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Yes they should be stopped. This is totally unacceptable "in this country". The Humane Society should step in and get it stopped!
I personally think that the people involved in this should be jailed. Also, the people sacrificing animals should go to another country where perhaps this is legal and acceptable. The Neeses might say they were just trying to help people sacrifice animals, but if the truth be known there is $$$ involved.

So you believe that freedom of religion isn't absolute? Have you considered where, exactly, the boundaries should be drawn, and what reasoning you would use for setting them in your particular spot? If your boundaries are defined with your personal religious values in mind, then you are being subjective in your judgment -- something we should try and avoid.

Some may think animal sacrifice is extraordinarily barbaric but it's just one of the many fun things one gets to do as a muslim. Other fun includes female genital mutilation, chopping off heads, feet, hands, and blowing up children.

FREEDOM OF RELIGION?....OK NAMTAC WELL WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BREAKING THE LAW?.......PEOPLE ARE FREE TO BELIEVE WHAT THEY WILL HERE IN THE USA THAT IS THERE RIGHT HOWEVER THERE ARE RULES TO BE FOLLOWED AND LAWS TO OBEY.......WE HAVE A HUMANE LAWS AGAINST THE INHUMANE DEATHS OF SLAUGHTERED ANIMALS IN THE USA OF FARM ANIMALS AS WELL AS LAWS ON HAVING THE RIGHT PERMITS TO DO SO......YOU CAN NOT OPERATE A BLACK MARKET OUT OF YOUR BACK YARD AND THINK YOU CAN FOREVER GET AWAY WITH IT AND HIDE BEHIND WHAT YOU CALL FREEDOM OF RELIGION......INDECENT ACTS HAVE CONSQUENCES THE USA IS NOT COMMUNIST!

Sacrificing animals for "religious" purposes is STUPID and backward, if that's even a true reason (I'm sure it's being done only for cheap meat). They should be stopped and that particular building should be razed, it's probably toxic.

Yes, Cheryl... "religious freedom" is part of the equation here. For instance, we have those FLDS Mormons in Texas who think it's their God-given right to commit what outsiders call "statutory rape." If we use the Bible as a moral guide, we can't really argue against them, can we?

Similarly, if we encounter a Muslim or a practitioner of Voodoo who thinks painful, bloody slaughter of animals is a way to please their god(s), what right, under the Constitution, do we have to gainsay them?

Mag, our normal forms of religion in this country are only different under the law... not superior or more intelligent. By rights, these cruelty laws (and laws governing sex) should have religious exemptions added to them. Assuming we want to hold the First Amendment as our highest value.

I think these people should be stopped. They need to be in jail for a very long time. They have been warned and they still do it. I have ridden by this "Farm" and it is nasty looking. The animals all look sick and I feel very sorry for all of them.

Christians had sacrifices in the old testament , matter of fact, Jesus Christ in human form was the ultimate sacrifice.

This is a valid religious observance and they have the right to do this anywhere they choose as long as they do not eat meat offerred as a sacrifice...

Unless you self-righteous people claim to be complete vegetarians......go back to sleep.

When I spoke with state officials about their concerns for this story, they did not have an issue with the slaughter of animals for religious purposes. That is allowed under the law. But if that slaughter does not take place on one's own farm, then it has to be done in facilities that are inspected and licensed by the state.

The state's lawsuit is arguing that the Neeses' facility is not licensed or inspected and does not meet sanitary guidelines.

There is a level of license called, I believe, "custom kill" that would allow a farmer to sell livestock and slaughter it for sale to someone outside his or her family. But that meat can not be resold and must be marked as such. It can only be consumed by the purchaser, his or her family and non-paying guests.

OK CHRISTAIN.....YES SACRIFICE USED TO BE ACCEPTABLE AND JESUS SACRIFICED HIMSELF HOWEVER JESUS HAD THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE AND NO OTHER SACRIFICES WERE TO BE MADE ANYMORE BECAUSE HE SHED HIS BLOOD SO WE WOULD NOT HAVE TO SHED THE BLOOD OF ANYTHING ELSE ANYMORE.............SO IF YOUR GOING TO COMMENT ON THE RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF SUBJECTS MAYBE YOU SHOULD READ THE BIBLE FIRST OR GO BACK TO SLEEP YOURSELF..................NOW AS FOR NAMTAC...........YES FREEDOM OF RELIGION IS AN AMEDMENT BUT YOUR NOT GOVERNOR NOR CAN YOU CHANGE THE CRUELTY LAWS NOR COULD YOU EVER CONJOUR ENOUGH PEOPLE TOGETHER TO EVER PASS A LAW AGAINST IT.............IF YOU WANT TO SHED BLOOD OF INNOCENT ANIMALS UNSUPERIOR TO US BECAUSE YOU THINK OR "BELIEVE" SO MUCH THAT IT WILL MAKE YOU GO TO WHATEVER HEAVEN YOU BELIEVE IN THE GO AHEAD BUT LET ME TELL YOU EXAMINE YOURSELF AND THE INNOCENT LIFE YOU HAVE TAKEN ON YOUR BEHALF AND SEE THE BLOOD SHED ON YOUR HANDS AND TELL ME YOU HAVE DONE OUR NATION PRIDE AND THAT YOU ARE AN OUTSTANDING US CITIZEN AND THAT YOU SHOULD WALK THE STREETS WITH CHILDREN............IN THE END PEOPLE CAN USE WHAT THEY WANT AS AN EXCUSE FOR WHAT THEY WANT TO DO...BUT WE ALL HAVE THE ABILITY TO KNOW WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG......................AS FOR THE REAL SUBJECT THEY DO NOT HAVE A LICENSE TO OPERATE THIS OBSCENE BUISNESS SO FOLLOW THE RULES OR STOP

Religion is a convenient tool used ny some twisted & mis-guided individuals to force their way on others. When religion is used to control against the law, then law enforcement must step in. This is one of the most inhumane, sadistic, horrific, barbaric & totally evil. Don't you know animals suffer the same as humans? would you want your throat slit while alive & awake left to bleed to death. Then slaughtered under the most disgusting conditions.
These people have been warned since 2001 and fined $25,000. with the understanding that it would be released should they stop the practice, but they have never stopped so this fine now should be levied against them. Full Force! Maybe then they will take the law seriously.
The media needs to stay on this story and see what happens. Will the law be upheld?

Dear readers and bloggers,
I am content to read your strong beliefs about the article, for it shows how we are lucky enough to have this freedom of speech. Under the First Amendment, like freedom of speech and freedom of the press, that this article skillfully portrayed, we also have freedom of religion. The only illegal aspect of Neese's slaughterhouse is that it is unlicensed and uninspected, causing "no controlled sanitation." Yet there are "large, licensed slaughterhouses in Charlotte and Siler City where families can go to slaughter animals according to their religious beliefs." Many times it is difficult for us to understand a religion unfamiliar to our own. Yet let us open our minds and transcend, we must understand that this is a religious belief, just like going to church every Sunday in Christianity or observing a day of rest in Judaism. Other religions include going to a place where people can kill their own meat to eat. We live in an amazing place where I am grateful that these beliefs are not denied to us people. So let us embrace our freedom and respect others as they do the same.

There is a red quarantine notice in the picture of this farm in the News-Record front page.The way I interpreted the article that J. Fernandez (staff Editor) wrote, gives the impression that it pertains to slaughtering animals. It does not.
There is Bird Flu on this farm. Anyone having to do with poultry is not to be on this property, hence the quarantine notice. The law had to kill all of his chickens. What next?