Every year people, above all Christians, remember at Christmastime the
birth of Jesus from Nazareth. Many of them gather with their families
rejoicing over Jesus’ birth. Christmas tables and Christmas trees are
weakening under the load of presents and good food and many people have
meat for their Christmas dinner and many of them wish each other Merry
Christmas. But is Christmastime merry and happy for animals, too?
Regretfully it is not so.
For millions and millions of animals is Christmas, similar as Easter, a
time of immense suffering. Right on this occasion even multiplied number
of innocent living creatures is being slaughtered, especially by
Christians, who afterwards consume them as food. They kill them although
they know the fifth commandment: You shall not kill. It is very clear. It
states: You shall not kill and not: You shall not kill humans, which makes
it very clear that it refers to animals too. Feasting of ones causes
suffering and dying to the others.
Despite of the clearness of the mentioned commandment The Roman
Catholic Church (RCC) in its catechism expressly permits and supports
slaughter of animals for food. Animals, which are according to the Church
itself, created by God, are sacrificed on the altar of pleasure and the
Church gets its members and other people to destroy God’s creatures. The
RCC is even of opinion, that it is human’s duty to consume meat. This can
be derived from the fact, that as early as in 6th century AD the Church
has excommunicated vegetarians and thus sent them to hell, where they
would, according to the doctrine of the Church, suffer everlasting
torment. Isn’t it an absurd condemning to everlasting torment those who
save lives of animals with their vegetarianism and act ethically towards
animals in this respect? Those but who torture and kill animals shall be
rewarded with heaven.
Fortunately this is just the doctrine of the RCC. However in the
reality things work differently. As you sow so you shall reap.
The Church supports and permits stockbreeding. It’s been doing it all
along its existence. Thus raises a question what can be the consequences
of this support. It is well known by today that stockbreeding is one of
the main culprits for the environmental pollution. The RCC therefore
supports the environmental pollution. It is also well know that enormous
amounts of greenhouse gases are released from the livestock industry and
its share of greenhouse gas emissions is with 18% even higher then that of
the entire world transportation.
Greenhouse gases cause the greenhouse effect. The RCC therefore
supports the greenhouse effect. The consequences of the greenhouse effect
are more frequent occurrence of extreme nature phenomena such as floods,
hurricanes, droughts and others. The RCC therefore supports such
phenomena. The consequences of the greenhouse gas emissions have already
been catastrophic for many, but referring to the scientists’ accounts the
prognoses are even worse for the future. There are further negative
consequences of the Church’s support to the stockbreeding. It is well
known that meat is a risk factor for many civilisation diseases and that a
human can obtain everything he needs for his life from vegetal food. These
diseases are in progress and more and more people are suffering and dying
because of them. The Church’s support to livestock industry is therefore a
support to the diseases that ride over the mankind. By doing so, the RCC
supports suffering and dying of all those who fall sick because of meat
consumption instead of protecting and telling them the truth about the
meat.
Stockbreeding is the main cause for hunger in the third world, since
food is sold as a fodder for animals instead for humans. Livestock of the
rich devours food of the poor. Every day more then 100.000 children die
due to hunger. It wouldn’t happen, if there was no stockbreeding. And
there would be no stockbreeding, if the Church carried out the commandment
You shall not kill and apply it to animals.
Of course humans are not the main victim of the Church’s support to
livestock. By all means these are animals. 45 milliards of animals are
slaughtered for human’s food every year. In the entire history of the RCC
several thousands of animals have been killed for the food of humans.
Streams of blood of innocent living creatures have flowed and still flow.
Milliards and milliards of animals suffer from unimaginable torment. The
Church bears the greatest guilt for massacre of animals, which today takes
place in unimaginable extent and consecutively it is responsible for the
climate change.
Perhaps one would wonder how the Church can be the leading culprit for
the immense suffering in slaughter of animals. The answer is very simple.
For centuries and millennia the Church was the leading social power which
influenced and directed social development with its doctrine and actions.
The doctrine of the Church has permitted consumption of meat from its very
beginning. If the fifth commandment You shall not kill would have been
applied to animals as well, there would be no slaughter of animals. There
would be no stockbreeding, no hunting and no other forms of abuse and
killing of animals.
Development of the society would take another course and humans would
be vegans. So would be animals. Very likely there would be no present
climate change: no greenhouse effect, no catastrophic floods, no droughts,
hurricanes and similar. There would be no water or food shortage, no
climate changes. The Church is responsible for climate changes due to its
millennial support to stockbreeding, but it also bears the main guilt, due
to its crucial social role, for the climate collapse that is in opinion of
many yet to come.
Vlado Began,
The society for the rights and liberation of animals, Slovenija
