for livelihood. In many areas, raising pigs is the only feasible source of meat and is the difference between starvation and life. And while it may not seem glamorous, one of the most Christian and practical things you can do is to help the poor around the world is by helping them build pig farms!
To help poor farmers and other communities who struggle with access to vital resources, The Pontifical Mission Societies have created MISSIO, a new and innovative Catholic crowd-funding platform that allows you to directly assist the Catholic charities and projects all over the world.
MISSIO allows you to search through life-giving and life-saving projects – ones providing for basic needs, others extending the Good News of the Gospel to remote areas, and still more bringing the light of the Lord’s loving-kindness to those in the darkest circumstances. With MISSIO, you can choose one of these missions of Pope Francis and donate directly to them, knowing that 100% of your donation will go directly there. You can also share them on social media and reignite the discussion and remind people of these forgotten situations, so others can support the projects also.
Launched by Pope Francis himself, the MISSIO platform offers a direct connection to change-makers who work on the “front lines” making a difference for the poor and forgotten through direct, daily service.
There are opportunities to help sustain a parish pig farm in Cameroon, help build a sustainable piggery in Liberia, or help The Missionary Sisters of the Resurrection to improve their existing pig rearing structure.
MISSIO is powered by The Pontifical Mission Societies, the Catholic Church’s official support organization for overseas missions since 1822, providing for a global network of people who are making a difference for communities in need around the globe.
Check out MISSIO today and start giving!
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://ucatholic.com/blog/jews-muslims-dont-eat-pork-christians-heres/&media=https://ucatholic.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CatholicBacon.png&description=Of the 3 major monotheistic faiths of the world - Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, only Christians consume pork, while the others consider it "unclean" or "haram"){kind=link}
In both instances of biblical quotes ,you fail to properly identify the subject matter of what is being discussed.Peter,so vision had nothing to do with food but whether gentles should be admitted into the New Way . In the 2nd instance had to do with false teaching ,not food.In Genesis God gave Adam food laws (only eat that which bears seed etc.) After 420 yrs. of captivity Israel had lost their way and had adopted the Egyptian way.God through Moses reestablished the food laws.Finally,the food were ordained By The Father to keep us healthy. Breaking them has nothing to do with the spirit but with the health of the flesh body
I completely agree with this, I’m so happy you said something. On top of all that uCatholic claimed the Jews were under the “Old Covenant” to imply the “new covenant” is their’s. The “(re)new(ed) covenant” is with Israel and Judah and it clearly states that. When someone questions the laws of Torah they are implying that they are smarter than God because the Torah was written by God. This is a disappointing article.
I meant to say I agree with Gerald Couture not this article.
Pigs will be and always be dirty no fire or boiling the carsus can kill millions of bacterias in the pig thats why we get cancer for eating dirty food
People not eating any meat get cancer, it’s not what you eat.
Most pathogenic bacteria proliferate in temperatures between 96-98 degrees, much like our bodies. Higher temperatures denature and kill the bacteria.
There are thermophils bacteria which do best in high temperatures however, for our sake these were found in sulfur heat vents deep in the ocean floor.
Long story short, if cleaned and cooked to specification, pork is safe. And no, cancer has no relation to pork ingestion. If your statement had any validity, then why would 100% organic vegans get cancer? Or why would someone who eats only kosher our halal foods would get cancer?
Misinformation is rampant, let’s educate the masses with scientific facts not opinions.
they smoke sanctified cigarettes
PIGS are the most versatile farm animal alive, eco friendly waste converter to compost, no farmer should be without one, its a clean healthy white meat and superior to even fish and as easy to digest, could be considered and actually is one of the few GENUINE superfoods, fit for an enlightened vegan sufi.
Superstitious jews won’t eat delicious pork meat, nor its rebellious copycat counterpart, but it is always God forsaken religion or cruel selfish vegan hogwash behind the inhumane move, not eating the PIG is disobedience and a complete insult to God and a misunderstanding of the law of GOD. IT is a desire to be an elitist, imposing a superiority of redundant religion over freedom and joy. There is no room for that behaviour as the poor and religiously inferior deserve to eat. Noah ate pork, but only sacrificed ceromonially clean animals, there was no prohibition to Abraham, the prohibition was given to Moses for Israel, it was not unclean but deemed ceremonially unclean as is a rabbit, (is a rabbit unclean). God wanted a separate nation, he also gave outward circumcision of the FLESH to the JEWS, but only as a sign of separation. A true jew today is known by the love he displays, the inward circumcision of the heart, and his CHASTE conversation… mm good thoughts good words good deeds is the right path(, its not what you eat) a true jew walks in the way of his Messiah, a rebel jew and muslims etc reject Jesus and hate those that heed CHRIST.
Peter was a true jew, he forsook his religious way and submitted to his Messiah, the rebels(synagog satan) suggest the vision had nothing to do with the tray of unclean animals GOD demanded Peter to eat, more than once, Peter went the way of Abel;., rebellious religion goes the way of cain;., son of the first fallen rebel tyrant king, islams first profit adam. AND like ABEL Peter suffered the same consequences as ABEL the first TRUE PROPHET of GOD
Peter walked in the way of the life giving spirit Jesus the second ADAM, the restorer of truth.
SO definately prohibition outwardly is for religious show and decieving trumpet blowers, it will achieve you nothing, but displays your pride and unrepentent uncircumcised heart
EXAMPLE is a foul mouthed sex pervert rapist and thieving terrorist clean cause he cut his penis and reads food labels checking for traces of…. Is that what pleases GOD?
are you a falsely informed muslim unable to think for himself? Or is it an indepenent conclusion based on fiction myth and the religious lie
You should not use the God given PIG to describe filthy religious men and their loathsome ways
I love bacon……AMEN…
Me too..
Winnnie: you must have never had the experience of tasting a delicious and crispy BLT with mayo, sly and pepper on a kaiser roll. Sad.
With a slice of tomato that has seeds!
mmm seedy tomatoe smeered in crispy pork fat
It’s not bacteria, but parasites that make pigs “dangerous to eat” if not cooked well.
I feel so sorry for you people that still follow this religion nonsense. The original plan is still working, makes me sad how stupid human beings still are considering what’s been accomplished. Religion has always been used by smarter elitist types in order to manipulate the masses into thinking and behaving a certain way. The over 2000 years of control.
Winnie, we get cancer from the nirates we cure pigs in. You can prepare pig without risking cancer. Especially if you eat a high fiber diet, so eat a salad with your side of pig!
OMG, I love Planet Hollywood’s sweety taste of baby back rib meats. Sometimes I feel pity and illfeel after wathing “Babe” movie. But what the heck, I can’t stand not eating porks.
Pigs are NOT dirty. They are no dirtier than any other animal or human being. They are clean by nature. It’s people who keep them in pens that are too small or too crowded that prevent them from keeping clean. Pigs roll in mud to keep cool. They do not have any sweat glands (like us) or can they pant (like dogs) to cool their bodies.
Any uncooked or undercooked meat could potentially cause food poisoning. It is unfortunate that the pig has been thus maligned.
I must have Bacon! I love Bacon! The vision is correct ,trust your Bible. Too many man-made laws and assumptions and guilt if it’s good enough for st. Peter it’s good enough for me.
Right I agree pigs are dirty but some human beings are more dirtier then pigs ..better to keep your heart and mind clean then to see what is clean and unclean after all pigs are also God’s creation…
Well,to be fair towards christians that eat pork,where in the Holy Books(Christians,Muslims and Jews)did God allow man to eat meat?
Mr. Ebot… I can only speak per the Bible: Jesus in Luke shared The Parable of The Prodigal Son where the Prodigal son’s father killed the fatted calf – Luke 15:23 – to celebrate his son’s return … and the older son mentioned that he had not even gotten a kid to make merry with his friends – Luke 15:29 – so they ate at least beef and goat at that time. Also in the Old Testament in Exodus 12:8 God told them to kill a lamb the size of which could be completely consumed (by one or more families) and eat it before they fled. So apparently meat is allowed. Sometimes there are apparent contradictions but God never lies … and always loves and welcomes us, and will grant mercy when we are penitent.
In genesis 3, then through out, tell me where God forbids meat
Did the three little pigs eat the big bad wolf..
Acts 10 is easy to understand if you read the entire section. Mark 7:19 is another commonly misunderstood verse where many think Jesus was declaring all foods clean. No, if you read the entire section of Mark 7, it is easy to understand that he is preaching against the Talmud. IF he declared all food cleaned then he would have violated the Law. Jesus never violated the Law but he did purposely violate man’s law (The Talmud). Torah believers are expanding and they are growing strong because they are not bound by false doctrine. They are bound by the Word. Gerald is right.
Yes smple teaching, deliberatly misrepresented by the religious hippocrytes, of course he opposed the religion of babylon, he was surfacing the principals, the LAW prepared them for HIM
If Torah and Quran said “don’t eat pork”
And bible doesn’t say anything , something
is wrong in bible. Because all this books sent
by God. And God says “ don’t eat pork”
in Torah and Quran, but bible. You don’t follow the rule of God. Bible is changed by
someone and still you believe changed bible