1. We Need You!
2. Meat and the Planet
3. Christianity and the Problem of Violence: What is Violence?
1. We Need You!
Our ministry relies on the volunteer efforts of our members to
distribute our booklet Honoring God's Creation at Christian events. Our
members have almost always found this very effective and rewarding. If
we don't speak up for God's animals and God's earth, who will? (See
editorial below, which emphasizes the urgency of the problem.
Please contact Paris at
Christian_vegetarian@yahoo.com if you might be able to help.
Featured upcoming events:
1/28 CA San Jose Chris Tomlin Christian Rock Concert
1/29 NV Las Vegas Chris Tomlin Christian Rock Concert 1/30 CA Anaheim
Northern & The Myriad Christian Concert
1/31 CO Colorado Springs Chris Tomlin Christian Rock Concert
2/1 KS Topeka CeCe Winans Christian Concert
2/2 IN Indianapolis Christian Booksellers Assn. "Advance 2007"
Conference
2/2 IL Belleville Sandi Patty Christian Concert
2/2 TX Grand Prairie Chris Tomlin Christian Rock Concert
2/3 KY Paducah CeCe Winans Christian Concert
2/3 TX Houston Chris Tomlin Christian Rock Concert
2/8 WI Milwaukee Chris Tomlin Christian Rock Concert
2/9 MO St. Louis Dare 2 Share: Game Day-Starfield and Superchic
2/9 MN St. Paul Chris Tomlin Christian Rock Concert
2/9 MO St. Louis Starfield Christian Rock Concert
2. Meat and
the Planet (New York Times editorial)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/opinion/27wed4.html?th&emc=th
Dec. 27, 2006
When you think about the growth of human population over the last
century or so, it is all too easy to imagine it merely as an increase in
the number of humans. But as we multiply, so do all the things
associated with us, including our livestock.
At present, there are about 1.5 billion cattle and domestic buffalo
and about 1.7 billion sheep and goats. With pigs and poultry, they form
a critical part of our enormous biological footprint upon this planet.
Just how enormous was not really apparent until the publication of a
new report, called "Livestock's Long Shadow," by the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Consider these numbers. Global livestock grazing and feed production
use "30 percent of the land surface of the planet." Livestock - which
consume more food than they yield - also compete directly with humans
for water. And the drive to expand grazing land destroys more
biologically sensitive terrain, rain forests especially, than anything
else.
But what is even more striking, and alarming, is that livestock are
responsible for about 18 percent of the global warming effect, more than
transportation's contribution. The culprits are methane - the natural
result of bovine digestion - and the nitrogen emitted by manure.
Deforestation of grazing land adds to the effect.
There are no easy trade-offs when it comes to global warming - such
as cutting back on cattle to make room for cars. The human passion for
meat is certainly not about to end anytime soon. As "Livestock's Long
Shadow" makes clear, our health and the health of the planet depend on
pushing livestock production in more sustainable directions.
3. Christianity and the Problem of Violence: What
is Violence?
[This series reflects my views and not "official" CVA positions. It is
being archived at
http://www.christianveg.org/violence_view.htm.]
For purposes of this discussion, I will take "violence" to mean
harmful, volitional, unnecessary use of force. Therefore I would
generally not regard as "violent" destructive acts of nature, animal
aggressiveness, or human activities that are essential to preserve one's
life.
A God who loves all Creation would not want to have any creatures
harmed, though sometimes it is necessary for humans or animals to cause
physical or emotional harm.
Most of us would agree that there is a moral difference between
"violence" and causing harm as a necessary step in obtaining sustenance
or in defending oneself. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to
distinguish between legitimate use of force and illegitimate violence,
since people generally regard their own violence as "necessary" for
"justice" or "self-defense."
Perhaps the actor's frame-of-mind can provide helpful guidance. Those
who genuinely regret any harm they cause and do their best to limit harm
probably act out of necessity. One can be more confident that one's use
of force is not "violent" if one is trying to protect other individuals,
rather than protecting one's own "interests."
Those who take pride in their triumphs over what they call "evil" and
grab the spoils of victory have likely engaged in acts of violence.
We should always be uncomfortable with activities that harm other
individuals. We should question our own motives repeatedly, and we
should constantly seek to view situations from victims' perspectives. If
we have convinced ourselves that our harmful activities deserve a name
such as revenge, purification, or divine sacrifice, then it is likely
that we have obscured our violence behind mythological stories that
attribute our violence to God or to a secular ideology, such as
nationalism. S. Mark Heim has written, "But to veil it [violence] under
euphemism and mythology, to be piously silent before its sacred power,
is to make its rule absolute."1
Was Jesus ever violent? The only biblical story in which Jesus used
physical force against adversaries was in the Temple, when he confronted
the money-changers. All three gospel accounts (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark
11:15-17; John 2:14-16) relate Jesus turning over the tables of the
money-changers and denouncing their trade. Importantly, though Jesus'
words and actions suggest anger, Jesus did not hurt anybody. Why did
Jesus disrupt their activities?
The money-changers provided an essential service, since many people
traveled great distances and could not bring sacrificial animals with
them. Since the pilgrims needed to buy animals for sacrifices and since
they only had foreign currency, they needed the services of
money-changers.
It is possible that some money-changers cheated unsuspecting pilgrims,
but would Jesus have taken such aggressive measures to prevent petty
crimes?
Jesus' actions were very dangerous, because Roman authorities
objected to anyone who disturbed the peace (particularly during the
Passover period, when emotions often ran high among the Jews), and the
powerful chief priests relied on the sacrificial cult for their
livelihood.
Remarkably, in John's account, Jesus also drove out the animals
slated for sacrifice, raising the possibility that Jesus' aim was to
stop the sacrifices themselves. Therefore, it seems that Jesus' actions
constituted a necessary use of force to protect innocent and vulnerable
individuals and was not violence, because Jesus' intent was not to cause
physical or emotional harm.
1. S. Mark Heim. Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross. Grand
Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2006, p. 102.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.