Let's get Ethical Veganism recognised as an official religion

[Guest guest]

Please pass this on:

 

 

May the forces of veganism be with you:

 

As some of you may know there is a census coming around on April the

29th.

For those who don't know, a census is where the government gets your

details like number of people in the house, religion, etc.

 

If there are enough people in the country, about 10 000, who put down

the same religion, it becomes a fully recognised and legal religion.

It is for this reason that it has been suggested that anyone who is

an Ethical Vegan and who does not have a dominant other religion put

down " Ethical Vegan " as their religion.

Don't worry, you can't get into any trouble. You're just helping to

get Ethical Veganism recognised as it should be (and possibly mess

with the government in a small way).

 

The definition of religion we're using here is #4:

 

1a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power

or powers regarded as creator and governor of the

universe.

1b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded

in such belief and worship.

2. The life or condition of a person in a religious

order.

3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on

the teachings of a spiritual leader.

4. A cause, a principle, or an activity pursued with

zeal or conscientious devotion.

 

 

So send this on to all your ethical vegan friends and tell them to

put down " Ethical Vegan " as

their religion. Yes, this is a serious ethical and legal issue, but

it will also **** with the government. So if not because you love

and respect life, then just to annoy the government....and annoying

people is very important...

 

____

May the vegan forces be with us on April 29th

[Guest guest]

I understood that this law (10,000 people = religion) only applied to

somewhere like New Zealand, and not the UK.

 

However, if enough people did put this down, it would probably still

get noticed. So why not

 

(PS - the original idea was to get Jedi officially recognised, but

Ethical Vegan is a much better cause).

 

SpaceVegan

" we're all space travellers - our ships called Earth "

 

 

 

 

vegan-network, " Lesley Dove " <100706.3632@c...> wrote:

>

> Please pass this on:

>

>

> May the forces of veganism be with you:

>

> As some of you may know there is a census coming around on April

the

> 29th.

> For those who don't know, a census is where the government gets

your

> details like number of people in the house, religion, etc.

>

> If there are enough people in the country, about 10 000, who put

down

> the same religion, it becomes a fully recognised and legal

religion.

> It is for this reason that it has been suggested that anyone who is

> an Ethical Vegan and who does not have a dominant other religion

put

> down " Ethical Vegan " as their religion.

> Don't worry, you can't get into any trouble. You're just helping to

> get Ethical Veganism recognised as it should be (and possibly mess

> with the government in a small way).

>

> The definition of religion we're using here is #4:

>

> 1a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power

> or powers regarded as creator and governor of the

> universe.

> 1b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded

> in such belief and worship.

> 2. The life or condition of a person in a religious

> order.

> 3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on

> the teachings of a spiritual leader.

> 4. A cause, a principle, or an activity pursued with

> zeal or conscientious devotion.

>

>

> So send this on to all your ethical vegan friends and tell them to

> put down " Ethical Vegan " as

> their religion. Yes, this is a serious ethical and legal issue, but

> it will also **** with the government. So if not because you love

> and respect life, then just to annoy the government....and annoying

> people is very important...

>

> ____

> May the vegan forces be with us on April 29th

[Guest guest]

I know - I was sent that Jedi thing and the idea was sparked - frighteningly enough I think it has more chance of reaching the 10 000 number than us...but you never know. It could spark some debate in the press if enough of us put ethical vegan - maybe get some people thinking (ever optimistic). I have problems with the word 'religion' being used in this context too - but this could promote the vegan cause and help with some of the discrimination I have been hearing of lately.

 

I can see you now Mr. Big - no longer Mr. but Sai Baga! (Are you going to wear robes?)

 

Lucy

[Guest guest]

I'm intending to send a copy of the email I am sending round to other

vegans, also to the national press, in the hope of some press

attention for veganism and to spark a national debate on its status!

Depends how desperate the press are for a story I suppose as to

whether they will be interested.

I don't think the Vegan Society really do enough to get publicity,

but in my experience it is really very easy to get publicity in local

papers, although not so easy nationally for an individual like me,

but I will be trying.

 

Lesley

 

 

vegan-network, " Lucy Burnett " <veganfamily@v...> wrote:

> I know - I was sent that Jedi thing and the idea was sparked -

frighteningly enough I think it has more chance of reaching the 10

000 number than us...but you never know. It could spark some debate

in the press if enough of us put ethical vegan - maybe get some

people thinking (ever optimistic). I have problems with the

word 'religion' being used in this context too - but this could

promote the vegan cause and help with some of the discrimination I

have been hearing of lately.

>

> I can see you now Mr. Big - no longer Mr. but Sai Baga! (Are you

going to wear robes?)

>

> Lucy

[Guest guest]

> " Lesley Dove " <100706.3632

>Tue, 10 Apr 2001 14:27:16 -0000

> Re: Let's get " Ethical Veganism " recognised as an

official religion

>

>I'm intending to send a copy of the email I am sending round to other

>vegans, also to the national press, in the hope of some press

>attention for veganism and to spark a national debate on its status!

 

Dear Lesley et al.,

 

In last year's Hansard for the UK Parliament we find one of the

reasons given for including the Religion question was to:

 

" support resource allocation and facilitate the

provision of services, particularly those relating

to health, education and welfare " .

 

Given this stated purpose it is clearly appropriate for people to

provide them with information on the numbers and distribution of

vegans.

 

I wrote to the General Register Office (who deal with the Scottish

census) and the Office for National Statistics (their equivalent for

England and Wales), regarding their definition of Religion. The

answers suggest a different emphasis either side of the Scottish

border.

 

The National Statistics office confirm the resources/services

purpose:

 

" The information from this question will be used to:

 

monitor equal opportunities and race relations policies;

support the planning of services;

inform the allocation of resources.

 

" In conjunction with data on ethnic group and

country of birth it will enable central and local

government, commercial and charitable

organisations, to gain a better understanding of

the needs of minority communities. Responses will

also help measure the impact of Government

policies on social exclusion, community care, and

health inequalities. "

 

They further state:

 

" The Office for National Statistics does not

define what is a religion, nor what a person can

write in response to the religion question. "

 

" We will record whatever a person chooses to

describe as their religious belief in response to

this voluntary question. "

 

Whether '(Ethical) Vegan' is a religion or not is therefore

something of a red herring. (I do not consider it a religion and

would argue against it being thought of as such.) The stated

purpose centres around health, education, welfare -- all of which

are vegan issues.

 

Here in Scotland we are being asked slightly different questions:

 

" What religion, religious denomination or body do

you belong to?

None

Church of Scotland

Roman Catholic

Other Christian, please write in

Buddhist

Hindu

Jewish

Muslim

Sikh

Another Religion, please write in "

 

And the matching question (with the same options):

 

" What religion, religious denomination or body were

you brought up in? "

 

In their reply the General Register Office wrote:

 

" The questions on religion are expressed broadly in

terms of 'religion, religious denomination or

body'.

 

" The answer categories concentrate on the two main

requirements identified by the Scottish

Parliament: to provide richer information on

ethnic minorities from South Asia, and to provide

information on the Catholic community for

comparison with the Scottish population as a

whole.

 

" There are two spaces for formfillers to write in

answers if none of the other answer categories is

suitable.

 

" So, with the broadly expressed questions and the

write-in answers, it is hoped that it will be

possible for an answer to be entered for everyone

- we will simply record whatever a person chooses

to describe as their religious belief in response

to the question. "

 

They further state that the standard reports are anticipated to

be based only on the 10 tick box options:

 

" All written-in information will be recorded as

one of the two 'other' categories. "

 

However they do add:

 

" There is the possibility of coding the various

written-in answers at a later stage should this be

required and funded. "

 

In England and Wales the stated purpose of the census question is

not necessarily about Religion at all, but about provision of

resources and services. The question is there to glean information

about the distribution of vegans; maybe they can be persuaded to ask

more directly in 2011? The intended purpose of the question in

Scotland seems less obvious.

 

Paul

--

Paul Philbrow

pp

http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~pp