Christian Vegetarian Association Blog - Do We See God’s Animals as Fellow Beings or as Expendable Creatures?


	CVA BLOG

Do We See God’s Animals as Fellow Beings or as Expendable Creatures?
October 15, 2012

Welcome to the weekly CVA blog! In it you will find famous quotes, news and commentaries.

Friend or Food?

Famous Quote: Anna Sewell

The Cruelest Foods

Bible verse: James 1:17

Dairy Cruelty Exposed Once Again

This Week’s Video: MFA’s Dairy Abuse Video

1. Friend or Food?

Carnism is the mindset that allows most people to consider 2 categories for animals: those raised for slaughter and those raised for companionship. Dr. Melanie Joy, author of the book "Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism” says that it "allows humane people to participate in inhumane practices without fully realizing what they are doing. It teaches us how not to feel."

Dr. Joy and her team of volunteers have launched the Carnism Awareness & Action Network (CAAN) that seeks to empower people to make truly free choices and thus allow them to consider veganism because according to Dr. Joy, "Carnism blocks our awareness and without awareness, there is no free choice."

Please visit Friend or Food? The Ideology of How We Decide:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephan-spencer/carnism_b_1876600.html

We are given the choice to alleviate suffering or to cause suffering, to show love or to show indifference, to seek peace or to seek discordance. Christ’s teachings should be our ethical and spiritual compass that helps us make choices that promote healing, reconciliation and restoration in God’s Creation.

2. This Week’s Famous Quote

“There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to beasts as well as man it is all a sham.”

~ Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

3. The Cruelest Foods

Although hidden from consumers, some foods are produced with much cruelty and brutality. This article highlights 8 of these foods and explains the suffering involved in their making so compassionate consumers avoid them and instead choose cruel-free alternatives. These are: lobster, shark-fin soup, veal, foie gras, eggs, balut, beef and pork.

To learn more please visit 8 Cruelest Foods You Eat:
http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/animal-cruelty-and-food

It’s just unbelievable what humans do to God’s animals! However, just as humans are capable of causing unimaginable suffering, we are also capable of showing compassion and mercy. Once we realize that all animal products involve suffering, we are confronted with the choice of supporting this suffering or alleviating it. If we truly want to follow Christ’s teachings, our path should be one of healing, restoration and reconciliation.

4. This Week’s Bible Verse

(RSV) James 1:17

Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Let's give thanks for all the blessings in our lives! One of which is that no unnecessary suffering or death has to be involved in the making of our food.

5. Dairy Cruelty Exposed Once Again

Once again, an undercover video shot at a dairy farm in Idaho shows egregious acts of cruelty endured by dairy cows. Stomping on and beating cattle, twisting their tails and using a tractor to drag one animal by its chained neck are just some of the acts perpetrated by workers in this “farm” with 60,000 cows. Three workers face a fine of up to $5,000 and up to six months of jail time.

Please visit Dairy farm linked to Burger King, In-N-Out accused of animal abuse:
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-dairy-burger-king-innout-animal-abuse-20121011,0,7628332.story

Dairy cows are one of the most abused of God’s animals. They are confined, impregnated (raped) on a yearly basis, they babies are stolen from them, their milk is stolen from them, they are pushed physically, emotionally and psychologically to the limit, and when they simply cannot give any more they are brutally dragged to slaughter and killed mercilessly. And to add insult to injury, many of them are pregnant at the time of slaughter so humans can enjoy the priced skin of baby cows (soft suede). There is no doubt that those who call themselves stewards of God’s Creation and followers of Christ must stop supporting the dairy industry. It’s easy: just switch to one of the many varieties of plant-based milk and cheeses such as soy, hemp, almond, coconut, hazelnut, etc.

6. This Week’s Video

Please share far and wide this undercover video released by the animal advocacy group Mercy for Animals showing the indescribable cruelty inflicted on dairy cows in an Idaho factory farm.

Please visit BurgerKing Cruelty:
http://www.burgerkingcruelty.com/

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