Christian dietary laws

Common card · No. 348105

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". The early Christian Didache specifies that Christians should "not eat meat sacrificed to idols." 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, among others, 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 forbid alcohol consumption, and all Christian churches condemn drunkenness as being a sin.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Illustrator of Henry Davenport Northrop's 'Treasures of the Bible', 1894, Public domain