- Activist Feedback
- Comment: Suggesting a New Term – Vegcon
- Essay: What Might a Distinctly Christian
Faith Look Like? Part 1
- This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and
Mary Hoffman
- The May Peaceable Table
1. Activist Feedback
Karen, who tabled at the Connecticut Vegetarian and Healthy Living
Festival in Hartford, CT, writes:
This was an incredibly HUGE
success! There were THOUSANDS of attendees over the 2 days. We passed
out ALL of the booklets, and sold quite a few items!
Upcoming Activist
Opportunities
5/17 WA Tacoma
Joyce Meyers Ministries Conference
5/19 CA San
Diego Women of Faith "One Day"
Conference
5/19 SC Myrtle Beach
Beach Blast -Third Day
5/20 CA Van
Nuys TABLE WorldFest 2012
5/25 PA
Ephrata
TNT Extreme Event with Disciple
5/25-27 CA Del Mar
Spirit West Coast
5/26 NC
Charlotte JoyFest
5/31-6/2 MN Minneapolis
Joyce Meyers Ministries Conference
6/1 TX
Dallas
The Good Life Tour
6/2 MD
Upper Marlboro Christian Music Day featuring Sanctus Real-
6/2 NE
Omaha Hip
Hope Fest: Hope Center For Kids Event
6/9 NY
Syracuse Women of Faith
Conference
6/9
CA Long Beach Women of Faith Conference
6/14 AL
Birmingham McDonald's Inspiration
Celebration Gospel Tour 2012
6/14-16 MI Allegan
Big Ticket Festival Christian Music Fest
6/14-16 GA Atlanta
Christian Music Festival
6/16 GA
Valdosta Sanctus Real
Christian Rock Concert
6/16 AR Little
Rock Women of
Faith Conference
6/16-17 NY Rochester
Rock The Lakes News boys and more!
7/14 MN
Minneapolis
TABLE Twin Cities Veg Fest
6/23 IL
Hoffman Estates Women of Faith Conference
6/23 NC
Greensboro Women of Faith Conference
6/23 VA
Richmond
TABLE Richmond Vegetarian Festival
6/21-24 NC Pittsboro
TABLE Wild Goose Festival
2. Comment: Suggesting a New Term – Vegcon
Being vegan is not about religions, nationalities, ethnic groups,
people, family beliefs, traditions, cultures, etc. but what is
morally, ethically, and consciously correct. This is why I use the
term VEGCON (pronounced veegcon, analogous to vegan). The term comes
from the first three letters of VEGetarian and the first three letters
of CONscious. This word is the embodiment of vegetarians who don't
eat, wear, or use animal products or by-products. This word has a
deeper meaning than the word vegan, which makes no sense to me. Vegcon
relates to what vegetarians do out of their conscience. If we are
conscious and mindful, out conscience will bother us if violate or
harm God's beloved animals. If we are ever to evolve as human beings
we must become humane beings. We must follow the injunctions of
Genesis and go back to the lifestyle of the 'garden of Eden" where it
all started and where it must continue.
- David Wachsman
3. Essay: What Might a Distinctly
Christian Faith Look Like? Part 1
Joseph Campbell’s
book The Hero with a Thousand Faces discusses the structure of
universal myths about heroes found in religions throughout the world.
Characteristically, the hero leaves the community, goes into the
wilderness, overcomes great obstacles, and then returns to the
community with new wisdom. Often, heroes go on to perform miracles and
to have their divinity confirmed by being resurrected (in some form)
after dying. The biblical story of Jesus’ 40 days in the dessert
accords with the classic hero story.
In addition to great
wisdom, religious heroes often display great compassion, and their
teachings typically involve some variation of the Golden Rule.
Contrary to what might be inferred from laissez-faire capitalism, the
Golden Rule is not “The one with the gold rules.” Rather, as Katherine
Perlo notes in her excellent book Kinship and Killing, doing to others
as you would like others to do to you, is a common theme among
religions. Similar to other religious leaders, Jesus taught this
message, and also similar to other religious leaders he maintained
that the way to salvation was to believe certain tenets about God and
to abide by certain religious codes of action.
These aspects
of Jesus’ story and teachings have inspired many people, but they are
not particularly distinctive compared to the stories and teachings of
other religions. This is an observation – not a criticism or an
endorsement of Christianity. Whether or not a particular religion has
distinctive features does not indicate whether or not that religion
has truth or merit. Yet, in the common quest to identify ways in which
one religion is better than others, people often seek to identify ways
in which their religion is distinctive and, by implication, better. In
my opinion, one of the principle ways that Christianity is admirable,
and possibly quite distinctive, is its rejection of scapegoating.
Next week, I will turn to how Christianity rejects scapegoating
and why this is important.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
4. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and
Mary Hoffman
Lord!!! Where Are You? – A Spiritual
Journey from Easter to Pentecost
5. The May Peaceable Table
* The Editor's Corner Guest Essay by Will Tuttle, "Your
Secret Hideaway is Calling," emphasizes that we who work to liberate
our animal friends must also care for ourselves by setting aside time
to refresh our souls and bodies with beauty in nature. Only thus can
we come to love adequately both our animal neighbors and ourselves.
* A NewsNote sketches the story of a brave half-grown calf
who escaped from a slaughterhell and fled through the night streets of
Paterson, New Jersey on April 10. Struck by a police car and
then arrested, "Mike" is now safe in a New York sanctuary.
*
Martin Luther King reminds us, in an Unset Gem, that when we fear to
do the right thing for a person or animal in trouble, we wound our own
souls.
* In a Letter, Michele Louise Mitchell writes of
Lenten fasts and other vegan dietary experiments as a way of
sacralizing diet, of making a living offering for the good of others.
* Readers may be surprised to learn, in a Review of The
Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker, that human-on-human
violence has declined in the world in the last century, especially
since 1945. Attitudes of accepting violence against animals have
declined as part of this trend (although numerically, violence against
animals has increased).
* This month's Pioneer is the
heroic 18th century prison reformer John Howard, who was a vegetarian
all his adult life. Motivated by a deep religious experience in his
mid-forties, Howard later embarked on his career of personally
investigating and reporting on the hellish prison conditions of his
day, both in his native England and across continental Europe. His
work led to significant changes.
To read this issue, see:
http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/issue87.html
Toward the
Peaceable Kingdom,
Gracia Fay Ellwood, Editor