Weekly Newsletter - September 16, 2015
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Illegal Activities to Shut Down “Beyond Mayo” Producer
  2. Thoughts on Free Will, Part 8
  3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
  4. Upcoming Activists Opportunities

1. Illegal Activities to Shut Down “Beyond Mayo” Producer

The American Egg Board is a U.S. government program created to promote egg use, not to disparage or attack products that the egg industry regards as competitors. Yet, this program has worked with the egg industry trade group United Egg Producers in a campaign against Hampton Creek, the producers of plant-based Just Mayo.

On September 2, The Guardian published an article revealing that the American Egg Board and the USDA have been conspiring to shut down Hampton Creek for the past few years, and their strategy has involved several serious law violations - see http://gu.com/p/4c3fm/stw.

According to The Guardian, the American Egg Board also “targeted popular food bloggers, major publications and a celebrity chef as part of its sweeping effort to combat a perceived threat from an egg-replacement startup backed by some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names.”

A possible breach of federal regulations, the American Egg Board paid food bloggers up to $2,500 to write about the health benefits of eating eggs, with many bloggers copying the American Egg Board’s talking points word for word.

Hampton Creek’s products have remove billions of eggs from the food system in just a few years, and clearly factory farmers & their friends in government are feeling the heat.

A White House petition was created to ask for a congressional investigation into these illegal actions - see http://wh.gov/iRPiE.

2. Thoughts on Free Will, Part 8

Vast numbers of nonhuman beings experience horrific mistreatment for supposed human benefit. Most abused animals are killed to procure inexpensive flesh and other animal products, and millions more suffer and die for their skins, for use in science, and other purposes. We are right to condemn such injustices, but should we condemn those who commit the atrocities?

Doing so presumes free will, the subject of several previous essays. Even if we held that, somehow, humans have a degree of free will, I maintain that this freedom is very limited. As I see it, much of the harm that humans do reflects deep-seated human fears over which we have little control.

Perhaps our greatest fear is of death, or perhaps more specifically the death of our sense of being. Most, if not all, of us find terrifying that the sense of who we are, which seems constant through our lives even as our bodies change over time, might be destroyed forever when our bodies cease to function.

As a salve against this terror, we desperately want to feel special, to feel as if the source of our being won’t allow us to permanently die. Throughout our lives we strive to feel special by being successful in relation to other humans. We have varying success in these endeavors, but all of us can feel superior in relation to nonhumans, who are at our mercy. The act of eating animals is, among many things, a symbolic act that demonstrates human superiority to the nonhuman world.

People in general want to see their existence as fundamentally different from animals, who seem to live and die without heroism or cosmic meaning. People tend to reject or at least ignore the continuity between humans and nonhumans, which was compellingly demonstrated by Charles Darwin and has been reinforced by discoveries of early hominids by paleontologists.

Curiously, many scientists who express contempt for those who reject Darwinism still assert that only humans deserve serious moral consideration. This view might be conducive to their continued eating and experimenting on animals, but I don’t see how it derives from their scientific convictions.

Next week, I will reflect further on how the human desire to regard ourselves as fundamentally different from nonhumans impacts humanity’s treatment of animals.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

Read entire series: Reflections on the Lectionary

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

Responsible Teaching Examples

4. Upcoming Activists Opportunities

Contact Lorena at LorenaValenziVeg@gmail.com if you can help.

9/25-26/15 IL, Hoffman Estates Women of Faith 2015
9/25/2015 VA, Richmond for King & Country
10/01/2015 IL, Champaign Tenth Avenue North, All the Earth is Holy Ground Tour
10/2/2015 VA, Roanoke EWomen Conference
10/2-3/15 TX, Dallas Women of Faith 2015
10/2/2015 TX, Houston Tobymac
10/3/2015 CA, Fresno Warrior’s Theatre
10/9/2015 AR, Jonesboro Chris Tomlin
10/9/2015 MT, Missoula Newsboys
10/10/2015 IL, Quad Cities Chris Tomlin
10/11/2015 CA, Modesto for King & Country
10/14/2015 FL, Punta Gorda for King & Country
10/15/2015 NC, Raleigh Chris Tomlin
10/16-17/15 MN, St. Paul Women of Faith 2015
10/16/2015 MS, Southhaven EWomen Conference
10/17/2015 MO, St. Charles Tobymac
10/22-24/15 New Jersey Hillsong Conference
10/22/2015 MS, Tupelo Newsboys
10/22/1015 VA, Norfolk Mercy Me
10/23/2015 TX, Corpus Christi Chris Tomlin
10/23/2015 MD, Baltimore Mercy Me
10/23/2015 IL, Hoffman Estates Tobymac
10/24/2015 IN, Indianapolis Tobymac
10/24/2015 NJ, Trenton Mercy Me
10/25/2015 OK, Tulsa Chris Tomlin
10/25/2015 NC, Asheville Newsboys
10/25/2015 OH, Columbus Tobymac
10/30/2015 PA, Reading Newsboys
10/31/2015 ME, Portland Newsboys
11/1-14/15 CT, Hartford Women of Faith 2015
11/1/2015 CT, Stanford Newsboys
11/8/2015 CA, Sacramento Winter Jam Tour 2015
11/06-07/15 WA, SeaTac Promise Keepers
11/07/2015 MI, Grand Rapids Chris Tomlin
11/7/2015 IL, Peoria Newsboys
11/08/2015 SC, Greenville Mercy Me
11/12/2015 PA, Philadelphia Tobymac
11/12/2015 KS, Kansas City Newsboys
11/12/2015 ID, Boise Winter Jam Tour 2015
11/13/2015 NY, NYC Tobymac
11/13/2015 OR, Portland Winter Jam Tour 2015
11/14/2015 VA, Fairfax Tobymac
11/14/2015 WA, Tacoma Winter Jam Tour 2015
11/15/2015 WA, Spokane Winter Jam Tour 2015
11/20-21/15 CA, Sacramento Women of Faith 2015
11/22/2015 FL, Jacksonville Tobymac
11/22/2015 TX, San Antonio Newsboys
12/4-5/15 OR, Portland Women of Faith 2015
12/5/2015 OH, Columbus Newsboys
12/04/2015 AR, N. Little Rock Tobymac
12/05/2015 TX, Grand Prairie Tobymac
12/06/2015 OK, Tulsa Tobymac
12/10/2015 NC, Greensboro Tobymac
12/11/2015 FL, Pensacola Newsboys
12/12/2015 MS, Jackson Newsboys
12/13/2015 TN, Knoxville Newsboys
12/27-29/15 MO, Branson Xtreme Conference
12/29-31/15 TN, Gatlinburg Xtreme Conference

Tabling
10/03/2015 DC, Washington DC VegFest 2015
10/10/2015 IL, Chicago Vegan Mania 2015
10/17/2015 TX, Dallas Texas Veggie Fair
10/24-25/15 MA, Boston Boston Vegetarian Food Festival
10/24/2015 FL, Orlando Central Florida VegFest 2015
10/24-25/15 MA, Boston Boston Veg Fest 2015
11/1/2015 MN, Minneapolis Twin Cities Veg Fest 2015
11/7/2015 FL, Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Veg Fest
11/14-15/15 OR, Portland Portland Veg Fest
11/7/2015 GA, Atlanta Atlanta Veg Fest 2015

Archived 2015 Newsletters
See Newsletter Archives