Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - April 26, 2022
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Building Peaceful Communities: The Primacy of Truth
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry
  3. Free Book for Vegans

1. Building Peaceful Communities: The Primacy of Truth

I see no need to elaborate on the importance of truth. All systems of injustice are grounded in lies. Meanwhile, knowledge and wisdom assist those who aim to be caring and compassionate. Otherwise, they can make harmful decisions despite the best of intentions.

I would like to focus on certain individual and communal factors that tend to deflect us from the truth. The individual need for self-preservation and the communal need for a sense of tribal identity are not uniformly bad or undesirable. So, the challenge will be to find ways that we can preserve the benefits of these factors while avoiding their pitfalls. Ultimately, I will aim to show that Jesus’ life and ministry showed us a path toward realizing the “Realm of God” described in Isaiah 11:6-9.

Starting at an individual level, the need for self-preservation is natural and, arguably, morally desirable. It is natural insofar as natural selection favors those individuals who survive and reproduce. It is morally desirable in that each individual matters, and those individuals who strive to make the world a better place are particularly important for the well-being of all. Dietrich Bonhoffer instructed his students to resist the Nazis wisely. They should not regard self-preservation as the only concern, but they should not lose their lives for a relatively pointless gesture, such as a refusal to give a Nazi salute to a Nazi officer.

Nobody leaves the earth without leaving a footprint. We invariably harm other living things because animal life requires eating other living things, including plants. Our aim should be to minimize this harm, for example by consuming plants, which as best we can tell have no subjective feelings, rather than animals, who clearly can suffer and have a will to live and thrive. It is tempting to believe that what makes us feel better and satisfies our desires is “necessary,” and this is where careful reflection or meditation can steer us away from the narcissistic path.

Avoiding the attractions of believing communally held falsehoods is more difficult, and I will turn to this next.

Stephen R. Kaufman, MD

2. From All-Creatures.Org Ministry

We have some exciting news to share. Please mark your calendars to join us for a livestream interview of vegan theologian Dr. Christopher Carter on Friday April 29th at 4:00 p.m. EST.

You will find this week's edition of our newsletter packed full of information covering up-to-the-moment 2022 topics including GOOD news for animals, thought-provoking AR articles, religious and spiritual vegan information, art & stories, and so much more!

All-Creatures.org Newsletter for April 21, 2022

In the Love of the Lord,
Frank L Hoffman
All-Creatures.org

and

Kindness,
Tams Nicholson
Executive Directress
All-Creatures.org

3. Free Book for Vegans

Longtime dedicated vegan activist Veda Stram has written a short book that vegans will find helpful:

What to Eat When You Don't Eat Animals: menus and ideas to inspire people who want to eat as if life is precious
 

2022 Newsletters Archive