July 19, 2012 - Christian Vegetarian Association Update Newsletters


	2012 Newsletters

CVA Weekly Newsletter
July 19, 2012

Human Exceptionalism: Response to Bill Samuel

Ucoming Activist Opportunities

The Peaceable Table

This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman

1. Human Exceptionalism: Response to Bill Samuel

I fully agree that “being pro-life on abortion” does NOT necessarily mean embracing a human exceptionalism that puts down animals. In fact, I am working on a book that, while addressing other issues in environmental ethics, argues for expanding the pro-life vision to respect ALL lives, not just human lives. However, the pro-life commentator I cited, the late Chuck Colson, happened to be among those pro-life advocates who DO, in effect, “put down animals.” The same is true of Dr. Wesley J. Smith, who has taken on the role of Director of Human Exceptionalism at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington. It is pro-life advocates such as these to whom my essay is addressed—not those of us who see the ‘pro-life’ message as applying broadly to the entire creation. So, in brief, it is not the pro-life (anti-abortion) ethic that ‘puts down animals’, but human exceptionalism that tends to exclude or marginalize them.

Paul Hansen

2. Upcoming Activist Opportunities

7/28      OH Loveland        TABLE Heaven Fest
7/28      AZ Phoenix              Girls of Grace Teen Conference
7/29      OH Toledo               Exclaim! (free) Christian Music Fest
8/1-4         NH Gilford              HUGE - SoulFest
8/2-4         PA Hershey              (free) Joyce Meyers Conference
8/3-4         OH Columbus        Women of Faith Celebrate What Matters
8/3-4         TX Garland              Promise Keepers Men's Conference
8/4       PA Phoenixville         TABLE Green Earth Festival
8/10-11   OK Oklahoma City        Women of Faith Celebrate What Matters
8/11      MS Jackson              Girls of Grace Teen Conference
8/16-18   MI Detroit              Joyce Meyers Conference
8/17-18   DC Washington      Women Of Faith Celebrate What Matters
8/17-18   WA Spokane              Women Of Faith Celebrate What Matters
8/17-18   OH Cleveland       Promise Keepers Men's Conference
8/20          DE Harrington      Casting Crowns @ Delaware State Fair
8/30-9/2 CA Plymouth        Joshua Fest
8/31-9/2 SD Worthing        (free) LifeLight Music Festival
9/7-8         CA San Diego       Promise Keepers Men's Conference
9/9       PA Philadelphia         TABLE Green Fest Philly
9/21-23   NC Hickory              "Momentum" The Conference Newsboys
8/24-25   IA Des Moines      Women Of Faith Celebrate What Matters
8/24-25   IN Indianapolis         Women Of Faith Celebrate What Matters Conf
8/24-9/3 MO Branson              Silver Dollar City - Southern Gospel Picnic
8/24-8/28 UK Lincolnshire         One Event Christian Conference
11/17         NY Albany               TABLE NY's Capital Region Vegetarian Expo

Contact Paris at christian_vegetarian@yahoo.com if you can help. To find out about all upcoming leafleting and tabling opportunities in your area, join the CVA Calendar Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christian_vegetarian/

3. The Peaceable Table

Contents of the current issue include:

* The Editor's Corner Essay, "The Living and the Deceased, Part II: Lay Aside Every Weight," deals with two kinds of hindrances to be overcome in the life of meditation and contemplative prayer, hindrances that tend to block us from being clear channels of Divine healing to our human and animal neighbors in this world or the next. Drawing upon two characters of Jane Austen, I will characterize the first, Distractions, as "our inner Mrs. Allen," and the second, Sin, as "our inner General Tilney."

* Margarethe Lachman, Quaker heroine of the Resistance during WW II, speaks in the Unset Gem of the importance of having the courage to speak truth,* and* to unite that truth with love.

* A NewsNote presents the good news that Rhode Island has become the ninth state to pass laws that will prohibit crates for (certain) farmed animals.

* In one of the Letters, Judy Carman cites two accounts of persons who had life-saving visions of deceased animal companions; she also suggests tools that can help us maintain our balance as we seek openness to all beings, especially when new revelations of cruelty and suffering seem about to make us fall apart.

* A sketch of the life of Coretta Scott King, courageous heroine of the Civil Rights Movement, is the Pilgrimage story for this issue. She became a vegan, extending to our animal cousins her and her husband Martin's commitment to nonviolent liberation for all humans.

* Robert Ellwood reviews *Putting the Horse Before Descartes*, the witty and irreverent biographical account of the adventures of doughty philosopher Bernard Rollin as he defends animals in academia, veterinary training, and public lectures.

* The Recipe section is longer than usual. If you aren't used to bread fresh from the oven, wait until you smell and taste this Provencal (potato) bread . . . .

* "*Der Panther," a powerful short poem by Rainer Maria Rilke with a translation by Stephen Mitchell, captures the mind-destroying experience of the great cat as he endlessly paces in his cage.

As always, we appreciate letters, suggestions, and contributions for future issues.

To read this issue, go to http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/issue89.html

Gracia Fay Ellwood, Editor

4. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman

Blessed are the Peacemakers

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