Perspectives on Respect for Animals & Veganism

[Guest guest]

I have cross posted two articles from today's Christian Vegetarian Association e-newsletter. The first article is a statement made at the recent Animal Compassion Press Conference in D.C.. Whether one is religious or not, it is important to be able to discuss the reasons why the religious should respect and not eat animals. We must be able to counter the "dominion" argument in their own terms if we are to pry them from their adherence to this irrational and false tenant that is not part of Christianity. The second article is news (link) of an interesting vegetarian conference in Europe. 1. Statement of Rev. Michael Bruner at the Religious Proclamation for Animal Compassion press conference 11/7/07 California is burning, Mexico is drowning, and sub-Saharan Africa is dying of thirst. In the wider context of these disasters, how we treat animals seems to be a disproportionately small concern. But why is C alifornia burning, and Mexico drowning, and Africa parched? We talk about this country's addiction to

oil. It's nothing compared to our addiction to meat. A recent U.N. report published earlier this year found that the methane produced from the flatulence of cows causes more damage to the atmosphere than all the exhaust from trains, planes, and automobiles combined (try quoting that in your headlines tomorrow). Turns out, how we treat animals is a lynch pin to so many other pressing issues of the day, particularly when it comes to the environment. Quite literally, animals are the environment, so their fate is our own, and if we can't muster enough character and compassion to look after their welfare, we, too, will go the way of kiwi, and soon the polar bear, and perhaps already the honeybee. When posterity looks back at this point in history,

they'll say one thing: that instead of simply carrying on with business as usual, we radically re-altered our priorities and reassessed our relationship to the planet. I'm confident they'll say this because, if we simply carry on with business as usual, there will be no posterity. Which means that right now, in this room, we have a chance, not simply to change the course of history, but to actually keep it going. I was born and raised in the outback of the Philippines to missionary parents, right on the edge of a jungle and near a farm, which means I grew up in very close proximity to animals of all kinds - our own pets: dogs, cats, and birds; the farm animals: cows, goats, pigs, chickens; and the wild native animals: snakes, bayawaks, monkeys, and birds of every kind. I had a very holistic view of animals and from a young age felt quite an affinity to them... well, to some of them, at least. I grew up, in other words, understanding that they were, quite simply, an indispensable part of the fabric of life. And now here I am, some thirty years later, essentially making the same claim. But now, according to the stereotype, as an Evangelical C hristian I'm supposed to care about animals primarily for how they taste, and not, as I did when I was child, for who they are. But who says? C ertainly not Scripture. C ertainly not Jesus. And certainly not this Proclamation.

As a minister in the mainline evangelical tradition, I have a very compelling reason to treat animals with compassion: because they are a part of God's creation, and dominion is not domination. The center of C hrist's commands is, in fact, a radical call to compassion. Indeed, to love. But there's no place here for tawdry theological sentimentalism. Leave my dog or cat to its own devices and it will kill for meat. But an animal takes only what it needs, and that's the difference between them and us. We don't stop at need. We want and want and want, and as a result, we're killing our planet out of sheer greed. So at the end of the day, this Proclamation, this entire initiative really, is fundamentally about two things: compassion and

restraint, which are really opposite sides of the same coin. So what's the verdict? Are we going drown ourselves in gluttony and greed at the expense of animals and their suffering and, as a result, forfeit not only their future but the future of our children, or will we, in a bold, difficult, even audacious move, restrain our appetites and, for one exalted moment, stay the knife? May God bless the work before us. 2. 38th IVU World Vegetarian Congress Dresden , Germany 100 Years of Food Revolution Sunday July 27 - Sunday August 3, 2008 http://www.ivu.org/congress/2008/article.html

Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Mobile. Try it now.