A Beijing chain supermarket’s ban on customers bringing in non-halal food sparked controversy, as some consumers worry that religion is becoming more involved in secular life in China.
The supermarket in Beijing’s Chaoyang district posted a sign in its window that reads, “Please do not bring non-halal food into the supermarket,” because “Muslims would feel insulted if they came into our supermarket and saw non-halal foods like pork,” a supermarket employee told the Global Times on Monday.
She said the sign has been posted since the supermarket opened in 2013. The employee added that since the supermarket is located in a Muslim community, it intends to serve Muslims.
However, their rule caused some discomfort for other customers.
A local resident told the Global Times that when he went to the supermarket on Sunday carrying pork and other food he bought at another food market, the staff asked him to leave his pork outside because the venue is a halal supermarket.
“The supermarket is a commercial place. It has no legal right to forbid consumers to bring in something non-halal,” Liu Peng, head of Pu Shi Institute for Social Sciences – a nongovernmental think tank dedicated to the protection of religious freedom in China – told the Global Times.
China has been studying whether to draft a law to manage halal food, and authorities have said the legislation is reasonable as it relates to national unity and social stability.
However, the legislation is opposed by many scholars who think it could damage the principle of the separation of politics and religion stipulated in China’s Constitution.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/992310.shtml
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