Laura Hobgood-Oster makes we wonder:
In the U.S., where approximately 75 percent of adults identify as Christian, the lives of many animals are miserable and short. According to statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2010 almost 10 billion animals were killed for food in the U.S. alone. That is the equivalent of almost thirty animals per person. Thirty animals per person! The vast majority of these animals live in cramped, filthy conditions. They are forcibly removed from their mothers, who are treated as breeding machines not as living, breathing beings. In the Bible God is compared to a mother hen who protects her young under her wings. In the U.S. a mother hen is kept in a battery breeding cage, she is never allowed to protect herself or her young.
Several years ago I was honored to be part of a documentary produced by the Humane Society of the United States entitled “Eating Mercifully.” We examined the history of Christianity and asked how beliefs intersect with practices of eating. Christianity, which not only focuses on justice for humans but also has a rich tradition of thoughtful eating, is no longer living up to its own calls for compassion. Numerous saints chose diets that caused the least amount of pain and suffering to others. Fridays were traditionally a day of fasting or, at the very least, of not eating meat. Christians seem to have forgotten that what we eat is a reflection of what we believe.
The basic question must be, Can you eat mercifully and eat meat?
Laurie, by the way, was the one who got us our dog Jazz, here ignoring MJ:
I don’t think we can.
..we are only admonished to abstain from meat that was previously offered to Idols..otherwise all else is acceptable UNLESS it causes a brother/sister greif..in which case then we are to take the high road so to speak..this might be very difficult for me to do..it requires great humility and solid character which..as a rule..i dont possess…so for now i won’t eat meat in front of you.. but i will secretly wish for the day that you are shown that “its not all about you” ..:)
But, ummm, Mike… it reeeeeaaaalllly is all about me. The sooner everyone realizes this, the better.
Production of food and other products, as well as scientific and medical research, involves great cruelty to animals and other creatures. I think recognition of this leads many of us to feel that such cruelty conflicts with our theology.
As we know, if we believe evolution, the horrific food chain is part of the process through which species evolved. Our huge human population eats a lot and our massive food needs cannot be supported without inflicting harm to other creatures and the planet itself. Even production of plants hurts creatures and the planet. Our huge human population jeopardizes our own survival as well.
I think if the world human population were small like it was for most of the time we have been in existence as a species, then we would not threaten the rest of the species and the planet as we do. In that case, perhaps it would not be cruel, or less cruel, to hunt and kill animals for food (rather than the relatively more cruel way we produce animals for food today.) But I am not sure. I wish the lion could lie down with the lamb.
The awareness of our intimate link with all creatures and the planet makes it hard, for many us, to be cruel to any creature, whether or not we are religious.
..this goes hand in hand with your observations Ken ..its rather disturbing:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY&feature=BFa&list=WLCCCEC07CA452A386&index=1
Mike, yes, thanks, interesting and disturbing video.