The story of the French rightists who combine charity and racism by staging distributions of pork-based "identity soup" makes The New York Times today. This passage in the Times story, which quotes a leader of the group that distrubutes the soup, bothers me:

..."Other communities don't hesitate to help their own, so why can't we?" she asked, noting that Europe's Islamic charities serve halal food to disadvantaged Muslims and that its Jewish charities operate kosher soup kitchens.

Fair enough, one might argue....

Why is it "fair enough"? That's a valid point if Jewish charities actually turn away hungry people who aren't Jewish, or Muslim charities turn away non-Muslims -- but eating kosher or halal food if you don't observe Jewish or Muslim dietary laws is not the same as eating food that violates your religious beliefs. Doesn't that go without saying?

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(Here's an earlier post on this subject.)