Christianity and vegetarianism

Christianity and Vegetarianism: Pursuing the Nonviolence of Jesus
A Jesuit priest‘s booklet promoting vegetarian diet
has been published by PETA It is called Christianity and Vegetarianism:
Pursuing the Nonviolence of Jesus
and is written by Fr. John Dear, SJ
To obtain information receiving copies, write PETA 501
Front St
Norfolk Va 23510 USA
757 622 7382
http://www.peta.org
The 18 page booklet is available on cassette:
http://www.audible.c…=BK_PETA_000002
Father Dear is executive director of perhaps the oldest
interfaith organization in the US, the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
He lives in NYC. http://www.forusa.org/
Father John Dear, SJ, Vatican priest Don Mario Mazzoleni,
Father Ron Pickarsky, Father Ron Lengwin, Baptist Vanderbilt professor
Richard Alan Young, some of the Christian priests and preachers promoting
vegetarian
diet.
Books on Christian Nonviolent Diet or Thou Shalt Not Kill
Animals Books
Some other books on Christian vegetarianism are
1 Good News for All Creation: Vegetarianism as Christian Stewardship by
Stephen Kaufman, Nathan Braun, and Steven Kaufman
2 Animal Theology
by Rev. Andrew Linzey,
3 God‘s Covenant With Animals by
Rev.. J R Hyland,
4 The Last Religion of Jesus by Keith Akers,
5 Of God
and Dogs by Stephen Webb,
6 The Kingdom of God Is Within You
by vegetarian Leo Tolstoy,
7 Is God A Vegetarian: Christianity, Vegetarianism and Animal Rights by
Richard Alan
Young, Baptist vegetarian professor at Vanderbilt
Chicago : Open Court, c1999.
8 Was The Master Vegetarian
is a booklet published by the Edenite Society of Imlaystown, NJ, US.
9. They Shall Not Hurt Nor Destroy by Vasu Murti

http://www.abolition…m/_06murti.html
10. . Dominion by Matthew Scully, former Bush speechwriter who left
the regime for several reasons.
11. Animal Gospel, Animal Theology, Christianity And The Rights Of Animals
and Not A Sparrow Falls
are 4books by Andrew Linzey, first professor of animal rights
at Oxford University (which is still crucifying primates and
other beings)
- Andrew Linzey SCM Press ltd., 26-30 Tottenham Road, London N1 4BZ, UK
―Christianity and the Rights of animals‖ – Andrew Linzey SPCK, Holy Trinity
Church, Marylebone Road, London NWI 4DU, UK
12
―Reason, Religion and the Animals‖ – Rev. Basil Wrighton Catholic Study
Circle for Animal Welfare, 39 Onslow Gardens, South Woodford, London E18
1ND, UK
13
―The Slaughter of Terrified Beasts‖ – J.R. Hyland Viatoris ministries,
Sarasota, Florida 34277, U.S.A.
14
―On Behalf of the Creatures‖- J. Todd Ferrier The Order of the Cross, 10 De
Vere Gardens, Kensington, London W8 5AE, UK
15
―These we have not loved‖ – Rev. V.A. Holmes-Gore The Order of the Cross.
16
―Cast out of the Ark‖ – Rev. James Thompson Christians Against All Animal
Abuse, ‗Peace Haven‘, Fron Park Road, Holywell, Clwyd CH8 7UY, UK
17 A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics Paul
Waldau
Kimberley Patton (haven‘t read this book.. don‘t know its
stance on vivisection)
Adam’s Apple: The Heart of the First Butchered Animal?
Father Ron Lengwin, priest with a talk show on the oldest US
radio station, KDKA of Pittsburgh, is a vegetarian. He has
said that perhaps the apple Adam ate was actually the first
heart of a butchered animal. Jesus was a member of the Essenes,
vegetarians of Galilee. Though he materialized fish for others He
did not eat it, say many biblical scholars. Paul also indicates that he took the
Nazarite vow, a vegetarian one, while John the Baptist ate not locusts but
locust beans. Constantine
helped to quash the early Christian vegetarian practices in 325 AD.
While it continued in the monasteries, its last survival

in the church at large was meatless Fridays. Lentils are
named for the Lent substitution of noncadaver foods.
You Can Bring These Links To Life Their Order Is Random
1 http://www.egroups.c…es/christianveg
over 10,000 posts
2 http://www.christianvegetarian.co.uk
3. http://www.all-creatures.org
4 http://www.hacres.com Hallelujah Acres vegan healing
5 http://thenazareneway.com/
6 http://www.christianveg.com
7 http://episcoveg.webblogger.com lists vegan
international relief organizations
8 http://compassionatespirit.com Keith Akers
9 http://www.jesusveg.com
10 http://www.francisca…lican.com/enaw/ Episc Net For Anim Wlf
11 http://www.aswa.org.uk/ Anglican Society For Animal Welfare
12 http://members.aol.c…/feloflife.html Christian .Vegetarianism
13 http://all-creation….n-anglican.com/
Episcopalian priest‘s reflections on animals
14 http://www.matthewscully.com former Bush speechwriter who left the
regime (animal rights but not necessarily
vegetarian)
15 http://www.ivu.org/h…es/friends.html Quakers
16 http://www.adventist.org Seventh Day Adventists promote vegan diet
and do only vegan international relief
17 http://www.ivu.org/religion/ many links
18 http://groups.msn.com/catholicveg
19 http://www.egroups.c…ges/catholicveg
20 http://engforum.prav…ead.php?t=96761
Christian Quotes on Nonviolence in All Areas of Life
21 http://www.egroups.c…es/vegchristian
22 http://spot.acorn.net/fruitarian The Genesis 1:29 Diet
23 http://www.eco-cuisine.com by Father Ron Pickarski
24 http://groups.yahoo….rveg/message/31
Cincinnati archbishop speaks against cruelty to animals
25 http://www.serv-online.org/ interfaith coalition of
vegetarians
26 online Christian vegetarian church of Burlington Vermont
http://www.all-creat…t-burl-1uu.html
Links re vegetarian and vegan diet:
http://arconference.org/

http://www.pcrm.org 1000 vegan MD‘s
http://www.notmilk.c…w.madcowboy.com http://www.ivu.orghttp//spot.acor
n.net/fruitarian
http://www.meatout.com http://www.wfad.orghttp://www.animalsagenda.or
g
tp://www.peta.net http://www.hsus.org
http://groups.msn.com/stopmowing
http://groups.msn.com/christianveg
http://www.petaliterature.com
http://spot.acorn.net/fruitarian The Genesis 1:29 Diet
http://www.acfnewsou….egetarian.html
http://stopmowing.blogspot.com Break Not The Bruised Reed
Animal Rights 2008 National Conference
Guest speakers include Heather Mills
* [http://a4.nu/christian/index.htm Christian Religion and Vegetarian
Resources]
* [http://www.jesusveg.com An extensive website about vegetarianism
from the Christian perspective, run by People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals]
* [http://www.christian.../006/13.14.html
ChristianityToday.com Books and Culture] ―Revenge of the Ebionites‖
book review by [[Stephen H. Webb]]
* [http://www.animalsuf...m/religion.html Animal Rights and its
role in religion]
* [http://www.vegetaria.../issue10.html#3 Review by Urrutia
of ''Good News for all Creation: Vegetarianism as Christian
Stewardship'' by Stephen R. Kaufman and Nathan Braun]
* [http://www.vnv.org.au/Christianity.htm Christianity and
Vegetarianism: Some Thoughts, compiled by David Ogilvie]
* [http://www.godandani...its/linzey.html Christianity
and Animals by Andrew Linzey]
* [http://www.satyamag....b96/linzey.html Christianity and Animals:
An Interview with Andrew Linzey (1996)]
* [http://www.all-creat.../gcm/candv.html Christianity and
Vegetarianism PowerPoint presentation, by God's Creatures Ministry]
* [http://www.petaliterature.com/VEG612.pdf''Christianity
SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES TO NONVIOLENT OR VEGETARIAN DIET
Genesis 1: 29 Behold I have given you herbyielding seed.
To you it shall be for meat. (The fruitarian Garden of Eden)
Methusaleh..the oldest man in the Bible, achieved 969
orbits of the sun.

Exodus: 26: 34 Thou Shalt Not Kill (not asterisked with
exceptions)
Jesus: Ye are whited sepulchres (Greek sarcophagi sarx flesh ..phagi eater)
Jesus threw the butchers out of the temple.
Daniel was vegetarian
in the lions' den and therefore was
not harmed. Daniel was in jail 10 days and his
condition as a vegetarian was better than those who
were not.
Paul: If your flesheating offends your brother, forego it.
Jesus: Feed the hungry (450 times as many people per acre
can be fed tree products in comparison to slaughterhouse
products)
Jesus materialized fish for others. He knew that in that
millenium they were not ready for his Essene diet. Early
Christians followed His vegetarian ways until Constantine in 325.
Genesis l:29 Behold I have given you herbyielding seed. To you it shall be for
food.

Matthew 21: 12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them
that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the
money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves
―I desire mercy and not sacrifice.‖ (Hosea 6:6)

Isaiah: They shall study war no more

Isaiah: He that slayeth an ox is as he that killeth a human. (for 40 or 50
quotes from the Bible go to the Spirit file no. 8)

Isaiah: I delight not in your blood sacrifice.
http://www.jewishveg.com
Isaiah 65:3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that
sacrificeth in gardens

Isaiah: 65:4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments,
which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable [things is in] their vessels;

Isaiah 65:21
And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant
vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
http://www.egroups.c…ges/fruitarians

Isaiah 65:
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like
the bullock: and earth shall be the serpent‘s food. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
http://www.vegweb.com/food
Jesus: Ye are whited sepulchres (Jesus‘ word for sepulchre
or coffin was translated from Aramaic into Greek as sarcophagi which
means literally flesheater (sarx flesh phagi eater)
Jesus: Feed the hungry
(each acre of ground can yield 450000 lbs of food
from centenarian fruit and nut trees, with grape and
other vines in between, or 100 to 1000 lbs of flesh
from murdered animals.
Methusaleh: 969 years old..longest lived person in Bible
…a vegetarian
Micah 4:3- They shall turn their swords
into plowshares. They shall study
war no more.
http://mindprod.com/kjv/
―The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks
shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. ..
And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and
ponds for fish.
Isaiah 18: 8, 10.‖
The text of Luke 21:34 reads ―Now take care in your souls that you never
make your hearts heavy by eating flesh and by drinking wine…..
http://curezone.com/….asp?i=943839#i
the Genesis 1 29 Diet
http://engforum.prav…ead.php?t=85277
473 books at Amazon.com mention Christian vegetarians.
Stephen Kaufman, MD is the author of 1 of them
The Fr Dear pamphlets are available in bulk for church and private
distribution at PETA.
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#2 sb11

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Group: Members
Posts: 35855
Joined: 04-February 04
Posted 28 May 2008 – 07:06 AM

CHRISTIANITY AND VEGETARIANISM: PURSUING THE NONVIOLENCE OF
JESUSby Fr. John Dear, S.J.
(These beautifully printed pamphlets done with purple print and pictures are
available in bulk from PETA for distribution at churches and elsewhere. 501
Front St. Norfolk VA 23510 USA
757 622 7382 http://www.peta.org) Please request
they be printed on recycled paper, if they are not already.
http://www.christianveg.com
My name is John Dear and I‘m a Catholic priest, a peace activist, a writer,
and a vegetarian. I‘ve traveled the world promoting peace and nonviolence
and served as the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the
largest and oldest interfaith peace organization in the United States. I‘d like
to reflect with you about Christianity and vegetarianism.

When I look at the world today, I see a culture addicted to violence. As I
write, there are more than 30 wars being waged. There are more than 1
billion people suffering from malnourishment and its effects. There are more
than 2 billion people without access to clean water, barely surviving in dire
poverty.
According to the United Nations, about 60,000 people, mostly women and
children, die every single day from starvation and starvation related
diseases. Right here in the U.S., we see executions, rampant homelessness,
and injustices of all kinds, including racism and sexism. And in the U.S.
alone, we kill more than 9 billion land animals each year by slitting their
throats, sometimes while they‘re still conscious. We also kill more than 15
billion sea animals, generally by suffocation, bodily decompression, or
crushing, every single year.
I agree with Mahtma Gandhi, Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker movement,
and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that the only way out of the culture of
violence is through the ancient wisdom of nonviolence. I remember what Dr.
King said the night before he was assassinated. ―The choice before us is no
longer violence or nonviolence; it‘s violence or nonexistence.‖ That‘s where
we stand today, on the brink of a new culture of nonviolence or the
brink of nonexistence.

Nonviolence begins with the insights that all life is sacred, that all human
beings are children of the God of Peace, and that as God‘s children, we are
under certain obligations. Of course, we should never hurt nor kill another
human being, wage war, build nuclear weapons, or sit idly by while millions
of human beings starve to death each year. Nonviolence invites us, also,
to reevaluate the way we treat animals in our society. While we resist
violence, injustice and war and while we practice nonviolence, seek peace,
and struggle for justice for the poor, we are also invited to break down the
species barrier, extending our belief in Christian compassion to the animal
kingdom by, among other things, adopting a vegetarian diet.
As I look at the world and reflect on the urgent question of violence and
nonviolence, I turn, as a Christian, to Jesus. Gandhi said that Jesus was
the greatest practitioner of nonviolence known in history. If we know
anything about Jesus, it is that he rejected and resisted violence and
practiced nonviolence. As the soldiers were taking him away to torture and
execute him, another victim of the death penalty, his last words to his
community of friends were, ―Put away the sword‖. After his execution, God
raised him from the dead, and he returned to his friends with the greeting
of peace, inviting them to follow him into God‘s reign of peace and justice.
He invites us to follow him as well.
Since 1982, I have been attempting to take seriously Jesus‘ call of
nonviolence. I have organized demonstrations, been arrested for acts of
civil disobedience, and taken every opportunity to speak out, in books and
articles and retreats, from college auditoriums and inner city streets to
pulpits
across the country, about Christian nonviolence. I‘ve also traveled into the
war zones of the Middle East, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti,
Northern Ireland, and Iraq to learn about and speak out against the
injustices
that we inflict on so many people.
When I began my journey of Christian peacemaking 20 years ago, I read
several books about Mahatma Gandhi, that great teacher of peace and leader
of revolutionary nonviolence. Gandhi was seeking personal and spiritual
wholeness. He had lived and worked for justice in South Africa, struggled
nonviolently for India‘s independence, and spent two hours of every day in
meditation and prayer. He vowed to live simply, to speak the truth, and to
practice nonviolence. And he refused to eat meat or fish, declaring that
‗the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.‘
I was inspired by Gandhi to profess a vow of nonviolence, as he did, so that I
could take this spiritual commitment seriously for the rest of my life. And
in 1982 I became a vegetarian. I feel that Gandhi and his example have

helped me to be a better follower of Jesus, to walk the way of nonviolence,
and to move toward greater wholeness as a human being.
Vegetarianism As A Way To Help End World Hunger.

At about the time I was studying Gandhi, I read a powerful book by Frances
Moore Lappe called Diet For A Small Planet. Lappe argued that we
could help end world hunger by redistributing our wealth and resources to
the
poorer people of the world, cutting back on our militarism, and becoming
vegetarians. She pointed out that more and more basic grains around the
world, instead of going to local communities of malnourished people, are
grown
and given to animals who are used for their milk or eggs and later
slaughtered
or who are raised only to be slaughtered for meat. In both instances, the
animal products are consumed by the people of the developed ―First‖ World
and their few rich emissaries in the developing world, rather than by the
starving masses.
Ten years ago, China was a net grain exporter, and it seemed certain that it
would continue to export grain. But instead, as a direct result of increasing
consumption of animal products, primarily pigs, China is now one of the
world‘s top grain importers. The practical effect on people is only beginning
to be felt in China. According to groups like the Worldwatch Institute, all
developing countries that rely on animal agriculture will experience similar
consequences and the resulting increase in starvation and misery as well.
It is profoundly disheartening to remember that during the famine in Ethiopia
in the mid-1980′s and during the famine in Somalia in the early 1990′s,
those
countries continued to export grains to Europe to feed its cows, pigs, and
chickens so that First World people could eat meat. Likewise, while people
suffer and die in Central and South America, the countries there ship their
grains to the U.S. to feed our cows, pigs, and chickens so that we can satisfy
our desire for animal flesh, milk, and eggs.
Frances Moore Lappe argues rightly that we should all work to eliminate
hunger and protect the environment and that one important step we can
each take is to become a vegetarian. To me, working to abolish hunger, war,
and violence is a basic moral and ethical duty for everyone. Furthermore, for
me as a Christian, it is a basic religious and spiritual obligation — a
commandment, required by God. Frances Moore Lappe helped me to make
the
connection between justice, solidarity, and the life of nonviolence, and I

quickly became a vegetarian. I hope that others will, too, and that we can all
take another step toward a more nonviolent, more just world.
The Biblical Vision of Compassion and Nonviolence

There are other good reasons for becoming a vegetarian, and I‘d like to
review
a few of them, including the witness of the scriptures, a basic reverence and
compassion toward God‘s creatures, responsible stewardship of the Earth,
and respect for ones own health.
In God‘s initial and ideal world, represented in the book of Genesis by the
Garden of Eden, there was no suffering, no exploitation, and no violence at
all. People and animals were vegetarians, as we read in the first chapter of
Genesis. ―God said, ‗See I have given you every plant yielding seed that is
upon the face of all the Earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you
shall have them for food.‘ ‖ (Gen 1:29) Immediately after creating this
beautiful, nonviolent, non-exploitative world, God describes it as ―very good‖.
This is the only time in the narrative that God calls creation ―very good‖
instead of merely ―good‖ — and this immediately follows God‘s command
with
regard to vegetarianism.
But after the Fall, people waged war, held one another as slaves, ate meat,
and committed every atrocity imaginable. After the flood, when the world‘s
vegetarian was destroyed, we are told, God allowed humans to eat meat.
Scholars argue that within the context of the story, this was only a
temporary permission, based on human violence and sinfulness. God gives
us
free will and allows us the freedom to reject God and God‘s way of
nonviolence, but God tried to help us to become less violent by commanding
people to observe God‘s laws. In the Mosaic legal system, there are more
than
150 laws regarding meat-eating, but the vision of Eden is still the ideal and
the goal. Indeed, Leviticus strictly prohibits the eating of anything with fat
or blood, and many argue that the law of Moses actually forbids the eating of
flesh entirely, because it‘s impossible to get blood totally out of meat.
The best example of a vegetarian in the Bible is Daniel, the nonviolent
resister
who refuses to defile himself by eating the king‘s meat. He and three friends
actually become much healthier than everyone else through their vegetarian
diet. They also become 10 times smarter, and ―God rewards them with
knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.‖ Throughout the marvelous
stories that follow, we hear of someone who remains faithful to God, refuses

to worship the emperor‘s false gods and unjust ways, and practices a
steadfast nonviolence. And this marvelous story begins with divine approval
of vegetarianism.
The book of the prophet Isaiah proclaims the vision of the peaceable
kingdom,
that new realm of God where everyone will beat their swords into
plowshares,
refuse to study war, enjoy their own vine and fig tree, and never fear again.
Several passages condemn meat-eating and foresee a day when people and
animals will adopt a vegetarian diet, when ―the wolf shall dwell with the lamb
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid… They do no violence, no harm,
on all my holy mountain.‖ (Is 11: 6-9). Of course, God‘s covenant is always
with ―all flesh‖, animal and human, and in the conclusion to Isaiah, God
speaks
of those who kill animals in the same way as those who murder people and
heralds the dawn of a new day of peace.
According to the prophet Hosea, God says, ―I will make a covenant on behalf
of Israel with the wild beasts, the birds of the air, and the creatures that
creep on the earth, and I will break every bow and sword and weapon of war
and sweep them off the Earth, so that all living creatures may lie down
without living in fear.‖
All these beautiful visions of the prophets reach their fulfillment, according to
Christianity, in the life of Jesus. Jesus is ―the new Adam,‖ who returns us to
the totally nonviolent Garden of Eden. He is ―The Prince of Peace‖ who
ushers
in God‘s vision of nonviolence, mercy, and justice. Jesus spent his life healing
the broken, liberating the oppressed, calling for justice, practicing
nonviolence, and confronting the structures of oppression by turning over the
tables of injustice. By the time he was 33, the ruling authorities had had
enough and they executed him.
As I consider what it means to be a Christian today, reflecting on the radical,
nonviolent life of Jesus, I believe that today Jesus sides with the starving,
the homeless, the refugees, and the children of the world, who continue to
be crushed by First World greed and warmaking. If Jesus lived in our culture
of nonviolence, he would do everything he could to confront the structures
of death and call for a new culture of peace and life. He would want us to
change every aspect of our lives, to seek complete physical, spiritual,
emotional and ethical wholeness, to become people of nonviolence, children
of the God of Peace. Anglican priest, theologian, and Oxford professor the
Rev. Dr. Andrew Linzey suggests that following Christ means casting our lost
with the most oppressed. In his book Animal Theology he says that today, no

beings are more oppressed than the animals who are treated so badly by
the meat industry. I conclude that, as Christians, we must side with the poor
and oppressed peoples of the world and with animals.
In fact, the Gospels are full of favorable references to animals and reveal
that
Jesus had a great reverence for animals and nature. As Lewis Regenstein
points out in his book Replenish The Earth: A History of Organized Religions‘
Treatment of Animals and Nature, Jesus calls his followers ‗sheep‘. He
compares his concern for Jerusalem with a hen‘s caring for her brood. He
likens himself to animals, such as a lamb and a dove, because of their
innocence and meekness. ―Behold the birds of the air‖ Jesus says, ―They do
not sow, they do not reap, nor do they gather into barns, yet your heavenly
Father feeds them.‖ (Mt. 6:26). ―Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?‖
Jesus later asks. ―And yet not one of them is forgotten by God.‖ (Lk 12:6)
Indeed, in John‘s Gospel, Jesus describes himself as a ―Good Shepherd‖ and
notes that a good shepherd lays down his life for his flock of sheep. Dare we
conclude that Jesus supports the ultimate act of compassion and love, to die
nonviolently, even to protect animals?
Jesus embodied nonviolence and compassion. The rest of us are called to
follow in his gentle footsteps. Yet few have approached him. I think of St.
Francis of Assisi, who walked among the poor, preached peace, and in
particular, loved and celebrated all of creation, including animals. ―Not to
hurt
our humble brethren, the animals‖, he said, ―is our first duty to them, but to
stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission: to be of service
to them whenever they require it. If you have people who will exclude any of
God‘s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity,‖ he said, ―you will
have people who will deal likewise with other people.‖
Rev. Dr. Linzey suggests, like St Francis, that human beings should act not
as the master species, but as the servant species. Chrsit came as a humble
servant and called us to love and serve one another and not to harm anyone.
Linzey suggests that the Gospel call to service includes selfless service and
justice not only to the poor and oppressed, but to all creation, including
animals. In this, we become more Christlike.
Many early Christians advocated vegetarianism, including Tertullian, the
great
advocate of nonviolence, St John Chrysostom, the patriarch of
Constantinople, and St. Jerome, a doctor of the church and an early
translator of the Bible. The theologian Clement of Alexandria urged Christians
to become vegetarians, saying ―It is far better to be happy than to have your
bodies as graveyards for animals.‖

It is clear that for the first three centuries after Christ, a Christian could not
kill or participate in war. Christians were nonviolent. Some scholars argue
that most early Christians were also vegetarians and that meat-eating was
not officially allowed until the fourth century, when the church embraced
Constantine and the Roman Empire. Then, just as Christians rejected Jesus‘
nonviolence and devised the heresy of the so-called ―just war theory‖, they
deliberately approved meat-eating.
Regardless of this past practice, though, the question we Christians have to
ask ourselves is how can we become more Christlike and more faithful to the
nonviolent Jesus. Where in our lives could we be more merciful, more
compassionate? In our own times, Christians around the world are waking up
to the Gospel imperative to pursue peace and justice for all people, to reject
war, and to practice the active nonviolence of Jesus. They are also rethinking
our mistreatment of animals and the rest of creation. Many are
becoming vegetarians. In 1966, the Vatican newspaper wrote for the first
time ―To ill-treat animals and make them suffer without reason is an act of
deplorable cruelty to be condemned from a Christian point of view.‖ Other
bishops began to include cruelty toward animals under the basic sin of
violence. In December of 2000, the Vatican newspaper pointed out that the
Catholic Catechism says it is ―contrary to human dignity to cause animals to
suffer or die needlessly.‖ The article went on to question the way animals
are raised and killed for food today.
Theologian Thomas Berry sums up the growing trend among Christians:
―Vegetarianism is a way of life that we should all move toward for
economic survival, physical well-being, and spiritual integrity.‖ In other
words,
one more way that we Christians can welcome Christ‘s reign of nonviolence is
by becoming vegetarians.
So, when we sit down to eat, when we say our grace and invoke the
blessing of Jesus, we should also choose to adhere to his life of compassion
and nonviolence by maintaining a vegetarian diet. And we know that as we
practice mercy to one another and to all God‘s creation, we too shall receive
mercy and blessings, as Jesus promised in the Beatitudes.
Yet the reality today for God‘s creatures is neither compassionate nor
merciful. Our treatment of God‘s animals is cruel and gruesome. Each year,
the United States raises and kills about 9 billion land animals and slaughters
another 15 billion sea animals. Laying hens, who are raised for their eggs,
spend their entire lives crammed into wire-mesh cages not much larger than
file drawers and stacked in warehouses with tens of thousands of other birds.
Conditions are so horrendous that their feet often grow through and around
the wires. One-third of the birds suffer broken legs on the packed and painful

ride to the slaughterhouse, which often entails days without food or water
through all weather extremes. One egg represents 34 hours of suffering for a
hen, not to mention the ride to the slaughterhouse and slaughter itself. Two
hundred and fifty million male birds are suffocated or ground to death. They
are useless for the egg industry and are a different strain of bird from those
used for meat.
Meanwhile, chickens, pigs, turkeys, dairy cows, and beef cows are genetically
bred and fed drugs to make them grow faster, separated from their families
at birth, and mutilated without any painkillers. Chickens have their beaks
chopped off with a hot blade. Cows and pigs are castrated. Cows have their
horns cut off. Pigs have their teeth pulled out with pliers and their tails
chopped off. They all suffer the mental and physical anguish of living in
tiny spaces with no relief, no opportunity to act on any of their natural
desires and needs, and no hope for escape.
They are transported without food or water to a hellish death. Dairy cows
and other animals who can no longer walk are dragged from the trucks,
breaking more bones in the process. They are killed by being hung upside
down and bled to death from a slit throat, often skinned and hacked to bits
while still conscious. ―If slaughterhouses had glass walls,‖ as Paul McCartney
says, ―everyone would go vegetarian.‖
If these farmers, slaughterhouse workers, and truck drivers treated dogs and
cats in this manner, they would undoubtedly be prosecuted for animal abuse.

It is important to remember also that most animals raised for food are like
―Frankenstein‖ animals. They have been genetically bred to grow so quickly
that their hearts, lungs, and limbs cannot keep up. Chickens, for example,
now
grow more than twice as quickly as they did just 30 years ago and are
slaughtered before they are even 2 months old. On average, cows give about
4 times as much milk as they would naturally, and many give 10 or 13 times
as much milk, their udders literally dragging on the ground. Turkeys have
been genetically bred so that they can‘t even mate naturally anymore.
In fact, a few years ago, the Washington Post published a Thanksgiving
story about turkeys entitled, ―Techno-Turkeys: Serving Up Science For
dinner.‖ We are playing Dr. Frankenstein with God‘s creatures. We are
pursuing our demonic addiction to violence with our unimaginable cruelty not
only to one another but to God‘s creatures as well. Gandhi said that you can
judge a society by the way it treats its animals. And yet, every single day,
we inflict pain, suffering, and death on millions of God‘s animals.
Tolstoy insisted that ―vegetarianism is the taproot of humanitarianism.‖
Vegetarianism proves that we‘re serious about our belief in compassion and

justice, that we‘re mindful of our commitment, day in and day out, every
time
we eat. We are reminded of our belief in mercy, and we remind others. We
begin to live the nonviolent vision right here and now.
Over the centuries, the human race has grown slowly in its awareness of and
respect for human rights, including the right to life itself. It is now generally
understood that oppression and exploitation of human beings because of
their
race, gender, religion, age, and physical ability are unacceptable. As we
continue to grow in our moral consciousness, we will learn to abolish war,
nuclear weapons, and violence itself. We will also learn to protect the Earth
and break down the species barrier while embracing our responsibility toward
all creation.
Albert Einstein called human bigotry against other species an ―optical
illusion of consciousness‖. Our task, he said, is ―to free ourselves from this
prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures.‖
The great humanitarian and theologian Dr Albert Schweitzer, in his Nobel
Peace Prize acceptance speech, stated, ―Compassion, in which all ethics must
take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all
living creatures and does not limit itself to humankind.‖
Many Christians who agree that harming a dog or cat is wrong think nothing
of harming cows, pigs, chickens, fish, and other creatures. We need to
understand that if we‘re eating meat, we are paying people to be cruel to
animals. For the simple reasons that all animals are creatures beloved by
God
and that God created them with a capacity for pain and suffering, we should
adopt a vegetarian diet.
Vegetarianism As A Way To Protect The Earth

Another reason for becoming vegetarian is to help protect the environment.
Mainstream environmental groups such as the Sierra
Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the World Watch Institute, and the
National Audubon Society are drawing attention
to the environmental havoc generated by raising animals for food and
commercial fishing. In fact, one cannot be a meat-eating
environmentalist; it‘s a contradiction in terms.
The harsh reality is that raising animals for food is steadily polluting and
depleting our land, water, and air. In the U.S., 20 times as much energy is
required to produce a calorie of animal
flesh as the amount needed to produce a calorie of vegetable
food. We wastefully cycle 70 percent of all that we grow, such as soy, corn,

wheat, and other grains, through animals, rather than eating these foods
directly. Likewise, more than half of all the water used in the U.S. is used to
raise animals for food, which is why meat-eaters require at least 14 times as
much water for their
diets as do vegetarians. Also, the intensive production of animals
for meat requires about 25 times as much land as the production of the same
amount of food from vegetable sources.
And that‘s not all. It‘s not just inefficient to eat animals. The 9 billion land
animals that we raise for food in the U.S. excrete 130 times as much waste
as the entire human population of the United States–130 times! And there
are no waste treatment systems for animals.That stuff is swimming with
bacteria, hormones, antibiotics, and insecticides. Quite simply, it‘s toxic
waste, and it is the number one source of water pollution in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the fishing industry is steadily ruining the world‘s delicate marine
ecosystems. The fishing industry drags driftnets
that are miles long along the bottom of the ocean, destroying everything in
their path. Factory trawlers are vacuuming the oceans of sea life at an
alarming pace. Thirteen of the 17 major global fisheries are either depleted
or in serious decline. The other four are ―overexploited‖ or ―fully exploited‖.
These same trawlers dump unprofitable, often dead, animals back into the
oceans, along with massive amounts of debris and spent fuel.
A former cattle rancher named Howard Lyman, now executive
director of EarthSave International, urges people to become vegetarians,
arguing that among other things, meat-eating is destroying valuable and
irreplaceable topsoil. He‘s the person who was sued, along with Oprah
Winfrey, by Texas cattle ranchers after he discussed the possibility of Mad
Cow Disease in the U.S. — and the jury ruled in his favor. Lyman points out
that our soil used to be teeming with life, but now it is lifeless brown dirt. In
fact, 85% of topsoil erosion in this country is a result of raising
animals for food.
So, if you‘re reusing bags, using a shower saver, turning off lights when you
leave the room, and trying to walk and bicycle rather than driving, that‘s
great! But to become even better stewards of the Earth and God‘s creation,
we also need to take the next step and become vegetarian.

Recently I asked a young Christian friend why he became a vegetarian. He
said that the change took place when he learned of the environmental
destruction caused by the corporate meat
industry. He could not in good conscience and good faith continue eating
meat knowing that he was supporting the destruction of the planet. It went

against everything he wanted his life to be about. He said ―We are destroying
the ecosystem by creating massive chicken, cow and hog factories, poisoning
the water, and tearing down the rain forests — all to produce meat. We‘re
destroying the entire ecosystems of most poor countries. This whole
corporate meat business is destructive. If millions of us become vegetarian,
we will reduce the demand and help save the planet.‖
Vegetarianism As A Path To Health And Wholeness

Another basic reason to become a vegetarian is to promote good
health. God has given us our bodies as gifts, and we need to treat them well,
so that we can serve others and be instruments
of God‘s peace. Up until about 15 years ago, it was assumed by
most physicians that human beings had to eat meat to survive.
Nowadays, not only is everyone in agreement that our bodies
thrive on a vegetarian diet, medical groups like the American
Dietetic Association (ADA) and the American Medical Association
(AMA) have also concluded that vegetarians are actually healthier.
Vegetarians tend to weigh less and suffer at a fraction of the rate
of meat-eaters from heart disease, cancer, and stroke–America‘s three
biggest killers. Meat is entirely devoid of carbohydrates and
fiber, the nutrients that we need to keep our bodies in good working order.
But meat does have heavy doses of artery-clogging
saturated fat and cholesterol.
In particular, the only two researchers who have ever been documented to
have successfully reversed heart disease, by far
America‘s biggest killer, include an exclusively vegetarian diet as
part of their health programs. On the Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell
Esselstyn programs, patients become ―Heart attack proof‖
to quote Dr Esselstyn, by getting their cholesterol levels lower than 150, the
level below which no one has ever been documented
as having had a heart attack. The average vegan cholesterol level is 128. It‘s
also worth noting that vegetarians, on average, weigh 10 to 30% less than
meat-eaters, and people on Dr. Ornish‘s program lose an average of 20
pounds in the first year,
and they keep it off.
People who consume animal products are 40 percent more
susceptible to cancer and are more likely to suffer from stroke.,
appendicitis, arthritis, diabetes, and food poisoning. Additionally,
meat contains insecticides and other chemicals up to 14 times more
concentrated than those in plant foods. If we want to live a
healthy, wholesome, full life, we are wise to become vegetarians.

The Rev. George Malkmus, a Baptist preacher in North Carolina,
argues that Christians should set an example of good health. What
does it say about our faith when we Christians are dropping over
dead from diet-related, preventable diseases at the same rat as
everyone else in this country, he wonders. He thinks that
vegetarianism, because it makes us healthier, makes a good
evangelical tool, and I agree. God wants us to be healthy, to life life to its
fullest. Likewise, Rev, Robert Schuller, pastor of the Crystal Cathedral and
star of the Hour of Power, recommends what he calls the ―Garden of Eden
diet‖. It‘s the diet that God called us to in the Garden, he says, the diet
intended for us, to help us lead long and productive lives. He cites vegetarian
fitness
superstar Jack LaLanne as one example of what a diet based on
grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables can do for our vitality.
Vegetarianism As A Way To Support Human Rights

Another reason for becoming vegetarian is simply to support basic
human rights. A vegetarian diet is the only diet for people who care about
the suffering of other people. Domestically, slaughter-
houses are dens of death not just for animals, but for the unfortunate people
who work in them. Slaughterhouses have the
highest rate of injury, the highest turnover rate, the highest repeat-injury
rate, and the highest rate of accidental death of any industry in the country.
In fact, slaughterhouse workers have nine times the injury rate of coal mines
in Appalachia.
A few years ago, the Center For Public Integrity, a congressional watchdog
group, released a report called ―Safety Last: The Politics of E Coli and Other
Food Borne Killers.‖ This report points out that slaughterhouses are
continually searching for replacement workers and have to bus people up
from Mexico and Central America to slaughterhouses in Iowa, Minnesota, and
elsewhere. ―Just as easily as the meat-packing companies court and
transport immigrant labor to their Midwestern plants, ‖ the report says, ―they
betray them, turning them and their families over to the immigration
authorities. And in the ultimate act of cruelty and corruption, the companies
then seek out the lucky ones that escaped the immigration raids to hire them
back to stand on the killing floor.‖ The same point was made in a more
recent book called Fast Food Nation by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser.
Should Christians support this unjust treatment of workers? Of course not.
Jesus put it simply: ―Whatever you do to the least of
these, you do to me.‖ He insists that we side with the poor and oppressed–
and that includes the undocumented, the immigrant,

the refugee, and the factory worker — in their struggle for justice.
We can and should withdraw our financial support for this violent and unjust
industry by becoming vegetarians.
Conclusion
As we look back on very recent history, we see an astonishing
array of positive social change. Many good and thoughtful people of the 19th
Century did not recognize the basic human rights of women, children, Native
Americans, or African-Americans. Human slavery flourished until the end of
the 1800′s in the United States. Women were given the right to vote less
than 100 years ago. The very first child abuse case was prosecuted in this
country, also, less than 100 years ago. In each case, the Bible was used to
bless and defend injustice. But, thank God, we have taken steps toward
justice. Yet, unfortunately, we continue to use the scriptures to defend
violence and justify war, executions, animal
abuse, and nuclear weapons as if God wanted us to be violent and
kill. I am convinced that God is a God of peace and nonviolence and that
Jesus wants us to be people of peace and nonviolence.
We have come a long way in the last century, but we still have a
long way to go. We need to abolish hunger, poverty, war, nuclear
weapons, animal abuse, the death penalty, racism, sexism and
every other form of violence. I think that centuries from now
people of faith and conscience will look back at our times in shock and
amazement that we ate meat, permitted people to starve, treated one
another so unjustly, waged war, built huge nuclear
arsenals, and remained hell-bent on destroying the planet.
If we are to survive, as Dr. King said, we need to become people
of nonviolence. One simple first step is to adopt a vegetarian
diet.
―Nothing will benefit human health and increase {our} chances for
survival,‖ Albert Einstein concluded, ―as much as the evolution to a
vegetarian diet.‖
Despite all the problems of our times, I remain hopeful. More and more
people are seeing the wisdom of nonviolence, including the
wisdom of vegetarianism. In the U.S. alone, more than 1 million
people adopt a vegetarian diet every year. As these trends gain
momentum, they will have dramatic and positive consequences
for our health, our environment, animal welfare, human rights, and,
indeed, our disposition toward compassion and nonviolence.
―The time will come,‖ Leonardo da Vinci said, ―when {people] ..
will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of
men and women.‖ I am convinced that society will look

back on human arrogance and cruelty toward other animals with the same
horror and disbelief that we presently reserve for atrocities committed
against human beings. And as we stop eating meat and become vegetarians,
we take another step into God‘s way of nonviolence. We will be blessed.
Let me conclude wit a quote from author Lewis Regenstein: ―There are
compelling moral, spiritual and scriptural reasons to abstain from meat. The
raising transporting and
slaughtering of food animals entails enormous mistreatment and suffering to
literally billions of creatures each year, in addition to the massive damage to
the environment. Indeed, raising livestock is more destructive in depleting
topsoil, groundwater and energy resources than all other human activities
combined, as well as causing enormous environmental damage such as
clearing of forests, destruction of wildlife habitat, and pollution of rivers and
lakes. And the consumption of meat and dairy products… is linked to high
rates of cancer, heart disease, strokes, and other potentially fatal health
disorders. Therefore refraining from eating meat helps prevent cruelty to
animals and promotes protection of the environment and the health of ones
body, the ―Temple of the Lord‖. For all these reasons, a vegetarian diet is
one good way of maintaining a lifestyle consistent with the humane and
ecological spirit of the Scriptures.‖
A Few Last Questions

Having said all that, I‘m sure there are a few questions hanging in the air
such as, ―But, John, didn‘t Jesus eat meat?‖ Some biblical
scholars conclude that Jesus didn‘t eat meat. All agree that Jesus wants us to
practice perfect compassion throughout our lives. As we‘ve seen, the world
we live in today is a world of poverty,
starvation, violence, and environmental destruction, and eating meat only
entrenches these problems.
So the real question is, what would the nonviolent Jesus want us to do today,
in such a world of rampant violence? I believe that he
would want us to do everything we can to help end violence and
turn this into a world of nonviolence and compassion. This would
include becoming a vegetarian.
Others ask, ―But doesn‘t God condone animal sacrifice?‖ The Hebrew
scriptures are filled with stipulations about when and how to slaughter
animals, but I do not think that this justifies eating animals. The Mosaic law
was trying to reduce violence. The Bible is
filled with laws permitting war, polygamy, slaveholding and other forms of
violence, but these laws mitigated evil practices that
were already occurring. Laws about them were, at the time, intended to limit

human sinfulness, to reduce our violence, and to
hasten the advent of a new world without violence. When Jesus
entered the picture, he insisted on radical nonviolence and compassion. He
let us know that he prefers the sacrifice of our own hearts and lives for the
sake of justice and peace. He is far more radical than any of us can imagine.
As Gandhi said, Jesus practices the revolution of nonviolence par excellence.
He reveals that God is a God of nonviolence and wants
us to enter that life of nonviolence. The Christian Gospels quote the
prophets, call for peace, and uphold God‘s original vision of the
Garden of Eden. They insist that Jesus called us to live here and now in the
reign of God, a reign of peace and nonviolence that includes compassion
toward one another, all creatures, and the
Earth itself. The point, Jesus said, was not sacrifice, but compassion, not
violence, but nonviolence.
In a world of massive violence and suffering, why not take whatever steps
we can to become more compassionate, more nonviolent, more faithful to
the peacemaking Christ? Why not become a vegetarian, for the love of God
and all God‘s creatures?
Your health will benefit. The environment will be better off.
Animals will suffer less. And your spirituality will deepen and mature. The
only reasons to keep eating meat are selfishness and gluttony, which are not
exactly Christian ideals. We can all do
better than that.
The time has come to take another step with Jesus on the road
of nonviolence. The time has come to be a vegetarian.
Thank you for your attention and for reflecting with me on these
questions. May the God of Peace bless us all and help us to become, like
Jesus, people of compassion and nonviolence.
John Dean, SJ taught theology at Fordham University. He is
the author of more than a dozen books on Christian discipleship.
He resides in NYC. To join the Christian Vegetarian Assoc. please
visithttp://www.christianveg.com. For information on vegetarianism
in
general http://www.goveg.com http://www.meatout.orghttp://www.ivu.org
http://www.spot.acorn.net/fruitarian For free vegetarian starter
kits call 1 888 VEG FOOD
(These beautifully printed pamphlets done with purple print and pictures are
available in bulk from PETA for distribution at churches and elsewhere. 501
Front St. Norfolk VA 23510 USA 757 622 7382http://www.peta.org) Please
request they be printed on recycled paper, if they are not
already. http://www.christianveg.com) Father Ron Lengwin, Catholic priest

on KDKA Radio: Perhaps Adam‘s apple was the heart of the first murdered
animal. Father Mario Mazzoleni, a priest with Vatican Radio, wrote of his
vegetarian diet.)
CATHOLIC VEGETARIANS
abbajesus@yahoo.com
What you have done to these the least of My brethren you have done unto
Me.
Catholic Vegetarian Saints
St Francis of Assisi, St Clare, stigmatist St Therese Neumann, St. Martin de
Porres, St John Chrysostom, St Anthony of Padua who preached to fishes
when humans would not listen.. St Nicholas of Tolentino* believed they were
following the example of Jesus in not eating His animals. Trappists,
Cistercians, Benedictines, Franciscans all have had a tradition of vegetarian
diet, to which many still adhere. The pretzel was says George Cornell former
AP religion writer a Lenten bread, symbolizing arms folded in prayer.. Lentils
were named as such because they were a Lenten vegetarian alternative to
animal flesh. Meatless Fridays were the last vestige of early Christian
abstinence from meat in following
Christ‘s example. A papal bull once excommunicated anyone who attended a
bullfight because the barbaric cruelty in them. This was later amended to
excommunicate only priests who blessed bullfighting.
BIBLICAL ORIGINS
Genesis 1: 29, Isaiah 65, Daniel 1 Exodus 26: 34 are some of the thousands
of quotes in the Bible on vegetarian diet. The command to feed the hungry,
given by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount, implies vegetarianism since the
flesh of animals yields 100 to 1000 lbs an acre, dairy products around 10,000
lbs. an acre, some vegetables, 81,000 lbs. an acre, and fruits from
centenarian fruit trees 450,000 or more lbs. an acre. Therefore Genesis fruit
trees yield 450 times what slaughterhouses yield. Daniel O‘Steen, of National
Right To Life, felt he must be consistent in his prolife stance and so many
years ago became a vegetarian. Clare Barrett,
early editor with Paul Obis of Vegetarian Times, mother of 6 boys, created a
successful media campaign when Mike Royko refused to allow her vegetarian
gluten ribs in his cooking contest. Fr. Ron Lengwin of KDKA Radio in
Pittsburgh believes that the apple Adam ate was the first heart of a
butchered animal. Rep Dennis Kucinich (Democrat Cleveland) is a vegan who
has worked for the rights of blue collar laborers, for the
environment, and for peace. Vegetarian monasteries in Massachusetts, New
York, Kentucky, Ohio serve only meatless meals.. Ron Pickarsky, former
Catholic brother, now married,
has worked with commercial establishments helping them to

transitionhttp://www.eco-cuisine.com
JB exec of an Ohio corporation, rings a bell for the Knights of Columbus in
public places, and has in the past inquired where he could get vegan no
feather sleeping bags to be consistent in his vegetarian diet. D. Marshall,
New York homeless shelter worker, is a vegetarian who does not proselytize
the poor who come in to his welcoming inn. Catholic colleges such as
Georgetown have responded to the growing number of their vegan students
by providing options. Thomas Merton, author of Seven Story Mountain and
Trappist monk, was a vegetarian, and activist for interfaith cooperation. For
this he may have been murdered. EL, New York environmentalist, poet, and
mystic, originally became vegetarian for economic reasons, while one of his
teachers, Fr. Daniel Berrigan, eats no meat. CW, Catholic nurse, was nursing
her child one day when a mosquito landed on her arm. She decided to nurse
him too. One Catholic seminarian experimented with pot once..and his
perceptions slowed down. The chicken leg he was gnawing on became the
leg of a chicken. That day he stopped eating meat and stopped smoking pot.
A Catholic secretary for Cleveland Amory‘s Fund For Animals became vegan.
K Fromer Blanc, Brooklyn nun, is a vegetarian as are millions of other
Catholics. Father Mario Mazzoleni, now deceased, wrote on his decision to
become vegetarian. His book is translated
by a Notre Dame professor.The temptation to eat meat is chemical in nature,
as the uric acid in meat is more addictive than caffein since it is trioxypurine
or 3 oxypurines while caffein is dioxypurine or 2. Exodus 26: 34 is a
command not to kill. Governor Jesse Ventura in reference to the death
penalty (for animals too) has said that that command is not asterisked with
exceptions. St Thomas in the Thomasine Gospel
has many references to the fruiteating of Christ. Thomas, the skeptical
apostle, went to Madras India where even today are millions of Catholic
descendants of his preaching.
Cesar Chavez, the saintly activist for the rights of farm workers, continued
the tradition of nonviolence in his labor organizing as well as his diet. He and
Gandhi looked to Leo Tolstoy, Russian Catholic, who wrote The Kingdom of
God is Within You.
Albert of Michigan, a Catholic paraplegic, has spent much time researching
Catholic vegetarianism in history. He says that the word ‗opsarian‘ means
‗pickled fish‘ and is the Greek word for the fish Jesus created, meaning that
Jesus did not materialize freshly suffocated fish but materialized processed
fish. http://www.nofishing.net
Francisco Martin, Madrid Spain secretary of the IVU http://www.ivu.orgis a
Catholic vegan activist. Colman McCarthy, former Trappist and syndicated
columnist, lectures around the world on peace studies and has long been

mostly fruitarian. Bruce Friedrich, Catholic of PETA, ran their Jesus Was
Vegetarian campaign.
(http://www.jesusveg.com) St Blaize‘s throat protection is not necessary if
one stops
eating innocent fishes, suffocated and smothered, with their eyes and throats
ripped out by vicious hooks. http://www.nofishing.net The countries with the
most
fish consumption have the most stomach cancer. Many members of the
Catholic Worker community as their founder Dorothy Day follow vegetarian
diet
in Matthew 25 and many other homes. http://www.catholicworker.org
http://www.paxchristiusa.org Dr. Virginia Bourquardez, who once
hitchhiked for the first time at the age of 77 when her ride dematerialized,
worked her entire life for animals, and became a vegetarian in her 70′s.
Malcolm Muggeridge the British intellectual abstained from meat in later
years..
Helen Jones of the National Catholic Soc. For Animal Welfare worked with her
sister Ruth out of their Clark Summit Pennsylvania home. Leonardo Da Vinci,
a Catholic, was also a fruitarian. Danny DeVito protects insect life as well
as mammals.
Many Catholics are praying that the Holy Father who takes such a strong
stand
in preventing the violence of war and execution, will withdraw his
endorsement of the cruelty of lab research. Many Catholic churches have
blessing of the animals ceremonies.
Abba in the name of Jesus thank You that You are now ending all violence to
people, animals, and all beings on Your planet now and forever.

GREATER THINGS SHALL YOU DO THAN I HAVE DONE
SAID JESUS CHRIST TO HIS FOLLOWERS:
Perhaps one thing He meant was that we have the opportunity to
reach many people with His message of nonviolence to all creatures.
#3 sb11

Exalted Member

Group: Members
Posts: 35855
Posted 28 May 2008 – 07:13 AM

Vatican Priest On His Decision to Become Vegetarian
(the addictive chemicals in meat are stronger than caffein)(after 3 years as a
strict vegetarian, Father (Don) Mario Mazzoleni speaks of a desire for
meat.*)
I would be a hypocrite if I led the reader to believe that I was strong enough
to be perfectly faithful to my Lenten resolution. ..I
hadn‘t yet completely resolved my desire for meat – and so the repressed
desire
was floating to the surface. It is a fact that the minute I would sit down to
meditate, the most succulent meals would pass in front of my mind, full of
fragrant roasted chickens and various sausages. What to do? If I was going
to ruin all my meditations for a
roast chicken, it would be better to eliminate the problem by facing it head
on. And so after 3 years of strict vegetarianism, I decided to get rid of the
desire once and for all by satiating myself with a meat dinner. After all, I told
myself to quiet my sense of guilt, ―It isn‘t a crime to eat meat, and I can‘t
say that because I‘m vegetarian I‘m better than many people who are
carnivorous.‖ It was almost a traumatic experience. I remembered an
analogous experience of Gandhi‘s that he recounted in his autobiography.
Convinced by a friend that India could be liberated only by the grit
of someone who ate meat, he hid himself on a river bank to consume some
barbecued baby goat meat, and the next night he could feel bleating in his
chest. Instead of enjoying the coveted snack in peace, the minute this little
faithbreaker set his teeth into the cruel repast* (* a reference to Dante‘s
Inferno.. in which
meat is described as a cruel repast in XXXIII.1) he was himself bitten by
remorse and anxiety. I kept seeing the animal alive in front of me, and this
inhibited the desire that was so enticing when it was simply mental. I
immediately noticed some other effects, physical as well as psychic. My
intestines held that food much longer than they kept vegetables,and my
sense of smell, made sensitive by several years of vegetarianism,
was able to detect the odor of the cooked animal on my skin. It was a
disagreeable sensation. As for my psyche, I noticed that my mind, which
during my 3 year ―Lent‖ was no longer seriously agitated by unwanted
thoughts, suffered a set back from that carne-vale (meat festival); polluting
throughts started to enter again in triumph. It
was a lesson. As always it is experience more than words that has the
greater power of persuasion. The decision to adopt a vegetarian diet
was motivated also by a religious actor. I knew that I was going to a sacred
place.

* such desires for meat are related to the stronger than
caffein substance, uric acid, in animal flesh. Caffein
is dioxypurine while uric acid is trioxypurine, 3 oxypurines.
Father Mazzoleni left for God a few years ago
* the article is an excerpt from his book

********************

The early Christians until the time of Constantine several
hundred years after Jesus‘ death were vegetarian. Meatless Fridays
are the last vestige of this in some churches. Trappist monks,
Wesleyites, Adventists, followers of the diet of the Salvation
Army founders… continue the vegetarian tradition.
While Jesus guided the apostles as to where to fish
on at least one occasion, there is dispute among scholars
as to whether or not Jesus ate fish. The word ‗opsarion‘, Greek,
means pickled fish. It is likely that the fish Jesus multiplied
was materialized‖
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#4 sb11

Exalted Member

Group: Members
Posts: 35855
Posted 28 May 2008 – 07:15 AM

Interfaith Vegetarian Links.. Please add to itHINDU
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.sathyasai.org
http://gita.wikidot.com
Hindus have the highest percentage of vegetarians..of any group.. but
even that is not currently 50%. If 450 million Hindus

are vegetarian, 700 million eat no cow flesh. There are too many links
to list.
CHRISTIAN
* []http://groups.yahoo.com/group/methodistveg/messages/1558]
vegetarian John Wesley and Methodist Veg.
* [http://a4.nu/christian/index.htm Christian Religion and Vegetarian
Resources]
* [http://www.compassio..._vegetarian.htm Was
Jesus a vegetarian?] – article by [[Keith Akers]]
*
[http://www.thenazare...lesh_Eating.htm
Biblical Opposition to Flesh Eating]
* [http://www.christian.../006/13.14.html
ChristianityToday.com Books and Culture] ―Revenge of the Ebionites‖
book review by [[Stephen H. Webb]]
* [http://www.animalsuf...m/religion.html Animal Rights and its
role in religion]
* [http://www.vegetaria.../issue10.html#3 Review by Urrutia
of ''Good News for all Creation: Vegetarianism as Christian
Stewardship'' by Stephen R. Kaufman and Nathan Braun]
* [http://www.vnv.org.au/Christianity.htm Christianity and
Vegetarianism: Some Thoughts, compiled by David Ogilvie]
* [http://www.godandani...its/linzey.html Christianity
and Animals by Andrew Linzey]
* [http://www.satyamag....b96/linzey.html Christianity and Animals:
An Interview with Andrew Linzey (1996)]
* [http://www.all-creat.../gcm/candv.html Christianity and
Vegetarianism PowerPoint presentation, by God's Creatures Ministry]
* [http://www.petaliterature.com/VEG612.pdf''Christianity and
Vegetarianism - Pursuing the non-violence of Jesus'', Fr. John Dear S.J]
*
MUSLIM
Quran: There is no beast on earth nor bird which flieth..but the same is a
people like unto you. All God‟s creatures are God‟s family.
“The Holy Prophet Muhammad (S) was asked by his copmpanions if kindness
to animals was rewarded in the life hereafter. He replied: „Yes, there is a
meritorious reward for kindness to every living creature‟.” (Bukhari)
from www.ivu.org
http://www.bmf.org Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
http://www.ivu.org/n…-96/muslim.html
http://sss.vn.ua/sb_mm.htm

http://ipaki.com/con…ml/28/1203.html Muslim
vegetarians
http://www.afic.com….l%20Cruelty.pdf
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils condemns animal cruelty
http://groups.yahoo….up/veganturkey/
http://www.eat-halal.com
http://www.egroups.c…lim-vegetarians
http://www.ivu.org/n…-96/muslim.html
http://www.islamveg.com
http://www.postpoems…ers/animalpoems
(lists ―Killing the Lamb‖ by Persian F M Esfandiary)
http://www.crescentl…ian_muslims.htm
http://groups.yahoo….im-Vegetarians/http://www.allaahuak…n/religious.htm
http://www.islamicconcern.com
http://members.aol.c…vegetarian.html
http://www.veda.hare…ga/islamveg.htm
http://www.veg.ca/ne…am_recipes.html
http://www.islamicco….com/fatwas.asp
http://www.petatv.co…r=wm&speed=_med
http://www.answers.com/topic/druze The Druze are Muslim
vegetarians of Lebanon. One wellknown vegan Druze is Casey
Kasem.
http://www.saibaba.org/ The Saint of Shirdi who left his
body in 1918 is revered by Muslims and nonMuslims
http://www.saibaba.org/saisatc.html is an online book
about the Saint of Shirdi
http://www.saibaba.w…cmyths/sbqm.htm
http://www.irfi.org/…l_and_islam.htm
http://saibaba.ws/te…sm/sbsufism.htm
———

JEWISH
http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz
http://www.vrg.org
http://www.micahbooks.com
http://www.vrg.org
http://www.chai-online.org
http://ourworld.comp…ood/JewVeg.html many links
There are many more
There are many more
A Sliver of Many Books

―Replenish the Earth‖ – Lewis G. Regenstein SCM Press ltd.

―Food for the Spirit – Vegetarianism and the World Religions‖ Steven Rosen
Bala Books Inc., 74 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury, N.Y. 11568, U.S.A.

BUDDHIST
http://buddhistlinks.org/ Buddha was a vegetaran.
http://www.plumvillage.org
There are many more
Jesus materialized fish for others. He knew that in that
millenium they were not ready for his Essene diet. Early
Christians followed His vegetarian ways until Constantine in 325.
http://www.ivu.org/religion/ many links
**************

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#5 sb11

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Posted 28 May 2008 – 07:32 AM

Christian Vegetarianismhttp://www.azvegan.com
The following is taken from an interview with Bruce Friedrich, PETA‘s Vegan
Outreach Director.

Bruce Friedrich is a Catholic from the Midwest who was recently rated No. 5
on Details magazine‘s 2003 list of ―The 50 Most Influential People Under 38″
— ahead of Tiger Woods, Leonardo di Caprio and Justin Timberlake. What
has Friedrich done to deserve his high standing? Surprise answer: He‘s an
animal rights activist on the governing board of the Catholic Vegetarian
Society and the advisory board of the Christian Vegetarian Society. He is also

a founding member of the Society of Religious and Ethical Vegetarians, and
he‘s director of vegan campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA). I interviewed him via telephone as he was flying from PETA
headquarters in Virginia to an assignment in India.

Hi, Bruce. Your opinion is that Catholics — and all other Christians — should
be vegetarians?
Jesus‘ message is about love and compassion, but there is nothing loving or
compassionate at factory farms and slaughterhouses, where billions of
animals endure miserable lives and die violent deaths. Jesus mandates
kindness and mercy for all God‘s creatures. He‘d be appalled by the suffering
that we inflict on animals today to indulge our acquired taste for their flesh.
Catholics, and all Christians, have a choice. When we sit down to eat, we can
add to the violence, misery and death in the world, or we can respect God‘s
creatures with a vegetarian diet. I believe we‘re obligated to make choices
that are as merciful as possible, and we can all do that at the dinner table
with a vegetarian diet. There won‘t be any factory farms and slaughterhouses
in heaven.

So, you think the God of Christians never wanted people to eat meat?
The Garden of Eden, God‘s perfect world, was vegetarian (Gen. 1:29-30),
and God called this nonexploitative relationship ―good‖ (Gen. 1:31). After
Eden there were many, many years of fallen humanity, when people held
slaves, waged war, ate animals and committed various other violent acts.
But the Old Testament prophets tell us that the final, peaceful Kingdom of
God will be nonviolent and vegetarian; even ―the lion will lie down with the
lamb,‖ according to the prophet Isaiah. That is, even the carnivorous animals
will go back to the vegetarian state. I find it empowering that we can begin
to live that vision now.
That‘s all very Old Testament. Is there any more recent church doctrine that
supports vegetarianism? Do you think eating meat is a sin?

The catechism says explicitly what we all know to be true in our hearts:
Causing animals to suffer needlessly is a sin. Since no one has to eat meat,
and in fact we‘d all be better off without it, then it is a sin to eat meat. The
church has a way to go before it recognizes this fact explicitly, but there it is,
an official part of church doctrine.

The church will have to support a vegan diet eventually, but it may not move
to that position quickly. We in the Christian and Catholic Vegetarian
Associations are pushing, though! There was a marvelous piece in the
Vatican‘s paper a few years ago, a strong condemnation of factory farming.

It pointed out that God designed animals to raise their families, to breathe
fresh air, to feel the sun on their backs. Modern farms don‘t allow animals to
do any of these things — they‘re playing God, basically, acting like they know
better than God. And the mutilations and drugs — the processes — are so
cruel, merciless and ungodly that I‘m convinced that all faiths will come to
denounce eating meat as surely as they came to denounce slavery; it‘s just a
matter of time.

What about hunting? Working in a slaughterhouse? Should those activities be
considered sinful?
I believe we‘re all challenged to live as mercifully and compassionately as
possible. If you choose to support cruelty and violence when you could
support kindness and compassion, that‘s something you should change.
Hunters should hunt with a camera.
Have you ever thought about becoming a Buddhist or a Hindu? They seem
more concerned with animal rights.
My faith is not a function of my mercy and compassion for animals. The
reverse is true: My concern for compassion is a product of my faith. That
said, I agree with Gandhi — and the pope — that what‘s important is not
your professed faith but how you live your life.
Tell me how you got involved in the animal rights movement.
I became a vegan in college after reading Francis Moore Lappé‘s ―Diet for a
Small Planet,‖ because it helped me realize how a meat-based diet
contributes to environmental devastation and global poverty, as well as
animal suffering.
After college, I spent six years working in a homeless shelter and soup
kitchen in Washington, D.C. While I was there, a friend of mine sent me a
book written by Dr. Andrew Linzey, a theologian at Oxford University, who
argues that animals were designed with certain needs, desires and species-
specific behaviors and that animals have the same capacity for pain and
suffering as human beings. Any introductory physiology course will teach you
that birds, mammals and fish have basically the same capacity to suffer as
human beings.

Linzey‘s perspective is that denying animals the life they were designed to
have and inflicting pain on them for our convenience is categorically
unethical. Linzey believes that causing pain to an animal is the moral
equivalent of causing pain to a human being. The logic of Linzey‘s argument
spoke to me on a deep level. And, of course, if animals have the same right
to be free of pain as humans do, then we certainly can‘t eat them, or
experiment on them, or rip their skins off to wear them as clothes, or beat

them into doing senseless acts in circuses and rodeos. It was really Linzey‘s
argument that caused me to become a animal rights activist and work for
PETA.

Animal pain is as important as human pain? God‘s design for animals is as
important — as valuable — as God‘s design for humans?

God created every animal with needs, wants and a design for its life. God
designed pigs to root around in the soil and play with each other. God
designed chickens to make nests, lay eggs and raise their children. Jesus
compared his love for humanity to a hen‘s love — not instinct, love — for her
brood. God designed all animals with a desire for sunlight, fresh air, fresh
water and so on, and he designed all animals to grow at a certain rate that
won‘t tax their limbs and organs.

But all of these things are denied to animals who are turned into food by the
meat industries. Scientists are playing God by manipulating animals to grow
so quickly that their hearts, lungs and limbs can‘t keep up. The upper bodies
of chickens grow six to seven times faster than they did 50 years ago, and
turkeys can‘t even mate naturally anymore. Everything natural is denied as
they‘re packed into excrement-laden sheds. Basically, God‘s will is denied
completely by the industries that have decided that they know better than
God how God‘s creatures should be treated.

On today‘s factory farms, animals are dehorned, debeaked and castrated
without anesthesia; they‘re crowded together into tiny spaces and they‘re
genetically bred so that many suffer lameness, crippling leg deformities and
bone breaks because their legs can‘t keep up with their scientifically
enhanced bodies; and, finally, they‘re trucked without food or water to a
hellish death at a slaughterhouse.

Does it seem odd to you that many devoted pet owners continue to eat the
meat of creatures that are as smart as their dogs and cats?

Everyone agrees that dogs and cats should be protected legally from the
worst abuses, but other animals that are raised for food have no legal
protection at all from mutilations without pain relief, drugging and breeding
that crippled them and so on. The disconnect must be pointed out: If
castrating a dog without painkillers is not OK, if drugging a cat so that she
grows up so fast she can‘t walk is not OK, if chopping off the toes of a dog or
cat is not OK, if slitting a dog or cat‘s throat open and hacking off their limbs

while they‘re still conscious is not OK, then it is equally repugnant to do
these things to any animal.

When Cameron Diaz found out that pigs do as well on cognition tests as 3-
year-old human kids, she gave up eating pork. In fact, pigs play video games
more effectively than some primates, and they interact with one another in
ways that have previously been observed only in primates. Chickens also
learn from one another, and they form complex social groups and they are
interesting individuals, just like any cat or dog we might know.

You also think eating meat is unhealthy?
Last year, there were 50 million incidences of meat making people sick in the
USA, 50 million cases of meat-based pathogens, salmonella and E. coli and
campylobacter [a bacteria that causes food poisoning]. And, now, of course,
there‘s also mad cow disease.
Other than Francis Moore Lappé and Dr. Albert Linzey, are there any other
writers that have had a profound influence on you?

Alice Walker wrote the introduction to a book entitled ―The Dreaded
Comparison,‖ by Marjorie Spiegel. In this book, Spiegel compares the
treatment of animals today to that of human slaves in the 16th through 19th
centuries. Alice Walker agrees, saying, ―The animals of the world … were not
made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or
women were created for men.‖ That‘s quite a statement, and it‘s true; the
animal rights movement is a movement for justice, just like abolition,
suffrage, civil rights and women‘s rights.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer stated that ―compassion…can only attain its full breadth
and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to
mankind.‖ Nobel laureate Dr. Isaac Bashevis Singer called species bias the
―purest form of racism‖ and animal rights the purest form of justice
advocacy, because animals are the most vulnerable of all the downtrodden.
The animal rights perspective has been historically embraced by a wide
range of brilliant thinkers and humanitarians, like Pythagoras, Leonardo da
Vinci, Albert Einstein, Harriet Beecher Stowe, C.S. Lewis, Susan B. Anthony,
Leo Tolstoy, Dick Gregory and Mahatma Gandhi.
Kosher Meat Info- Did you know? Kosher meat comes from the same abusive
factory farms as other meats. There are no standards to ensure that kosher
slaughter is any less cruel than conventional slaughter. In some instances,
it‘s been shown to be much worse. Click the link for more information.
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#6 sb11

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Group: Members
Posts: 35855
Posted 28 May 2008 – 09:20 AM

Sister Catherine Walsh is a tireless nun working with the
Catholic Worker movement, a 75 year old movement begun
by Peter Maurin of France and Dorothy Day of NYC.The Catholic Worker
operates homes for the homeless, soup
kitchens, and has been involved at times in civil disobedience
regarding the illegal wars of the US regime.
A growing number of vegetarians want the soup kitchens
of the world not to harm animals by serving their drawn
and quartered pieces to people. Animal and fish flesh are toxic
to people, prevent Jesus‘ message of feeding the hungry by
enabling the lowest acreage yield (100 to 1000 lbs per acre
in comparison to 450,000 lbs for centenarian orchards and nut groves).
http://www.catholicworker.org
SPIRITUAL DIET
-Brother James-

It has been my habit since 1994 to practice a vegetarian diet. It is not
necessary for me to take life to sustain my own. I believe that all life is
sacred from the house fly to the human. God is the Creator of all Life. In the
beginning God created all life vegetarian, both human and animal. It was not
until after the flood that living beings began to eat meat. I do not preach that
it is sin to eat flesh but I will say in this day and age it is unwise. God‘s
original design was a vegetarian diet until sin entered the world and death by
sin. I choose to honor God‘s original design with my diet. I do not have the
ability to eat animals. I cannot do this in good conscience. I have offered my
diet to God as a perpetual fast. I have chosen to honor His original diet and

to reverence the life He created. In order to eat an animal she must first be
dead. It is not wise to devour death.

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#7 sb11

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Posts: 35855
Posted 28 May 2008 – 09:30 AM

THEY SHALL NOT HURT OR DESTROY – ANIMAL RIGHTS AND
VEGETARIANISM IN THE WESTERN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
Author Vasu Murti interviewed by Claudette Vaughan
http://www.abolition…m/_06murti.htmlOne of the best kept secrets of
Judaism and Christianity is that both religions have rich traditions favoring
vegetarianism/veganism says author Vasu Murti. His book, They Shall Not
Hurt or Destroy explores the many Judeo-Christian writers and leaders who
have argued that God cares about all Creation, and so should we. The core
values and teachings of these faiths encourage plant-based eating.
[click here to read the review of 'They Shall Not Hurt or Destroy"]

Abolitionist: In your book ‗They Shall Not Hurt Or Destroy‘ you said that a
few years ago Norm Phelps came to the conclusion, as I myself have, that
the animal rights movement will never succeed until it converts the churches,
mosques and synagogues to the cause for God‘s other creation, the non-
human animals. Is this also your point of view?

Vusu Murti: Yes. I would like to see organised religion take up the struggle
for animal rights. Religion has been wrong before. It has often been said that
on issues such as women‘s rights and human slavery, religion has impeded
social and moral progress. It was a Spanish Catholic priest, Bartolome de las
Casas, who first proposed enslaving black Africans in place of the Native

Americans who were dying off in great numbers. The church of the past
never considered human slavery to be a moral evil. The Protestant churches
of Virginia, South Carolina, and other southern states here in the U.S.
actually passed resolutions in favor of the human slave traffic.

Human slavery was called ―by Divine Appointment,‖ ―a Divine institution,‖ ―a
moral relation,‖ ―God‘s institution,‖ ―not immoral,‖ but ―founded in right.‖
The slave trade was called ―legal,‖ ―licit,‖ ―in accordance with humane
principles‖ and ―the laws of revealed religion.‖

New Testament verses calling for obedience and subservience on the part of
slaves (Titus 2:9-10; Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-25; I Peter 2:18-25)
and respect for the master (I Timothy 6:1-2; Ephesians 6:5-9) were often
cited in order to justify human slavery. Many of Jesus‘ parables refer to
human slaves. Paul‘s epistle to Philemon concerns a runaway slave returned
to his master.

The Quakers were one of the earliest religious denominations to condemn
human slavery. ―Paul‘s outright endorsement of slavery should be an undying
embarrassment to Christianity as long as they hold the entire New Testament
to be the word of God,‖ says contemporary Quaker physician Dr. Charles P.
Vaclavik. ―Without a doubt, the American slaveholders quoted Paul again and
again to substantiate their right to hold slaves.

―The moralist movement to abolish slavery had to go to non-Biblical sources
to demonstrate the immoral nature of slavery. The abolitionists could not
turn to Christian sources to condemn slavery, for Christianity had become
the bastion of the evil practice through its endorsement by the Apostle Paul.
Only the Old Testament gave the abolitionist any Biblical support in his
efforts to free the slaves. ‗You shall not surrender to his master a slave who
has taken refuge with you.‘ (Deuteronomy 23:15) What a pittance of
material opposing slavery from a book supposedly representing the word of
God.‖

In 1852, Josiah Priest wrote Bible Defense of Slavery. Others claimed blacks
were subhuman. Buckner H. Payne, calling himself ―Ariel,‖ wrote in 1867:
―the tempter in the Garden of Eden…was a beast, a talking beast…the
negro.‖ Ariel argued that since the negro was not part of Noah‘s family, he
must have been a beast. Eight souls were saved on the ark, therefore, the
negro must be a beast, and ―consequently, he has no soul to be saved.‖

The status of animals in contemporary human society is not unlike that of
human slaves in centuries past. Quoting Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18 or any other
biblical passages in favor of liberty, equality and an end to human slavery in
the 18th or 19th century would have been met with the same kind of
response animal rights activists receive today if they quote Bible verses in
favor of ethical vegetarianism and compassion towards animals.

Some of the worst crimes in history have also been committed in the name
of religion. (There‘s a great song along these lines from the early 1990s by
an American punk rock band, Rage Against the Machine, entitled ―Killing in
the Name Of‖.) Someone once pointed out that while Hitler may have
claimed to be a Christian, he imprisoned Christian clergy who opposed the
Nazi regime, and even Christian churches were subject to the terror of the
Nazis.

Thinking along these lines, I realise that while I would like to see organised
religion support animal liberation (e.g., as was the case with Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. and the American civil rights movement) rather than simply
remain an obstacle to social and moral progress (e.g., 19th century southern
churches in the U.S. upheld human slavery on biblical grounds), this support
must come freely and voluntarily (e.g., ―The Liberation of All Life‖ resolution
issued by the World Council of Churches in 1988).

Religious institutions can‘t be coerced into rewriting their holy books or
teaching a convoluted doctrine to suit the whims or the secular political
ideology of a particular demagogue. American liberals argue that principle of
the separation of church and state (upon which the United States was
founded) gives us freedom FROM religious tyranny and theocracy.
Conservatives argue (the other side of the coin!) that one of the reasons
America‘s founding fathers established the separation of church and state
was to prevent government intrusion into religious affairs.

I agree with Reverend Marc Wessels, Executive Director of the International
Network for Religion and Animals (INRA), who said on Earth Day 1990:

―It is a fact that no significant social reform has yet taken place in this
country (the United States) without the voice of the religious community
being heard. The endeavours of the abolition of slavery; the women‘s
suffrage movement; the emergence of the pacifist tradition during World War
I; the struggles to support civil rights, labor unions, and migrant farm
workers; and the anti-nuclear and peace movements have all succeeded in
part because of the power and support of organised religion. Such authority

and energy is required by individual Christians and the institutional church
today if the liberation of animals is to become a reality.‖

Abolitionist: What does the term ‗ahimsa‘ mean to you?

VM: The word ‗ahimsa‘ literally means ―nonviolence,‖ and that‘s how I read
it. According to Nine Beliefs of Hinduism, a tract published by the Himalayan
Academy of San Francisco: ―Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved
and revered,and therefore practice ahimsa, or nonviolence.‖

Brother Wayne Teasdale, a Benedictine monk who passed away a few years
ago, similarly wrote in 1995: ―…it is necessary to elevate nonviolence to a
noble place in our civilisation of loving compassion because nonviolence as
ahimsa in the Hindu tradition, a tradition that seems to possess the most
advanced understanding of nonviolence, IS love! Love is the goal and
ultimate nature of nonviolence as an inner disposition and commitment of
the heart. It is the fulfillment of love and compassion in the social sphere,
that is, in the normal course of relations among people in the matrix of
society.‖

Abolitionist: How does one take the meaning of ahimsa and the notion of
non-violence to get them to work actively for our brother and sisters, the
animals?

VM: Contemporary Hindu spiritual masters have taught that if one wishes to
eat cow‘s flesh (or the flesh of any other animal), one should wait until the
animal dies of natural causes, rather than take the life of a fellow creature.
This indicates that we are vegan and vegetarian out of nonviolence towards
animals, i.e., compassion for animals, rather than because we follow ―dietary
laws.‖

As Brother Wayne Teasdale said, ―nonviolence…IS love!‖ A popular
vegetarian bumper sticker here in the United States reads: ―Vegetarianism is
love in action.‖ The number of animals killed for food here in the United
States is 70 times larger than the number of animals killed in laboratories,
30 times larger than the number killed by hunters and trappers, and 500
times larger than the number of animals killed in animal pounds. So
vegetarianism and veganism would be a good place to start!

Roberta Kalechofsky of Jews for Animal Rights similarly says:

―Merely by ceasing to eat meat
Merely by practicing restraint
We have the power to end a painful industry
―We do not have to bear arms to end this evil,
We do not have to contribute money,
We do not have to sit in jail or go to
meetings or demonstrations or
engage in acts of civil disobedience
―Most often, the act of repairing the world,
of healing mortal wounds,
is left to heroes and tzaddikim (holy people)
Saints and people of unusual discipline
―But here is an action every mortal can
perform–surely it is not too difficult!‖
During the height of Beatlemania, John Lennon was asked by a reporter,
―Does your hair require any special attention?‖ To this, Lennon replied,
―Inattention is the main thing.‖ Similarly, with vegetarianism, we‘re not
asking people to engage in activity–we‘re asking them to REFRAIN from
engaging in an activity. By refraining from eating animals, they are, in effect,
refraining from killing them. By refraining from eating animals, refraining
from using products tested on animals, refraining from patronizing forms of
―entertainment‖ that use animals, refraining from wearing the furs or skins of
animals, etc., we are, in effect, refraining from harming and killing other
animals altogether…just as pro-life Christians who refuse vaccines containing
aborted fetal cells are refraining from taking another human life.

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#8 sb11

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Group: Members
Posts: 35855
Posted 28 May 2008 – 11:49 AM

General Bramwell Booth, son of founder of Salvation Army,
on vegetarian diet practiced by him and his parentsEditor‘s note:
General Booth treated alcoholism with vegetarian diet.. and found that this
treatment severed the meat-alcohol chemical marriage. His success spread
the SA
around the world. )
It is time for the Salvation Army to return to its
original vegetarian offerings.
These passages are taken from a pamphlet written by General Bramwell
Booth, former director General of the Salvation Army, and a son of founder
General William Booth.

―Here are some of my reasons for doing so (becoming vegetarian):
1. Because I have myself tried a vegetarian diet with the greatest benefit
having been for more than 10 years at l time a strict vegetarian.
2. Because according to the Bible God originally intended the food for
humans to be vegetarian. (here he quotes Genesis 1:29 ―Behold I have given
you herb yielding seed. To you it shall be for food.‖)
3. Because a vegetarian diet is favourable to purity, to chastity,and to
perfect control of the appetites and passions which are often a source of
great temptation, especially to the young. (http://www.notmilk.com)
4. Because a vegetarian diet is favourable to robust health and strength.
With very few exceptions, and these only confirmed invalids, I believe the
people would be stronger….
http://www.pcrm.org
5. Because tens of thousands of our poor people (could save
money)…http://www.ivu.org
6. Because a vegetarian diet of wheat, oatmeal and other grains, lentils,
peas, beans, nuts and similr food is more than ten times as economical as a
flesh diet. Meat contains half its weight in water which has to be paid for as
though it were meat. A vegetarian diet, even if we allow cheese, butter and
milk will only cost about a quarter as much as a mixed diet of flesh and
vegetables.
7. Because a vegetarian diet would stop the enormous waste of all kinds of
animal food.
http://www.acorn.net/fruitarian
8. Because a vegetarian diet is a great protection against our drinking
(this belief of General Booth has been upheld by modern biochemistry
research about the relationship of meat and alcohol)….
9. Because a vegetarian diet is favorable to industry and hard work…
10. Because it is proved that life, health, and happiness are all favoroued by

a vegetarian diet.**
11. I favour a vegetarian diet because the digestive organs of humans are
not well adapted to the use of flesh….
12. Because it is very difficult.. especially in hot weather and warm
climates to keep flesh food sweet long enough to cool and eat it and
a great deal of meat is eaten after it has begun to decay…
13. Because a great deal of the flesh meat which is supplied for human food
is already diseased, and because it is nearly impossible to be sure than any
flesh is quite free from the germs of disease. Much
common meat, which is often that of old animals, is well known to be sold to
the butchers because the animals are sick, or
unhealthy.http://www.egroups.c…ages/kyvegans/9
And the best meat is nearly always the flesh meat of young animals who are
fattened and killed before the germs of many diseases have had time to
develop so as to show themselves. So that many animals re killed, which
though believed to be healthy, are really diseased.
This is especially the case with calves for veal, young bullocks for beef and
with lambs and young pigs.
14. Because I believe that the great increase in consumption and cancer
during the last hundred years has been caused by the great increase in the
use of animal food, and that a strict vegetarian
diet would greatly help to ward off these most terrible and ‗incurable‘
diseases.
15. Because I believe that a flesh diet brings on many very painful diseases,
which though not perhaps immediately dangerous to life cause much
suffering and loss. I mean such complaints as eczema, constipation, piles,
worms, dysentery, severe heaches and the like. A vegetarian would do much
to relieve if not cure them.
16 Because of the awful cruelty and terror to which tens of thousands (now
billions)of animals killed for human food are subjected in
traveling long distance by ship and rail and road to the slaughterhouses of
the world. God disapproves of all cruelty whether to man or beast.
17.Because of the terrible cruelties practised for killing animals in many
slaughter houses. The whole busines of killing is cruel..even when it is done
with care, and we know that in the case of millions of creatures it is done
with very little care. Ten thousand pigs are
killed for food every hour in Europe alone. (Now Oscar Mayer kills 1100 pigs
an hour at their Madison Wisconsin plant.)
18. Because the occupation of slaughtering animals is brutalising to those
who are required to do the work. ―The highest sentiments of humane
men‖ says a certain writer, and I agree with him, ―revolt at the cruelty, the

degrading sights, the distressing cries, the perpetual
bloodshed, and all the attendant horrors which must surround the transit and
slaughter of suffering creatures.‖ *
19. Because a flesh diet is not necessary to hard work. A great part of the
work of the world is done by animals which subsist on vegetable food..
namely, horses, mules, camels, oxen, etc.
I believe this matter is well worthy the serious consideration of Christian
leaders. It has an important bearing not only on their own
health and happiness but upon their influence among the people, as men and
women who are free from the bondage of that selfish gratification which so
often afflicts the professed servants of Christ. Let us remember the Apostle‘s
direction: ‗Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory
of God.‘ ―
(published by the LVS 53 Marloes Rd. Kensington London UK W8)
(We copied from an old pamphlet.. to have the full text write or webvisit the
London Vegetarian Society)
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Exalted Member

Group: Members
Posts: 35855
Posted 28 May 2008 – 11:50 AM

**
John Wesley’s vegetarian dietDiet and Health: John Wesley
founder of the Methodists.
http://www.all-creatures.org
(in v 6 of his collected writings, Wesley
is recorded as saying that on the
advice of his physician Dr Cheyne he had
become vegetarian)

The Church, collectively, has been strangely silent on the connection between
our diet and health, and our physical and spiritual well being. The only major
exceptions to this silence, that we are aware of, have been the Seventh Day
Adventist Church and the non-affiliated ministry of George H. Malkmus who
founded Hallelujah Acres .

Very early in John Wesley‘s ministry, he realized that there was a connection
between physical and spiritual health. If the body was sick, then the person‘s
focus would likely be diverted from God. When he came to America in the
mid 1700′s, he continued this teaching and was criticized for it by local
clergy and the Anglican Bishop of London. Following is an excerpt from John
Wesley‘s response to the bishop:

By ‗extraordinary strictnesses and severities,‘ I presume your Lordship
means the abstaining from wine and animal food; which, it is sure,
Christianity does not require. But if you do, I fear your Lordship is not
thoroughly informed of the matter of fact. I began to do this about twelve
years ago, when I had no thought of ‗annoying parochial ministers,‘ or of
‗captivating‘ any ‗people‘ thereby, unless it were the Chicasaw or Choctaw
Indians. But I resumed the use of them both, about two years after, for the
sake of some who thought I made it a point of conscience; telling them, ‗I
will eat flesh while the world standeth‘ rather than ‗make my brother to
offend.‘ Dr. Cheyne advised me to leave them off again, assuring me, ‗Till
you do, you will never be free from fevers.‘ And since I have taken his
advice, I have been free (blessed be God) from all bodily disorders.1

Both John Wesley and his physician knew that the eating of animals and their
by-products (eggs and dairy) was injurious to health. Wesley had first hand
knowledge of this, as do we, today, yet most people don‘t want to hear about
it. Why? Because most people don‘t want to change their lifestyle, so they
resort to trying to silence the prophets of truth, and for a little while they
were successful in doing so with John Wesley. However, when his illnesses
returned, he resumed being a strict vegetarian and he regained his health.
Unfortunately, Wesley was not forceful enough with passing along these
truths about diet and health and, as a result, most of these vegetarian
dietary truths have been lost in the teachings of the Methodist and other
churches among whom he had influence. It is time we reverse this mistake.

We have an obligation to learn about the connections between animal foods
and chronic illnesses, and about a proper vegetarian diet. Likewise, we have
an obligation to speak forth to our congregations about these things, for to
do otherwise promotes violence to their health, to their spiritual well-being,

and to their personal finances. Personally, we never found out about these
thing in the church. Our education about diet and health came from our own
experience and from people and organizations outside the church.

Poor health can be a tremendous drain on personal finances, and when
people worry about these things it has an injurious effect on their physical
well-being, so that their health is further deteriorated. Thus, our silence on
the advantages of a vegetarian (vegan) diet really does violence to people‘s
health, finances, and well-being.

Jesus is often referred to as the ―Great Physician‖. It is interesting to note
that God‘s original intent was for us and our fellow creatures to eat only plant
foods (Genesis 1:29-30). The diet of good health and healing was set in
motion from the very beginning for all who would receive it.

We have an obligation to learn and speak out.

1. Letter to the Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London, LONDON, June 11, 1747, in
The Letters of John Wesley Edited by John Telford — London: Epworth Press,
1931. Available online: http://wesley.nnu.edu/Letters/1747.htmas part
of http://wesley.nnu.edu/Letters/
The intent of this series is to wake up and encourage the Church to greater
works of love and compassion (John 14:12). It is not to condemn the
Church, in general, or any individual, any more than Jesus condemned the
woman caught in adultery. Jesus said to her, ―…go your way. From now on
sin no more.‖ (John 8:11) And this is our message to the Church: Recognize
our sins of the past and go forth seeking to be perfect as our heavenly Father
is perfect (Matthew 5:48), correcting the sins of the past, for that is the only
way we can truly show the world that we love the Lord our God with all our
heart, soul, might, and mind, including the whole of creation, which includes
our neighbors whom we are to love as ourselves.

Your questions and comments are welcome flh@all-creatures.org

Ellen G. White 1827-1915
Founder of the Seventh Day Adventists
http://www.adventist.org
http://members.tripo…hite_Quotes.htm
(Prophet Ellen White whose Adventist church is involved in worldwide vegan
food and other relief, prophesied that in the 20th
Century dairy products would be so full of poison that they like
meat and fish should be avoided)

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