Secular and Nonsectarian
In response to my article "Democrats Support Animal Issues" Mike S. of
Santa Clara County Activists for Animals (SCCAA), wrote:
"Movement organizations recognize that it is in our interest to not formally
align, as an organization, with a particular political party.
"Animal protection caucuses in state legislatures strive to enlist members
from both parties. Doing so helps efforts to get pro-animal legislation
enacted. Also, it helps efforts to grow public support for animal causes
among all parts of the political spectrum."
--
I agree with Mike that animal rights should not be solely aligned with a
particular political party. Neither should they be tied to a particular
religion.
As I told Dr. Richard Schwartz (author, Judaism and Vegetarianism) via email
in 1997: arguing as some Christians do that animal rights and vegetarianism
are solely "Jewish" concerns is like saying, "It's only wrong to own a slave
if you're a Quaker."
No. Suffering and injustice concern us all. Like the abolition of slavery or
the emancipation of women, animal rights and vegetarianism are moral
absolutes and apply to everyone, including atheists and agnostics.
Richard agreed with me that churches should have animal issues at the top of
their agenda as well.
Adolf Hitler thought Albert Einstein's scientific discoveries were mere
"Jewish science" and thus not applicable to gentiles. This is the mentality
of meat-eating Christians towards vegetarianism, which they regard as a
sectarian (like circumcision) dietary restriction (like "keeping kosher"),
rather than as a universal ethic for all mankind (like abstaining from
cannibalism).
Meat-eating Christians relegating animal rights and vegetarianism solely to
Judaism are thus as bigoted as Hitler.
The sad irony here is a lot of liberals see abortion as sectarian, too! They
dismiss it as a "Catholic issue" or a conservative Christian issue, or say
if you're not born again, you don't have to be pro-life.
If vegetarianism were solely about "fit" or following a peculiar set of
"dietary laws" why would pro-lifers be offended by pro-choice vegetarians
and vegans?
They're offended because THEY KNOW vegetarianism involves the animals' right
to life, and thus these pro-choicers appear to value animal life over human
life under some circumstances.
And issues like animal experimentation, circuses, and fur have nothing to do
with diet, eating, nor food, but DO involve the animals' right to life.
Sometimes being lighthearted gets the point across to Christians that
vegetarianism is not about "dietary laws" but about the animals' right to
life: like Steve Martin in the '70s asking, "How many polyesters did you
have to kill to make that suit?"
Leonardo Da Vinci, Count Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas Gandhi, George Bernard Shaw,
Percy Shelley, Susan B. Anthony, etc. were all vegetarian, and none of them
were Jewish.
At the end of 2007, shortly before moving to Israel, Pete Cohon of Veggie
Jews in San Francisco said to me, "PETA's not Jewish."
When I told Jim Frey of Berkeley Pro-Life that animal issues are secular and
nonsectarian and thus applicable to *everyone* including atheists and
agnostics, he said, "Well, just like with abortion."
Go on to: Secularism Means Religious Freedom
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