This is the end of perfect virtue for all alike-that, even while still desiring it, we should approach with restraint the food that we are obliged to eat in order to sustain our lives.
-John Cassian ”The Institutes”
Welcome to the fourth and final blog on Christian reasons for Vegetarianism.
Let me remind (admit to?) everyone that I am not a vegetarian, will likely never be one, but nonetheless like finding ways to cut back on my meat consumption. I don’t believe in prescribing vegetarianism as a kind of dogmatic rule for all Christians, but I hope everything I write here will challenge all those reading to examine their consciences on the matter. One way or another, I feel Christians should follow the advice of John Cassian, who is quoted above.
In the second part of these blogs, I wrote about things Christians believe in: fasting, greed, concern for the poor, and the environment. In the third, I described some realities of food production and the finite nature of what we can grow and produce. In this blog, I will finally put them together and offer some practical ideas of practices Christians can take up, if they feel so compelled.
The Environment
Many Christians I know drink water out of reusable aluminum bottles, recycle their soda cans, and even drive a Prius. We all do this because we are well aware of the impact our garbage and our gas have on the planet, which we regard as God’s creation to be cared for. We do this even knowing that the problem is “to big” for a few of us to solve. Regardless of what industries might do, we know that our individual “footprints” on the earth can be lessened.
Eating habits are a nice extension to the things just mentioned. Food is usually not high on the list of environmental concerns, but it is there. Growing meat requires a significant amount of resources. In my state of California, that means fresh drinking water for cattle in addition to the water that was already used to grow crops. Also, even though cars come first to mind, the raising of cattle produces significant amount methane into the atmosphere.
Fasting
Imagine giving up on meat one or two days a week consistently. What might someone learn by going through this simple process when combined with prayer and personal reflection?
One thing that someone might learn is that meat is a luxury. Now, I know that term comes off as rather strong. It needs explanation. I do not mean luxury in the common sense of “something that everybody wants, but few people have” like a Rolex watch or Lexus SUV. I mean it the sense that eating meat is non essential to human well being. It does not meet any of our basic physical needs like nourishment, shelter or clothing. Likewise, it is not needed for any of our higher needs such as our need for good relationships, aesthetic and artistic needs, intellectual needs, spiritual needs etc. Neither (except in very special cases) does it meet our need of economic survival in a society such as ours.
This definition of luxury is broad. Most things we labor for in our society would probably be luxurious and most people have them regardless of their economic standing. However, would this perhaps not be something that God might want to teach Christians in affluent nations? Ecclesiastes reminds us of how seeking things, including food, does not make us happy. It is one thing to read about it and learn it, but the Holy Spirit also teaches us when we take up certain habits. The simple truth: “we have too much in America” is not something that is easily learned by book reading alone.
Overcoming Greed
People like Christian anti-debt advocate David Ramsey and many other financial gurus offer a profound piece of wisdom: eat beans and rice until you meet certain financial goals, like paying off debt. What is the connection here? The idea is that meat is usually more expensive than beans and other vegetables. In fact, the price of meat is kept artificially low though government subsidies for crops that serve as food for cattle or other industry. If it were not for these subsidies*, the price of meat would be so much that I am fairly certain most people would be de facto vegetarians.
Bottom line is this: the less we spend on meat, the more we have to either be financially stable ourselves or to simply have more to give away to those in need.
Keeping the World’s Poor in Mind
Most of us can think of a meal-time prayer -usually before a large amount of food at family time- in which someone asks God to “help us to remember those who have less.” All Christians want to keep the world’s poor in mind, but why not pick a more practical way to do it? In other words, why not eat like the poor of the world every once in awhile?
Obviously, I do not mean do not eat at all. But why not have a (as one Christian called her nights in) a “poverty night”? Instead of inviting friends over for a barbeque, why not take one of the simpler vegetarian recipes from the Mennonite inspired More-With-Less Cookbook
? Eating like those who don’t have meat will surely help us to remember those who don’t have what we have. Another popular classic on this subject is Diet For A Small Planet
, which details out eating habits from several perspectives.End
Hopefully, by now the idea of eating meat is something on everyone’s mind. Again, I don’t think that vegetarianism is a kind of mandate for all Christians. I do think, though, that our eating habits need to be on our consciences. The ecological realities and the spiritual practices that Christians accept, really do make this an issue that cannot be ignored.
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*To be clear, I am not opposed to government subsidies for food per se. It is important to keep the cost of food whenever possible. The question is: does it have to be in favor of the meat industry? There are other issues worth considering. For instance, given that meat is not a biological necessity, is also an inefficient expenditure of resources, is it reasonable to provide food-stamps for chicken and steak?
