Christian dietary laws

Christian dietary laws vary between denominations. The general dietary restrictions specified for Christians in the New Testament are to "abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals". Some Christian denominations forbid certain foods during periods of fasting, which in some cases may cover half the year and may exclude meat, fish, dairy products, and olive oil.

Christians in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Orthodox denominations traditionally observe Friday as a meat-free day (in mourning of the crucifixion of Jesus); many also fast and abstain from consuming meat on Wednesday (in memory of the betrayal of Jesus). There are various fasting periods, most notably the liturgical season of Lent. A number of Christian denominations disallow alcohol consumption, but all Christian churches condemn drunkenness.

In the New Testament
The only dietary restrictions specified for Christians in the New Testament are to "abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals", teachings that the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen, preached for believers to follow. Paul the Apostle, in a notable contrast, told the Christians in Corinth not to worry about eating food sacrificed to idols, since "an idol has no real existence". However, while liberating the Christian from this common dietary restriction, he did recommend using discernment, because it would be better to never eat any meat than to cause another Christian to stumble.

Early Christianity
The Council of Jerusalem instructed gentile Christians not to consume blood, food offered to idols, or the meat of strangled animals, since "the Law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath." In Judaism, Jews are forbidden from consuming (amongst other things) any mammals except those with cloven hooves that chew their cud, shellfish (including all invertebrate seafood) and unscaled or finless fish, blood, food offered to idols, or the meat of animals not killed humanely with a sharp knife by a trained Jewish slaughterer or meat from a living animal. The Seven Laws of Noah, which Jews believe all people, both Jews and gentiles alike must follow, also forbid consuming the meat of living animals.

Nicene Christianity
In Nicene Christianity, including Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Moravianism, Anglicanism, and Reformed Christianity, there exist no dietary restrictions regarding specific animals that cannot be eaten. This stems from Peter the Apostle's vision of a sheet with animals, described in the Bible, in Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 10, when Saint Peter was told that "what God hath made clean, that call not thou common".

The Seventh-day Adventist Church follows the Old Testament's Mosaic Law on dietary restrictions, which is also the basis for the Jewish dietary laws. They only eat meat of a herbivore with split hooves and birds without a crop and without webbed feet; they also do not eat shellfish of any kind, and they only eat fish with scales. Any other animal is considered unclean and not suitable for eating. All vegetables, fruits and nuts are allowed.

Oriental Orthodoxy
In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, washing one's hands is required before and after consuming food. This is followed by prayer, in which Christians often pray to God to thank Him for and bless their food before consuming it at the time of eating meals. Slaughtering animals for food is often done in Ethiopia with the trinitarian formula.

The Armenian Apostolic Church, as with other Oriental Orthodox Churches, have rituals that "display obvious links with shechitah, Jewish kosher slaughter." Another Oriental Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, maintains the Old Testament dietary restrictions.

Method of slaughter
With reference to medieval times, Jillian Williams states that "unlike the Jewish and Muslims methods of animal slaughter, which require the draining of the animal's blood, Christian slaughter practices did not usually specify the method of slaughter" though "the Christian method of preparation largely mirrored the slaughter methods of Jews and Muslims for large animals". "The Christian methods of slaughter follow the Jewish way of draining the blood of the animal". David Grumett and Rachel Muers state that the Orthodox Christian Shechitah and Jewish Kosher methods of slaughter differ from the Muslim Halal (Dhabh) method in that they require the cut to "sever the trachea, oesophagus and the jugular veins of the animal" as this method is believed to cause minimal suffering to the animal.

Jhatka and Christianity
According to Sikhism, Jhatka meat is meat from an animal that has been killed by a single strike of a sword or axe to sever the head, as opposed to ritualistically slow slaughter (kutha) like the Jewish slaughter (shechita) or Islamic slaughter (dhabihah). It is the method preferred by many Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians.

The jhatka method of slaughtering animals for food (with a single strike to the head to minimize pain) is preferred by many Christians, although the Armenian Apostolic Church, among other Orthodox Christians, have rituals that "display obvious links with shechitah, Jewish kosher slaughter."

Vegetarianism
Some Christian monks, such as the Trappists, have adopted a vegetarian policy of abstinence from eating meat.

Alcohol
Most Christian denominations condone moderate consumption of alcohol and beverages, including the Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Reformed and the Orthodox. The Adventist, Baptist, Methodist, Mormon, and Pentecostal traditions either encourage abstinence from or prohibit the consumption of alcohol (cf. teetotalism). In any case, all Christian churches, following various Biblical passages, condemn drunkenness as sinful (cf. ).