Christian vegetarianism 1/5 by Pater John Dear, SJ

http://www.jesusveg.com
http://www.fatherjohndear.org/articles/become_a_vegetarian.html
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Catholic-Prayers-For-Animals/166939993345454
Christian vegetarianism 1/5 by Pater John Dear, SJ
Become a Vegetarian!

By John Dear

In Fort Lauderdale last week to speak at the National Convention of Unitarian Universalists, I met my old friend Bruce Friedrich, with whom I spent eight memorable months in a tiny jail cell, along with Philip Berrigan, for our 1993 Plowshares disarmament action. A former Catholic Worker, Bruce is now one of the leaders of PETA, "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals." And he gave a brilliant workshop on the importance of becoming a vegetarian, something I urge everyone to consider.

I became a vegetarian with a few other Jesuit novices shortly after I entered the Jesuits in 1982 and later wrote a pamphlet for PETA, Christianity and Vegetarianism. I based my decision solely on Francis Moore Lappe's classic work, Diet for a Small Planet, a book that I think everyone should read.

In it, Lappe, the great advocate for the hungry, makes an unassailable case that vegetarianism is the best way to eliminate world hunger and to sustain the environment.

At first glance, we wonder how that could be. But it's undisputable. A hundred million tons of grain go yearly for biofuel--a morally questionable use of foodstuffs. But more than seven times that much--some 760 million tons according to the United Nations--go into the bellies of farmed animals, this to fatten them up so that sirloin, hamburgers and pork roast grace the tables of First-World people. It boils down to this. Over 70% of U.S. grain and 80% of corn is fed to farm animals rather than people.

Conscience dictates that the grain should stay where it is grown, from South America to Africa. And it should be fed to the local malnourished poor, not to the chickens destined for our KFC buckets. The environmental think-tank, the WorldWatch institute, sums it up: "Continued growth in meat output is dependent on feeding grain to animals, creating competition for grain between affluent meat eaters and the world's poor."

Meanwhile, eating meat causes almost 40 percent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, and planes in the world combined. (The world's 1.3 billion cattle release tons of methane into the atmosphere, and hundreds of millions of CO2 are released by burning forests due to dry conditions as in California or due to purposeful burns to create cow pastures in Latin America.)

And global warming isn't the only environmental issue. Almost forty years ago, Lappe spelled out the environmental consequences of eating meat in stark relief. But more recently, her analysis received some high-power validation. The United Nations recently published "Livestock's Long Shadow." It concludes that eating meat is "one of the most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." And it insists that the meat industry "should be a major policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity."

Much of our potable water and much of our fossil fuel supply is wasted on rearing chickens, pigs, and other animals for humans to eat. And over 50% of forests worldwide have been cleared to raise or feed livestock for meat-eating. (A recent protest in Brazil denounced "Kentucky Fried Chicken" for clearing thousands of acres of untouched Amazon rain forest for chicken feed.)

As a Christian, I became a vegetarian because of the Gospel mandate of Matthew 25, "Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me"--because I do not want my appetites to contribute to the ongoing oppression of the world's starving masses. As a Catholic and Jesuit, I want somehow to side with the poor and hungry....

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[Citadellion]

If I would choose my eating habits out of logic I would definately be a vegetarian. Most of my friends are vegetarian so I tried almost all vegetarian food that exists, but it simply is not enough. My stomach screams for meat, and there is this natural feeling, and in a way honesty, about eating it. It's hard for us creatures that have a consciousness but still have all the instincts and urges of an animal.

[CPFAnimals]

@Citadellion well, it takes time to get used to a new kin of food. let it take time. pray to Jesus and he will guide you!

[3finker]

Mohammed; He who is kind to animals, is kind to himself.

[NixonisLord]

 "The life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being" is a morally imbecile statement. Only someone whose "poor" lifestyle, like Gandhi's, which actually cost more than that of many actually poor people, could have the isolation from real life to allow him to make such stupid statements.

[NixonisLord]

And I should take dietary advice from a mythical zombie-why? How on earth can anyone preach this with a straight (please excuse the expression) face?

[NixonisLord]

Is it just me or does this guy come across as not exactly a fan of the ladies?

[NixonisLord]

And millions of years of higher primate evolution? If we're not "designed to eat meat", why don't the Inuit starve to death, living as they do on an over 90% meat and fish diet?

[xxFairestxx]

@xxFairestxx Omnivorous* pardon me.

[xxFairestxx]

@NixonisLord Wrong, sorry. Research the digestic tract of carnivores/omnivores. Our digestive tract is that of a herbavore, strictly. Our mouths are proven to not be omnivoris. Can we eat meat? Yeah sure. Doesnt mean we are meant to. Look at the teeth of omnivores. We don't have them lol...you've been lied to by the profit hungry dairy and meat industry.

[xxFairestxx]

@AdoublesLdouble In the bible, it does not say even once that Christ consumed meat. Never, not once. It says He called for sacrifice of the lamb.  That's it. Never did he EAT it, and also..even if he did, it was not of the way we do it now. It is satanic the way they die. I'm a vegetarian body builder and mixed martial arts fighter. You can do it, it's easy.

[AdoublesLdouble]

Jesus was a meat eater, and if meat is good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me

[oooSierra]

@NixonisLord -- I agree with all you said here. Not really sure why you replied as you did to me, but thanks for the comment.