Veganism is simply about what you eat. As you delve more into what veganism is all about, \t\t\t\tyou find that it embraces a whole host of ideas, all of which are easily incorporated into the \t\t\t\tworld’s major religions and belief structures. Being vegan is about making a decision to live ethically, \t\t\t\tin tune with nature, and by becoming vegan your ecological footprint is greatly reduced.<\/p>\n
We routinely treat farm animals in a way that we would never consider treating pet animals, or animals \t\t\tfrom endangered species, yet farm animals each have their own distinct intelligence and personality. \t\t\tSome animal species, such as pigs, are extremely intelligent – more so than dogs or cats – yet our society has \t\t\tconditioned us to believe that farmed animals are not worth of our consideration, love or respect. \t\t\tThey are described as “units” and “stock” in the farming trade, and are penned, castrated, branded, \t\t\timpregnated, and finally transported and slaughtered in a manner which is both truly horrific and \t\t\tthat does no credit to our own species. In many ways, veganism can be seen as environmentalism put into practice at an everyday level. \t\t\tAs Erik Marcus points out in his insightful book, Vegan: The New Ethics Of Eating, \t\t\tit is clear that while the earth can indeed support six billion people, ultimately \t\t\twe are faced with a finite amount of resources: land, clean water, fresh air. If humans, especially in developed countries, moved towards more vegetable protein diets \t\t\trather than their present diets, which are high in animal protein foods, a substantial \t\t\tamount of grain would become available for direct human consumption. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Animal protein is an extremely inefficient way to produce usable protein. \t\t\tEstimates vary from a feed conversion ratio of 4:1 to 30:1, depending on the \t\t\tprotein source, the methods of livestock rearing in question, and the methods of \t\t\tcrop growth, but it is certain that plant protein is by far the more efficient means of \t\t\tproducing protein for human consumption (Ray Herren, The Science of Animal Agriculture<\/em>, \t\t\tAlbany: Denmar Publishers, 1994, p.76). The ethics of veganism tie in closely with the ethics of most of the world’s major religions, \t\t\tand the practice of veganism is complementary to the teachings of many of the world’s great prophets \t\t\tand religious teachers.<\/strong><\/p>\n “A son of the Buddha shall not eat the flesh of any sentient beings. If he eats their flesh, \t\t\the shall cut off great compassion, as well as the seed of Buddhahood within him.” <\/em> – From the Fan-wang-jing text. <\/strong> Put simply, “Blessed Are The Merciful.”<\/p>\n “Jesus’ message is one of love and compassion, yet there is nothing loving or \t\t\t\tcompassionate about factory farms and slaughterhouses, where billions of animals \t\t\t\tlive miserable lives and die violent, bloody deaths. Jesus mandates kindness, mercy, \t\t\t\tcompassion, and love for all God’s creation.” <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n [SOURCE: Jesus Was A Vegetarian<\/a>] “How can he practice true compassion who eats the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh? \t\t\tGreater than a thousand ghee offerings consumed in sacrificial fires is not to sacrifice \t\t\tand consume any living creature.<\/em> – The Tirukural. <\/strong> “The beautiful religion of Islam has always viewed animals as a special part of \t\t\tGod’s creation. The Qur’an, the Hadith, and the history of Islamic civilization \t\t\toffer many examples of kindness, mercy, and compassion for animals.”<\/em> “There is no difference between the worry of a human mother and an animal mother \t\t\tfor their offspring. A mother’s love does not derive from the intellect but \t\t\tfrom the emotions, in animals just as in humans.” <\/em> “An it Harm None, Do As You Will.” <\/em> Veganism is simply about what you eat. As you delve more into what veganism is all about, you find that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vegan-ethics","category-veganism"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vegananimal.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated”<\/em> – Mahatma Gandhi<\/strong>
\nIf Gandhi was right when he made the above statement, then one really must ask the question – \t\t\tis the Western World civilized? When we have made such travesties of certain species that \t\t\tthey can no longer mate without assistance (turkeys), and their skeletal system can no \t\t\tlonger support the huge amount of muscle and fat weight they have been genetically modified \t\t\tto gain (hens, commonly known as “broilers”), we must ask ourselves – \t\t\tare we moving towards civilization or away from it?
\n“The water that goes into a 1,000 pound steer would float a destroyer” <\/em> – “The Browning of America,” Newsweek, February 22, 1981,
\np.26 \t\t\t(as cited in “Diet For A New America”, John Robbins)<\/strong>
\nThere is no doubt that modern factory farming methods are adept at gaining the \t\t\tgreatest amount of animal-derived produce at the lowest financial cost. \t\t\tWestern societies are producing more animal produce than ever before, \t\t\tand at a cheaper dollar cost than ever before.
\nWhat are the real costs of factory farming? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Environmentalism<\/h3>\n
\nThe fact is, a vegan lifestyle is far less detrimental to the earth’s resources than \t\t\tis the current western meat-centered lifestyle. For example, more than 38 per cent of \t\t\tthe world’s grain goes to feeding livestock (Erik Marcus,Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating<\/em>, p.164) \t\t\t– and, as Marcus points out;<\/p>\n
\nEthically speaking, it is not only wasteful to pursue an animal-centered diet, but detrimental to the environment.<\/p>\nVeganism and Religion<\/h3>\n
Buddhism<\/h4>\n
\nThe Buddha recommended that men should not wear silk, leather boots, furs, \t\t\tor down …and not consume milk, cream, or butter. Only then, he argued, can \t\t\tpeople truly transcend this world. He argued that both physically and mentally \t\t\tone must avoid the bodies and the by-products of beings, by neither wearing \t\t\tthem or eating them. \t\t\t[SOURCE: The Buddhist Diet by Michael Ohlsson]<\/em><\/p>\nChristianity<\/h4>\n
\nThe message of veganism – namely, respect for other creatures, consideration for the planet, \t\t\tthe belief in the sanctity of life – ties in closely with the ethics of Christianity.<\/p>\nHinduism<\/h4>\n
\nAhimsa, the law of non-injury, is the Hindu’s first duty in fulfillment of his \t\t\treligious obligations to God and God’s creation as defined by Vedic scripture. \t\t\tHindu tradition states that all of our actions (including our choice of food) \t\t\thave karmic consequences. By involving oneself in the cycle of inflicting injury, \t\t\tpain and death, even indirectly by eating other creatures, one must in the future \t\t\texperience in equal measure the suffering caused.<\/p>\nIslam<\/h4>\n
\nThanks to Westernized factory-farming methods that are used in many parts of the \t\t\tworld, animals suffer hideously in the industries that kill them to produce meat, \t\t\tmilk, and eggs. These products not only bring pain and suffering to the animals themselves, \t\t\tthey are also implicated in a variety of human diseases, including cancer, heart disease, \t\t\tobesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The intensive production of animals for food \t\t\tis also extremely damaging to the environment.
\n[SOURCE: Islamic Concerns<\/a>] \t\t\tIt is quite clear from the above that veganism is an acceptable way of life for devout Muslims.<\/p>\nJudaism<\/h4>\n
\n– Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides). <\/strong>
\nThe following are excerpts from “Vegetarianism: A Spiritual Imperative” \t\t\tby Richard Schwartz: <\/strong>
\nProverbs 12:10 states, \t\t\t“The righteous person regards the life of his or her animal.” In Judaism, one who \t\t\tis unnecessarily cruel to animals cannot be regarded as a righteous individual.” <\/em>
\nMany great Jewish heroes were chosen because they showed kindness to animals. \t\t\tMoses and King David were considered worthy to be leaders (Exodus Rabbah 2:2<\/strong>).
\nRebecca was judged suitable to be Isaac’s wife because of her kindness in \t\t\tproviding water to the camels of Eliezer, Abraham’s servant. \t\t\tThere are many Torah laws involving compassion to animals. An ox is not \t\t\tto be muzzled when threshing in a field of corn (Deuteronomy 25:4<\/strong>).
\nA farmer should not plow with an ox and an ass together (so that \t\t\tthe weaker animal would not suffer pain in trying to keep up with the stronger one) \t\t\t(Deuteronomy 22:10<\/strong>).
\nAnimals, as well as people, are to be allowed to rest on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:10<\/strong>).
\nThe importance of this verse is indicated by its inclusion in the Ten \t\t\tCommandments and its recitation as part of kiddush (sanctification \t\t\tceremony using wine or grape juice) on Sabbath mornings.<\/p>\nWicca<\/h4>\n
\nAccording to the Wiccan Rede, Wiccans are instructed to harm none. The teaching does not \t\t\tspecify that Wiccans must harm no other human, but that Wiccans must regard all \t\t\tcreatures as worthy of their respect and consideration. In the treatment of animals, \t\t\tWiccans are instructed by the Rede to harm none, and to act in all things according \t\t\tto their conscience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"