Christianity and Veganism
Christianity. Veganism. Two seemingly unrelated words. But pair a meat eating Christian with a vegan Christian and you can get a pretty heated debate going. That's what happened on Friday, except I was outnumbered 2 to 1. I had just met these two guys and we were just talking, doing the whole "getting to know you" phase. I found out they are both very into their religion, and one of their father's actually founded a church in Hastings.
I start talking about myself. "I am a Christian too, I can't wait until summer, I am a vegan, etc." Naturally, when the word vegan comes out of my mouth, the question "Why?!" is the only thing people can muster. So after calmly explaining that the way animals on factory farms are atrociously treated and that meat is not even necessary to eat, they bring out the "Jesus ate meat" defense. I don’t really read the Bible much, but I do know the “Feeding 5000” story, where Jesus ate fish. “Jesus ate meat, so why shouldn’t we?” was my friends’ arguments.
However, my beliefs give me two arguments. First, the reason I don’t read the Bible is that I do not believe it is 100% accurate. It has been through so many hands, how could someone not have messed with it? I strongly believe there were originally more women in the Bible, but through the years they were removed. So I think that the words of the Bible should be taken in skeptically, as there are many things that can be perceived differently by different people. Maybe Jesus didn’t eat the fish, maybe he did. That brings me to my second argument. The reason I am so strong in my beliefs is mainly from the horrible treatment of animals. Animals raised for food do not grow up in nature; they grow up on factory farms. They are not grown naturally; they are manipulated to grow unnaturally. Anything natural is taken away from them. They are not given space to run around and be animals. They are not given fresh air. Even fish grown in factory farms suffer. I highly doubt Jesus would condone that or consume those fish/other animals. Yet that is what the general public does- accepts the horrific, unnatural treatment of the animals as the way it has to be.
Comments
Religion and food presents an interesting set of problems. Christianity and food further complicates the issue. Should Christians keep Kosher? Not eat meat on Fridays (in college I knew non-Catholic, non-religious folks who wouldn't eat meat on Good Friday meanwhile I was a PK and ate whatever the hell I wanted)? You confront two important issues in the discussion: the problem of literal interpretation of scripture and that food is largely a cultural and personal ethical issue. And the next time someone raises the "Jesus ate meat argument" (he likely did at the last supper since there is a meat component to the traditional passover seder plate), and this is particularly effective if they don't drink, point out that Jesus also drank wine on several occasions. It may work or not. 4.5/5
Posted by: r. | April 26, 2009 9:59 PM