# Does your religion endorse "survival cannibalism"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978 "2010-08-11T21:01:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/1 "2010-08-11T21:01:47Z")
Would it let you eat human flesh if you were in danger of starving to death and no other food was around? ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/2 "2010-08-11T21:25:24Z")
I’m an atheist so I have no morals to get in the way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/3 "2010-08-11T21:31:53Z")
Sure, why not. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/4 "2010-08-11T21:34:53Z")
Judaism would, as long as you don’t murder someone to get a body to eat. You could eat the body of someone who had already died, but you couldn’t kill someone to eat them. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/5 "2010-08-11T21:54:07Z")
I own a “very special” cookbook for such things. Notably, it suggests that when making Cowboy Stew, it is best to know how much and what kind of tobacco said cowboy might have been chewing as that would inherently dictate how you, as the chef, should spice the concoction. Oh yes and because the cowboy has spent so much time on his horse, the rump roast is probably too sinewy and tough so extra braising time is in order. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/6 "2010-08-11T21:55:02Z")
Somehow the question never came up. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/7 "2010-08-11T21:55:46Z")
I very much doubt my denomination has any rules about cannibalism. We can’t even agree on what the Eucharist means. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/8 "2010-08-11T21:57:10Z")
I’m guessing you mean the flesh of someone _already_ dead? ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/9 "2010-08-11T22:07:34Z")
No religion. Also not too strictly opposed to eating people, in fact if the only other available food source was onions, I’d probably eat you. Sorry. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/10 "2010-08-11T23:03:21Z")
Mine endorses “Snack cannibalism” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/11 "2010-08-12T00:23:03Z")
I’m God’s beloved child, As long as I act in Love first (and ask for His advice), it then falls to me to be reasonable and count on Him to guide me. There are no rules that can be written down as hard instructions that can be allowed into my relationship with my Abba-Father. So if faced with a situation where human flesh was the only forseeable way to live (and to provide life to others), and after prayer which could change the result, yes chow down and live! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/12 "2010-08-12T08:53:02Z")
Deist, so no formal associations with any specific organized religion. I have no objection to eating someone already dead in the plane crash, but I have objections to deliberately killing someone. [or whatever the stranding accident happens to be] I would have no objection to being eaten once I was dead, but would object to deliberately being killed _unless_ there were a significant number of children that needed to be fed. If someone were to volunteer to be slaughtered to feed a bunch of children that would actually be different. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/13 "2010-08-12T09:21:13Z")
Endorse, no; it’s the only source of food specifically forbidden under “gluttony” (or at least it was under the specific brand of Catholicism I was taught, I don’t know whether the current Catechism makes that point). But in cases such as the one described it’s forgivable so long as nobody got murdered (cf. the Andes plane incident). ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/14 "2010-08-12T12:12:43Z")
Atheist. So it is up to the individual to determine the ethics of that course of action. Personally, I find nothing wrong with the consumption of human flesh in a survival situation; provided that the meat comes from someone who has died from natural causes and was not sacrificed. In nearly any situation, you can find food of some sort and I don’t feel comfortable with taking a human life to ease my time along. In an extreme situation though, I would kill and eat, but I’d regret having done so. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/15 "2010-08-12T13:19:04Z")
Endorse, no. Excuse, yeah. Myself- Evangelical Charismatic, member of Assembly of God. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/16 "2010-08-12T13:34:54Z")
Wow, I have no idea if Hinduism would or not. As Shodan says, the question never came up. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/17 "2010-08-12T19:46:31Z")
Well, Jews are all about survival, so if you were truly desperate, yes it would be okay. But as **Anne** says above, dinner would already have had to be dead. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/18 "2010-08-12T21:39:11Z")
Catholics practice cannibalism every week – and they’re not even necessarily hungry! ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/19 "2010-08-12T21:46:04Z")
I’m Asatru, and a big part of at least one aspect the religion is about “You gotta do what you gotta do” attitudes, as well as a reliance on common sense to persevere. I’d say there’s nothing in my religion preventing cannibalism, especially in times of great hunger and need. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978/20 "2010-08-12T22:33:25Z")
**rushgeekgirl** had it right… Why is everyone assuming death? And yes, either way… no theism to stop me, and my religion is flexible. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-religion-endorse-survival-cannibalism/549978.md?page=2)