Eating Mercifully

For those of you that do not know this I am a vegetarian and have been for over a year, but have never really been a really big meat eater. So often when I decline a dish that contains meat or ask a server at a restaurant to leave out the meat of a entrée, people I am with pick up on that and ask me if I am a vegetarian. My typical response is that I do not like the taste of meat. I usually leave it at that because I really try to be nonchalant about being a vegetarian. My reasons for being a vegetarian is so much more, so if you ever wondered why I am a vegetarian here is a little bit about my reasons for being a vegetarian.


For me when I was younger and was consuming meat I did not really make the connection that I was eating the flesh of a once living thing. The meat that is served does not resemble a once living thing; it is often a break or a slab of meat or whatever. One day I made the realization that when I eat meat I am eating the flesh of an animal that was raised and killed simply for my nutritional wants. In my research on this topic I came across the quote by Leo Tolstoy that illustrates this well: "A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite." This quote really hits the nail on the head; we eat meat out of convenience and entitlement. We some how think that we are owed this right because animals are inferior to us. When it comes down to it we do not need to eat meat to survive. I have been a vegetarian for over a year, and have yet to feel like I am starving to death or am suffering. So often when people find out I am a vegetarian they say “Oh, well how do you get protein?” I get this line so often that I sometimes have to hold back laughter, in all actuality meat is not the only source of protein. I eat nuts, beans, cheese, diary and host of other non-flesh options. The main reason that I am a vegetarian is that killing animals is a violent thing. No matter how the animal’s life is ended it is violent, whether it is a shot to the head, or slitting its throat it is violent. In the last couple years I came to this realization that eating meat is participating in a cycle of violence against animals. Because I am a conditional pacifist I view violence as immoral and that includes violence against animals. Even though I am not the one with the knife or gun, by eating the meat I am feeding into the industry and keeping this violence in place. I came to the conviction that God was calling me to rid my life of all violence, including violence against animals. Because even though animals are not humans, they still deserve to be treated ethically. So often when people find out I am a vegetarian they get kind of defensive and I have often a lot of off handed comments like “you need to eat meat to be healthy”, “well I am not the one killing those animals” or “how can you be healthy?” I find these comments to be kind of offensive because I do not go up to a person eating a super sized meal at McDonalds and make some comment that they are eating unhealthily.
In a Christian context people often bring up Genesis 1:28: “God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Their basic argument is that God gave humans dominion over animals, so essentially we can do with them what we want; i.e. eating them. While I do not disagree with this argument, I have to disagree with its implications. Yes, God did give humans dominion over animals, but I would argue that we need to have stewardship over the earth, including animals. We are called to be stewards of this earth, and frankly as humans we are doing a terrible job at this. We are ravaging the earth’s resources with our mismanagement. I just read an article today that all the coral reefs in the world are going to be extinct because of all the carbon emissions of the world. This is one example of how irresponsible some people are with their “dominion” over the earth. I do acknowledge that are those that do not fit into this category, however, as a broad statement of how we are doing overall we are failing incredibly. We are also failing incredibly on our dominion over animals. Just because I have the right to free speech does not mean that I should go out and burn an American flag just because I have the right. There needs to be some digression involved with our “rights”. This also applies to killing animals for food, just because we have dominion over animals does not mean we can do with them what we want. There are laws in the US that make the mistreatment of animals illegal, specifically in regards to pets. However, this law does not apply to the animals that are raised specifically for human consumption. We have become desensitized to the fact that life is taken just so that you can fill your stomach.
In the last couple of decades the meat industry has become just that; an industry. There has been a significant shift from small scale farmers raising animals for meat, to actual factories where animals are a product. If you are interested in becoming educated on the conditions and what actually happens in these factory farms watch these two clips. The first one has actual footage of the living conditions of the animals that are raised for slaughter. Be warned that this one is fairly graphic and shows blood and the actual death of some animals. This clip was nauseating for me because I realized that these animals were a product that had no rights other than to make money for the owner.

This is the first clip:  http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp
The second clip is less graphic that the previous one and it presents a Christian perspective on eating meat. My pastor, Greg Boyd is interviewed for this documentary on a Christian perspective on humans’ dominion over animals. Basically everything he says about his personal convictions to be a vegetarian I also feel, I feel that God calls me to rid my life of all forms of violence. It is 26 minutes long, but the better part of this documentary is in the second half.
This clip is on the humane society of the United States website, there are also other helpful clips on this site about the ethical treatment of animals if you are interested.http://video.hsus.org/?fr_story=fddfc1d63c358bb2db36b53597ceeb7b724f5771&rf=sitemap

If you do not have the time to watch these clips here is some basic facts about the factory farm industry. Raising animals for meat is a money making business and those that are involved with this on a large scale see it as just that. Animals are a product and there is no thought to treating them in a way that does not cause them harm or pain. Chickens are given hormones that cause their bodies to grow at an increased rate and often time they become so big that their legs are broken trying to hold up their weight. The chickens are kept in close quarters and often times chicken corpses are left with the live chickens. When the chickens are slaughter their legs are put in a machine that shocks them in hopes that they pass out before a machine chops their heads off. In a recent study it was found that 3% of the chickens are not unconscious when their heads are chopped off. Sows are often kept in small cages that do not allow them to turn around; they basically have enough space to go slightly forwards or backwards. When the sow gives birth they are put in slightly bigger cages to that she can nurse her young. After the mother is done nursing she is back into that small cage. Often times these pigs go insane because they are so confined and often gnaw at the bars of the cage trying to get out. Cows are often given hormones also to increase the growth and often times when it is time for the cows to be slaughtered they are not able to walk on their own. On the second clip it shows a fork lift running into a disabled cow to push it towards to slaughter house. Unfortunately the treatment of diary cows is no better. The mother cows are continually pregnant so that they will continue to produce milk. The cows are milked about four times a day and they are given injections to make their udders bigger so that they will produce more milk. When the cow is no longer producing milk they meet their end in the slaughter house. By telling you about the conditions that these animals are in does not mean that I am advocating that everyone should be vegetarians. By purchasing free range, organic, or hormone free meat this means that the animals were not kept in confined cages and given injections. However, just because the package says organic or hormone free does not mean it did not come from a factory farm. The best option is to buy from local farmers that are committed to treating the animals in a way that does not cause them harm. My family knows a local farmer that allows his cows to feed in the fields and does not use hormones, and he kills them in an ethical way that does not cause the animal pain. This alternative means that you are not supporting the unethical treatment of animals. I am not advocating for animal rights, however I am advocating a stance of mercy towards animals. So often we get caught up in a power-over mentality and view animals as a product. By showing mercy to these animals for me means treating them in a way that does not harm them or cause them pain, and that the ending of their live is done in the most painless way possible.
This note is getting long so I will end it here, but there is a lot of research done about how the meat industry is part of the cause of global warming and that being a vegetarian is healthier than eating meat. If you want the info on these two things email me, and I will send you a couple sites that explain this.
In the end I value all life as deserving mercy and ethical treatment. The fact that I am a vegetarian, pro-life and a conditional pacifist goes along with this conviction.
I do not want you to feel guilty for eating meat; my hope is that you become educated on how animals are treated.

Feel free to post comments or even email me with questions.