Month: February 2024

Why Veganism Reflects Christian Ideals

~ Graeme M ~ 2 Comments

Some Christians criticise vegans and reject veganism, usually on the grounds that God gave humans dominion over the animals and approves their use for food and fibre. However veganism today is not simply a strict diet but rather it is an ethical stance about how to treat the animals. So, just how far is veganism from Christian values? Let’s find out.

In Genesis, we learn that God created a world that was “very good” and He caused there to be the animals of nature and the man and woman whom He created in His own image. Adam and Eve were given dominion over nature and the animals and directed to subdue the earth. On the face of it, God seems to be saying that people can do what they like with the world, but it seems unlikely that God – whose very nature is to be just and compassionate – would want people to treat the natural world irresponsibly.

Perhaps we need to know just what the Bible says about this dominion that people have over nature. The original Hebrew word used to describe the dominion awarded to Adam and Eve is “radah”. Many writers interpret radah to mean that we should rule over nature by managing it and the animals responsibly, consistently with God’s own nature. Creation matters to God and the animals in the world are His, not ours to do with as we please. This sounds very much more likely than to interpret radah as meaning something more akin to a “treading down”, a rule by exploitative force without care or respect for those ruled.

I believe that the Bible tells us we are to be responsible managers of Creation in God’s image, not that we have a licence to exploit and harm it from our own selfish desires. As God’s own nature is to be just and compassionate, should we imagine that our duty towards animals is not the same in essence? God allows us to use animals when we must, but He expects us to do so responsibly and fairly and we are free to make the best choices.

Veganism on the other hand is a modern secular idea about how people should treat other animals. Nowadays we know that many other animals are sentient beings similar to humans in many ways and they can be affected either negatively or positively by our actions. As sentient beings, animals exist for their own ends; that is, they have evolved to maximise their opportunities and to flourish within their particular ecological niche. Like human beings they have an inherent value and dignity as ends in themselves and should be regarded as such, rather than as mere means to our own ends.

Modern veganism is therefore an ethical framework that recognises the value and dignity of animal lives and guides us when evaluating all the ways our actions affect them. This ethics aims to treat animals fairly and with compassion by our choices whenever we can and to protect them from injustice at our hands. One possible practical approach is that of animals rights – we make fair choices when we seek to protect the basic rights of other animals. You can read what this means here.

So, let’s take stock.

Christians are charged with managing nature and the animals responsibly in a manner consistent with God’s own nature in whose image we are made. Given God’s essential nature is to be just and fair, we seem bound to be fair to other animals in whom there exists an inherent value and dignity, given they are the results of God’s good works and are pleasing to Him.

Veganism is a secular notion about encouraging justice in the ways people deal with other animals. At its simplest, veganism guides us to be fair to other animals because as sentient beings they have inherent value and dignity.

Ultimately, any genuine attempt to steward animals justly in accord with God’s nature seems likely to lead Christians to similar practice as secular veganism, for the simple reason both deliver on the same commitment. People should wish to treat other animals fairly and seek to protect them from injustice at our hands, whenever we can. Secularly, because they are ends in themselves just as we are and in Christ because God gave us this responsibility to His creation.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that Christians should be vegan (though I don’t think God would object). The way I see it, when Christians honour their faith and their Lord they will do works that treat animals compassionately, fairly and with justice, just as veganism guides non-Christians to treat animals compassionately, fairly and with justice. In the end, Christians and vegans are much more alike in this regard than it might appear.

Why Death is Not a Harm to Another Animal but Killing Might be Wrong

~ Graeme M ~ Leave a comment

I regard veganism as an ethical stance – that is, veganism is the idea that we include other animals within the scope of our moral concern to treat others fairly and deliver them justice when we can. On rights-based grounds, we can argue that this means we should strive not to violate their basic rights whenever possible. Many people argue this means that – as with people – animals have a right to life. I don’t agree. To see why, I want to explain why I believe death does not harm us but killing might be wrong.

There are two schools of thought about death. On the one hand, it is claimed that death cannot harm us for the simple reason that once dead, we no longer exist. On the other, death harms us by thwarting our plans for the future and robs us of our potential.

I agree with the former view – harm describes a state that only the living can experience. When we seek to prevent others being harmed, we mean that we hope for them to enjoy the good and not suffer the bad. However, that which does not exist cannot experience either the good or the bad. While the process of death can harm us, death itself cannot.

Does this mean that killing another is not a harm? Yes, I would say that is true. Of course the process can cause harm and this can be a wrong while someone lives, but once dead there is no-one to experience any harm. For the individual, being killed does not matter in and of itself (though how that affects the still living might).

Why then should we strive not to kill? I suggest that the reason we should not kill another is because to do so would be to thwart their plans for the future. While being dead and no longer able to achieve one’s goals is not a harm, we should know that when we kill another we are deliberately thwarting their plans and interests. This is an injustice on our part. The wrongness in killing comes not from any harm to our victim but rather from the injustice we aim to perpetrate.

Simply put, when we act to kill someone we set out with the intention of depriving them of future experiences and that is not fair. It is unfair for the same reasons we are acting unjustly any time we seek to thwart someone’s plans without good cause.

To summarise then, death is not a harm for anyone (though the process itself can be). Killing someone is wrong not because it harms them but because we act unjustly when we set out without good cause to thwart their plans for the future. This is unfair. Because veganism asks us to be fair to other animals and prevent injustice, it is wrong to kill other animals without just cause.

Note: Some animals may not have plans for the future of the kind that demand this kind of moral concern on our part (eg many invertebrates). We may have a different kind of moral concern for such animals and many other things in the world but this is not directly within the scope of veganism. Nothing prevents us respecting both kinds of concern.