I was going to say, most of the Catholics I knew would have restrictions during lent, sometimes not eating any meat. There have been Christian groups throughout history that didn't eat meat because that would mean killing, it's weird to me how many people are against vegetarianism or veganism in a predominantly Christian nation.
In the XVII century church officially classified beaver as fish, based on the Thomas Aquinas classification of living beings based on their habitats. Though the precedents were older, some decisions at local level were reaching at least XV century. The reason was of course that monks (especially Cistercians) tried to circumvent the friday fasts by the explanation that beaver tail is covered with scales therefore specifically the tail is a fish and can be eaten in friday.
Theres some chronicles of Spanish Catholic missionaries debating Aztec priests in an honest attempt to convert them. Whenever it the debate turned to predicting the natural world, (the only shared reality) the Aztecs would consistently be more accurate. This flustered the catholics who's only recourse was "well if your gods are real how did we conquer you".
"You can literally eat anything." - Not if you observe all the fasting days. That includes not eating any land animals on a friday.
I was going to say, most of the Catholics I knew would have restrictions during lent, sometimes not eating any meat. There have been Christian groups throughout history that didn't eat meat because that would mean killing, it's weird to me how many people are against vegetarianism or veganism in a predominantly Christian nation.
It also probably has to do with how many of those people actually know nothing about their own religion and purely go off of vibes
A significant portion of Catholicism is setting rules and then coming up with ways to get around them
In the XVII century church officially classified beaver as fish, based on the Thomas Aquinas classification of living beings based on their habitats. Though the precedents were older, some decisions at local level were reaching at least XV century. The reason was of course that monks (especially Cistercians) tried to circumvent the friday fasts by the explanation that beaver tail is covered with scales therefore specifically the tail is a fish and can be eaten in friday.
I love church history, such great argumentations.
Theres some chronicles of Spanish Catholic missionaries debating Aztec priests in an honest attempt to convert them. Whenever it the debate turned to predicting the natural world, (the only shared reality) the Aztecs would consistently be more accurate. This flustered the catholics who's only recourse was "well if your gods are real how did we conquer you".
Catholics being salty losers never gets old.
Are birds land animals? What about a duck?
Ducks that hang out in my backyard.
Forbidden. Only fish, capybaras, beavers, water rats and otters are fine on a friday.
I believe that penguins and puffins count as fish though
Penguins and Puffins but not Ducks? What about pelicans and gulls?
Not entirely sure. It's all deeply bizarre
And how come capybaras get excluded from this prohibition btw?
Because the conquistadors had no luck with fishing, so they got a papal dispens. Capybaras were declared fish and thus fine.
When material conditions disagree with God
AFAIK capybaras wade in the water, they dont swim.