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Wonderful!! Please pass it on to everyone, for
the people, and animals and the Earth.
Published on
Thursday, July 10, 2008 by the National Catholic Reporter
The Only Diet for a Peacemaker Is a Vegetarian Diet, by John Dear
In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last week to speak at the National Convention
of UnitarianUniversalists, I met my old friend Bruce Friedrich. We spent eight
memorable months together in a tiny jail cell, along with Philip Berrigan, for
our 1993 Plowshares disarmament action. A former Catholic Worker, Bruce is now
one of the leaders of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He gave
a brilliant workshop on the importance of becoming a vegetarian, something I
urge everyone to consider.
I became a vegetarian with a few other Jesuit novices shortly after I entered
the Jesuits in 1982 and later wrote a pamphlet for PETA, “Christianity and
Vegetarianism.” I based my decision solely on Francis Moore Lappe’s classic
work, Diet for a Small Planet, a book that I think everyone should read.
In it, Lappe, the great advocate for the hungry, makes an unassailable case that
vegetarianism is the best way to eliminate world hunger and to sustain the
environment.
At first glance, we wonder how that could be. But it’s undisputable. A hundred
million tons of grain go yearly for biofuel — a morally questionable use of
foodstuffs. But more than seven times that much — some 760 million tons
according to the United Nations — go into the bellies of farmed animals, this to
fatten them up so that sirloin, hamburgers and pork roast grace the tables of
First-World people. It boils down to this. Over 70 percent of U.S. grain and 80
percent of corn is fed to farm animals rather than people.
Conscience dictates that the grain should stay where it is grown, from South
America to Africa. And it should be fed to the local malnourished poor, not to
the chickens destined for our KFC buckets. The environmental think-tank, the
World Watch Institute, sums it up: “Continued growth in meat output is dependent
on feeding grain to animals, creating competition for grain between affluent
meat eaters and the world’s poor.”
Meanwhile, eating meat causes almost 40 percent more greenhouse-gas emissions
than all the cars, trucks, and planes in the world combined. (The world’s 1.3
billion cattle release tons of methane into the atmosphere, and hundreds of
millions tons of CO2 are released by burning forests due to dry conditions as in
California or due to purposeful burns to create cow pastures in Latin America.)
And global warming isn’t the only environmental issue. Almost 40 years ago,
Lappe spelled out the environmental consequences of eating meat in stark relief.
But more recently, her analysis received some high-power validation. The United
Nations recently published “Livestock’s Long Shadow.” It concludes that eating
meat is “one of the most significant contributors to the most serious
environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” And it insists
that the meat industry “should be a major policy focus when dealing with
problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage
and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity.”
Much of our potable water and much of our fossil fuel supply is wasted on
rearing chickens, pigs, and other animals for humans to eat. And over 50 percent
of forests worldwide have been cleared to raise or feed livestock for
meat-eating. (A recent protest in Brazil denounced Kentucky Fried Chicken for
clearing thousands of acres of untouched Amazon rain forest for chicken feed.)
As a Christian, I became a vegetarian because of the Gospel mandate of Matthew
25, “Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me” — because I do not
want my appetites to contribute to the ongoing oppression of the world’s
starving masses. As a Catholic and Jesuit, I want somehow to side with the poor
and hungry.
But another issue arises, too, over the decades, I’ve learned that our appetite
for meat leads to cruelty to animals — chickens pressed wing-to-wing into filthy
sheds and de-beaked, for example. And since I’ve always espoused creative
nonviolence as the fundamental Gospel value, my vegetarianism helps me not to
participate in the vicious torture and destruction of billions of cows,
chickens, and so many other creatures.
The chickens never raise families, root in the soil, build nests, or do anything
natural. Often they are tormented or tortured before they are slowly killed, as
PETA has repeatedly documented in its undercover investigations — for your
chicken dinner or hamburger. (All this is documented on a video narrated by Alec
Baldwin, at www.Meat.org.)
Animals have feelings, they suffer; they have needs and desires. They were
created by God to raise their families and breath fresh air; and if chickens to
peck in the grass, if pigs to root in the soil. Today’s farms don’t let them do
anything God designed them to do. Animal scientists attest that farm animals
have personalities and interests, that chickens and pigs are smarter than dogs
and cats.
Animals figure in the Gospels. They brim with lovely, respectful images of
animals. Clearly Jesus was familiar with animals, and cared for them, as he
urged us to look at the birds of the air or be his sheep. He even identified
himself as “a mother hen who longs to gather us under her wings.”
And animals figure in the Hebrew Bible. Isaiah 11, a vision of reconciled
creation, dreams of a day when “the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse
together with a little child to guide them. The cow and the beast shall be
neighbors, together their young shall rest. The lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra’s den and the child lay his hand on the adder’s
lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain, for the earth
shall be filled with knowledge of the God of peace, as water covers the sea.”
(Isaiah 11:1-9)
A vision of a nonviolent world, all creatures nonviolent, children safely at
play with them, and no violence anywhere. That is the peaceful vision of
creation that we are called to pursue — in every aspect of our lives, from the
jobs we hold, to our use of gasoline and alternative energies, to what we eat
and wear, say and do.
I admire the Bible’s greatest vegetarian, Daniel, the nonviolent resister who
refused to defile himself by eating the king’s meat. He and three friends became
healthier than anyone else through their vegetarian diet. And they excelled in
wisdom, for “God rewards them with knowledge and skill in all learning and
wisdom.”
In his workshop at the Unitarian Universalists convention, Bruce added another
beautiful image, the Garden of Eden. The Bible opens with a vision of paradise
where God, animals, and humans recreate in peace together. Clearly, the Bible
calls us to return to that paradise.
And Bruce reminded us that from the beginning we are directed to be vegetarians.
Genesis 1:29 says, “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth
and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food.”
Biblical images and justice issues aside, there are medical reasons to stop
eating meat. Vegetarian diets help keep our weight down, support a lifetime of
good health and provide protection against numerous diseases, including the
U.S.’s three biggest killers: heart disease, cancer and strokes.
Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn both have 100 percent success in
preventing and reversing heart disease using a vegan diet. Meanwhile, Dr. T.
Colin Campbell writes that one of the leading causes of human cancer is animal
protein. More, vegetarians are also less prone to developing adult-onset
diabetes. And then we have to contend with the spread of Mad Cow disease and
Avian influenza. One could almost argue that the human body is not designed for
meat-eating.
But for me being vegetarian boils down to peacemaking. If you want to be a
peacemaker, Bruce said, reflecting the sentiments of Leo Tolstoy, you will want
to eat as peaceful a diet as possible. “Vegetarianism,” Tolstoy wrote, “is the
taproot of humanitarianism.” Other great humanitarians like Mahatma Gandhi,
Albert Schweitzer and Thich Nhat Hanh agree. The only diet for a peacemaker is a
vegetarian diet.
“Not to hurt our humble brethren, the animals,” St. Francis of Assisi said, “is
our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher
mission: to be of service to them whenever they require it. If you have people
who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and
pity,” he continued, “you will have people who will deal likewise with other
people.”
So it was good to visit with my friend Bruce, and hear once again the wisdom of
vegetarianism. It’s a key ingredient in the new life of peace, compassion and
nonviolence.
John’s autobiography, A Persistent Peace, (with a foreword by Martin Sheen), is
available Aug. 1. See also: www.persistentpeace.com. John’s pamphlet
“Christianity and Vegetarianism” can be read online at www.peta.org or free
copies of the pamphlet or a free CD of John reading the pamphlet can be ordered
by sending an email to VegInfo@peta.org. You can listen to or download John
reading the pamphlet at www.ChristianVeg.com. See also: www.johndear.org.
--
We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.
---- Thich Nhat Hanh
Vegetarians Live Longer
The battle has long been waged, and will
certainly continue in spite of this study. Are
humans designed/evolved to eat everything and at
risk of malnutrition as vegetarians? Or is
vegetarianism the healthy and ethical choice?
The most impressive data arises from a study of
1904 vegetarians over 21 years by the German
Cancer Research Center (Deutsche
Krebsforschungszentrum). The study's shocking
results: vegetarian men reduced their risk of
early death by 50%! Women vegetarians benefit
from a 30% reduction in mortality.
Long-term Study of Vegetarians
The participants of the the German Cancer
Research Center study included 60 vegans (no
animal products consumed), 1165 vegetarians
(eating eggs, milk but no meat) with the
remainder described as "moderate" vegetarians
who occasionally ate fish or meat. The health of
these study participants was compared with the
average German population. Living longer seems
not to be exclusively related to eating meat,
though, as the results for moderate vegetarians
was not statistically different from those for
vegan or strict vegetarian diets.
To the argument that it is not vegetarianism
but a general interest in a healthier lifestyle
which leads to such notable results, scientists
reply with evidence that the majority of
vegetarians do not cite health reasons for their
lifestyle, but make their choice based on
ethical commitment, environmental concerns or
simply personal taste.
Vegetarians and Malnutrition
Research by a team led by Professor Ibrahim
Elmadfa at the University of Vienna found a much
better than average intake of Vitamin C,
Carotinoides, Folic acid, fiber and unsaturated
fats. Where shortcomings may arise is for
Vitamin B12, calcium und Vitamin D in a vegan
diet. Astoundingly, however, study participants
did not suffer from diseases, such as
osteoporosis, typically related to inadequate
intakes of these micro-nutrients.
More on Vegetarians
How to Become a Vegetarian
Hollywood's Sexiest Vegetarians
Jessica Simpson Offends Vegetarians
Cut Back On Carbon By Cutting Back On Meat
Via
Die Welt (german)
Image: copyright Getty images
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