The Church of the Holy Vegan? Philadelphia Daily News

[Guest guest]

Should we be exempt from certain things because of our deeply-held vegan

convictions?

 

Karen Dawn <karendawn wrote:

 

" Karen Dawn "

Fri, 8 Aug 2003 08:49:29 -0700

The Church of the Holy Vegan? Philadelphia Daily News.

 

(The Philadelphia Daily News takes letters at: Views )

Philadelphia Daily News

August 8, 2003 Friday

EDITORIAL OPINION; Pg. 17

The Church of the Holy Vegan?

 

By VANCE LEHMKUHL

 

LAST MONTH, a U.S. district judge turned down a request by three vegan

prisoners at Rikers Island in New York to get vegan meals in prison. For

now the three, charged with property damage and trespass at a

demonstration against animal testing, are subsisting on peanut butter,

crackers and potato chips.

 

In turning them down, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin said she did not question

the sincerity of the inmates' religious beliefs, and that raises the

question: Is veganism a religion? More exactly, does it deserve First

Amendment protection similar to other religions under U.S. law?

 

First, it's important to note that although the word " vegan " was coined

only 60 years ago, the basic concept is among humanity's oldest spiritual

traditions. The Hindu principle of " ahimsa " - willful non-violence -

appeared in scriptures a thousand years before Jesus. Two other ancient

religions, Buddhism and Jainism, elevated ahimsa to a central position.

 

It's also worth noting that this belief system is not a mere philosophy -

a way of making sense of the world intellectually - but a way of life

that affects its adherents profoundly.

 

Gandhi, for example, grew up in a Jain-centered area, but did not adopt

the principle of ahimsa until he became an ethical vegetarian. After

that, he frequently referenced ahimsa in religious terms: " Non-violence

is an active force of the highest order, " he said. " It is soul force or

the power of Godhead within us. "

 

We needn't look all the way to East Asia for the religious underpinnings

of veganism, though.

 

The Rikers prisoners, all Jewish, argued that veganism was the purest

articulation of their religious identity.

 

This makes sense when we consider the first mention of food in the Bible,

Genesis 1:29, where God says, " Behold, I have given you every herb

bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in

the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for

meat. "

 

The God of the Hebrews first and foremost wanted mankind to live on

fruits and vegetables. Even Christians are finding links to veganism,

above and beyond Jesus' apparent links to the vegan Essene cult. If

nothing else, Jesus' turn-the-other-cheek, love-thy-enemy ethic is deeply

reminiscent of the precepts of ahimsa.

 

Reminiscence, of course, is not a legal argument: Even if vegans

consistently live in an ethical way, is that enough to qualify as a

religion? Common sense tells us that there should be some kind of deity,

some higher power involved. However, when it comes to First Amendment

protection, the Supreme Court says otherwise.

 

In two cases pertaining to conscientious objectors whose moral stance did

not invoke a supreme being, the court specifically addressed this wider

question: In United States vs. Seeger (1965), Justice Tom Clark wrote for

the majority that " Some believe in a purely personal God, some in a

supernatural deity; others think of religion as a way of life envisioning

as its ultimate goal the day when all men can live together in perfect

understanding and peace. "

 

Clark cited Congress' " long-established policy of not picking and

choosing among religious beliefs. " And in Welsh vs. United States (1970),

the court expanded the C.O. exemption to include " deeply held moral,

ethical, or religious beliefs whether or not the individual calls them

religious. "

 

Vegans, who avoid any and all products of animal exploitation, including

leather, are sometimes mocked for their " inflexibility. " But there's

another, more relevant, term for this: devotion.

 

Not all federal prisons apply the " religious dietary practices " rule

exactly the same; but it's clear that wherever kosher or halal meals are

available, so should be vegan meals for vegans. If our prison system has

any true rehabilitative goal, stopping inmates from pursuing a creed of

non-violence seems ludicrous.

 

Vance Lehmkuhl is the online editor of the Daily News.