An Ethic, Not a Religion
Like pacifists and/or pro-lifers, vegetarianism, in itself, is merely an
ethic, not a religion. Like the pro-life ethic, vegetarianism has attracted
some of the greatest figures in history: Leonardo Da Vinci, Count Leo
Tolstoy, Mohandas Gandhi, George Bernard Shaw, Percy Shelley, Susan B.
Anthony, Rosa Parks, etc. Like the pro-life ethic, vegetarianism has served
as the basis for entire religious traditions. Buddhism, Jainism,
Pythagoreanism, and possibly early Christianity all immediately come to
mind.
Early church fathers like Tertullian, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, St.
Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, and others were vegetarian, and many
of them wrote extensively on the subject. It's possible Christianity began
as a vegetarian religion and was gradually corrupted over the centuries,
beginning, perhaps, with the "apostle" Paul. Over 150 canonized Christian
saints were vegetarian and their lives and teachings have been well
documented. Protestant reformers like John Wesley (founder of the Methodist
church), Ellen White (founder of the Seventh Day Adventist church), and
General William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army) were vegetarian, as
were Quaker poets, pacifists, and abolitionists like Joshua Evans. The moral
status animals continues to be debated within Christianity to this day, as
evidenced by the writings of Karl Barth and Dr. Albert Schweitzer, as well
as current trends in animal liberation theology: Reverend Marc Wessels,
Reverend Andrew Linzey, Reverend Annika Spalde, Reverend Frank Hoffman, the
late Reverend Janet Regina Hyland, Dr. Stephen Webb, Baptist theologian Dr.
Richard Alan Young, Dr. Charles Camosy, Rick Dunkerly of Christ Lutheran
Church, etc.
When I was doing research on religion and animal rights, I was pleasantly
surprised by the volumes of information on Christian vegetarianism. Rose
Evans (1928 - 2015), editor and publisher of Harmony: Voices for a Just
Future, a "consistent-ethic" periodical on the religious left, said there
are more Christian vegetarians than Jewish vegetarians. Yet some people
still react to the idea of Christian vegetarianism as if it were an
oxymoron.
Would it be unusual for a Christian to teach compassion for animals to the
point of vegetarianism? Some of the most distinguished figures in the
history of Christianity were vegetarian. "Well, they were wrong," said my
friend Tim Parks, who spent a number of years in China as a Protestant
missionary. Someone else similarly commented, "They were some of the most
unusual figures in Christianity." How do we know if they were wrong or if
their views were unusual? We have no way of knowing unless these Christians,
the long history of animal advocacy, concern for animals, and vegetarianism
in Christianity, etc. are given a fair hearing. Christian vegetarians
throughout history and Christian vegans today may be a minority, but as
pastor Rick Warren says, "A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't
become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a
majority."
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