Joanna Lucas's "Letter From a Vegan World"
Vegans are often asked by curious friends and family members why they consider "humanely raised" animal products such as organic dairy, "rose" veal, and "free range" eggs to be morally objectionable. Joanna Lucas of Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary outside of Denver, Colorado, has penned an eloquent and moving answer to this question in her Letter From a Vegan World.

Essential Reading for Vegans, Omnivores, and Everyone in Between
Taking as her foil the efforts of welfare organizations pushing for "humane" consumer alternatives to factory farmed animal products, Lucas explains why she believes that these efforts run counter to the true spirit of compassion for animals, arguing that vegan outreach and education must be the central focus of the movement.

The Faces of Organic Dairy, "Rose" Veal, and "Cage Free" Eggs
Lucas's letter begins with descriptions of what life is like for organic dairy cows, "rose" veal calves, and "cage free" hens and goes on to encourage vegans to stand firm in their abolitionist convictions. She even provides a link to a full color pdf of the letter that is ready to be printed and distributed in your very own grassroots outreach effort. Many thanks to my good friend Harold Brown of Farm Kind for calling Lucas's letter to my attention.

Recent Editorial Blasts Industrial Animal Production
"The so-called efficiency of industrial animal production is an illusion, made possible by cheap grain, cheap water and prisonlike confinement systems." So says an editorial published today in the New York Times under the scathing title "The Worst Way of Farming". Citing recent reports including the Pew Commission Study and The Union of Concerned Scientists' new paper, CAFOs Uncovered, the editorial board of the Times concludes that "animal husbandry has been turned into animal abuse"--"millions of animals are crowded together in inhumane conditions, causing significant environmental threats and unacceptable health risks for workers, their neighbors and all the rest of us." Three cheers for the Gray Lady! Be sure to send the links to your family and friends.

Prestigious Pew Commission Affirms California Ballot Initiative
The following is the text of an e-mail update from Paul Shapiro, director of the factory farming campaign at The Humane Society of the United States.

"The prestigious Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production just concluded its 2.5-year study of American animal agriculture with unanimous findings from its 15 members. The Commission was chaired by former Kansas governor John Carlin and included, among others, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, former Dean of the Univ. of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine Dr. Michael Blackwell, and more.

The panel concluded that factory farms pose unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and animal welfare. It also issued a series of recommendations, including a phase-out of battery cages, gestation crates, veal crates, foie gras, and tail-docking of dairy cows, along with inclusion of poultry under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. The Commission even put out a press release in which it cites the pending California anti-cruelty ballot measure as one of "the types of modest animal welfare public policy improvements that the Commissioners recommend implementing."

The Washington Post published a great story on page A2 today entitled, "Report Targets Cost of Factory Farming." USA Today's story begins, "The way America produces meat, milk and eggs is unsustainable, creates significant risks to public health from antibiotic resistance and disease, damages the environment and unnecessarily harms animals, a report released Tuesday says." The Wall Street Journal's coverage focuses both on the problems caused by factory farming and the Commission's conclusion that the "agriculture industry is exerting 'significant influence' on academic research." And the Des Moines Register's article highlights the fact that the Commission is accusing "some livestock interests of trying to disrupt a wide-ranging study of the industry by threatening to yank financing for scientists and universities."

Both the Associated Press and Reuters have national stories on it, as well.

Taking Veganism to Church
As a Mennonite youngster, I worked the church potluck circuit with reckless abandon--especially the dessert table. Back then, it would have been difficult to imagine a church potluck without animal products. But as the evidence mounts that industrial livestock production has serious repercussions for creation, more and more faith communities are taking notice of the moral and spiritual significance of eating. As a case in point, Splinters and I are members of a small group at Sherman Street CRC that recently put on a multi-cultural, intergenerational vegan potluck with over 40 parishioners and friends.

Enchiladas, Lasagna, and Dahl, Oh My!
I brought our favorite Seitan Enchiladas with Salsa Verde (from Ann Gentry's spectacular Real Food Daily Cookbook) along with a side of refried black beans.

Others prepared vegan lasagna, Indian dahl, African groundnut stew, fresh salads and fruits, and a variety of other amazing offerings. Suffice it to say that no one went away hungry, least of all those who spent any time near the sweet table, which boasted vegan coconutty cookies (from Wealthy Street Bakery), "cockeyed" chocolate cake with coconut frosting, chocolate banana cupcakes with peanut butter creme frosting (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World), and a transcendent ginger coconut macadamia carrot cake that obliterated my previous conception of the standard for vegan desserts.

Rediscovering the Intersection of Food and Faith
Though a lot of vegans have given up on seeing the church as a potential ally in the struggle for justice for all God's creatures, there is reason to be hopeful. As Christine Gutleben of the Humane Society of the United States points out in a recent editorial in the New York Times, the principles of compassion, mercy, and justice for animals are built into our faith traditions, just waiting for visionary people of faith to reawaken the church to their significance for our everyday lives. For more information on the resurgence of religious interest in these matters and links to resources that can help you communicate the message of compassion for animals in your own church community, check out the Animals and Religion initiative of the Humane Society of the United States.

Compassionate Eating as Care of Creation
As many of you know, I spent the summer writing a booklet on the intersection of animal ethics and faith issues (from a Christian perspective) for the Humane Society of the United States. The result of this endeavor is finally available online and you can check it out here. The limited edition version of the publication (which is not yet featured on the website) includes 14 amazing collages by our very own Adam Wolpa. We hope to have a pdf of the limited edition up soon, but until then you can check out Wolpa's collages here.

Something for Everyone
While the argument developed in this booklet is grounded primarily in broadly Christian assumptions, my hope is that there may still be some strategic value in the booklet for people who do not share these assumptions. After all, many non-Christians who care about the plight of animals still have a vested interest in being able to appeal to Christian audiences in a language that such audiences can understand and appreciate. Moreover, there are certain empirical facts about the fallout of our dependence on industrial animal agriculture that all of us have a vested interest in knowing, regardless of our diverse religious identities. Pages 23-36 focus specifically on these empirical issues, so if you're allergic to religious discourse but still interested in the general topic, you can skip straight to this section of the booklet for a succinct overview (with recourse to the latest scientific research) of the hidden human, animal, and environmental consequences of the traditional American diet.

Excellent documentary about climate change, world hunger, creation care, and non-human animals, all from a Jewish perspective. Also check out the review by The Humane Society Animals and Religion here.

A New Lecture Series at Calvin College is in the News!
Wake Up Weekend participants may have had the pleasure of attending Dr. Stephen H. Webb's inaugural address of Calvin's new Animals and the Kingdom of God Lecture Series. Those who missed the lecture can read all about it in this article from yesterday's Grand Rapids Press. With an article on a recent vegan wedding reception at the Amway Grand earlier in the week, our hometown paper is doing their part to get the plight of farmed animals in the news. Take a minute to let them know that you appreciate their coverage of these stories and that you'd like to see more on related topics!

Bob Torres on "The Political Economy of Animal Rights"
The Vegan Freak is at it again. In his new book Making A Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, Bob Torres wields an explosive battery of Marxist and anarchist artillery to level a withering critique of both the capitalism that drives animal exploitation and the conflicted philosophy of animal rights activism that he claims unwittingly entrenches this exploitation. For those who have read previous posts on the recent conflicts between Reformist and Abolitionist approaches to animal advocacy, the alleged inconsistencies in the "New Welfarist" approaches that Torres is criticizing will ring familiar.

The Uninterrogated Assumptions of "New Welfarism"
Says Torres: "Because some new welfarists imagine that talking about human hierarchy over animals and the moral wrong of all animal exploitation is too onerously radical and difficult for the average person to understand, let alone accept, we end up with campaigns, strategies, and tactics that do little more than refocus the efforts of industry to produce products that "caring, ethical" consumers find pleasing. We also end up with so-called "reforms" that even animal rights organizations argue make animal exploitation more profitable. Some activists refer to these reforms as "victories," and they are victories, in a sense: they are victories for the industry." (100) Among the organizations targeted here are PETA and The Humane Society of the United States, groups that, according to Torres, do not even engage, much less challenge, the foundational assumptions upon which the exploitative practices of animal use industries ultimately rest, namely the property status of animals (which paves the way for their commodification), and underlying that, the traditionally accepted hierarchy of human beings over animals.

Veganism as a Baseline
Entitled "You Cannot Buy the Revolution," the final chapter of this provocative read provides an intriguing but somewhat scant set of recommendations for moving forward. First and foremost, Torres maintains, veganism "must be a baseline for the animal rights movement. It is the daily, lived expression of abolition in one's life, and a rejection of the logic of speciesism." As Torres sees it, "vegan education should form the basis of our outreach and activism; in our interactions with people outside the movement, we should discuss why veganism is a viable option. This works in direct contrast to the current animal rights discourse, which promotes "happy meat," "humanely" raised eggs, and organic milk. All of these products rely on exploitation and maintain the relations that will continue to exploit. If we want to eradicate exploitation, we must begin by ending it in our own lives, and encouraging others to do the same." (145) Beyond adopting veganism, Torres recommends that we eschew large, beaurocratic institutions like PETA and HSUS in favor of marshaling the power of the internet and working in "consensus-based affinity groups"--smaller, more flexible collectives of like-minded people that may serve as "models of non-exploitative, non-hierarchical social relationships that highlight mutual aid and conviviality, while also respecting individuality." (148) Sounds a bit like ExtraVEGANza!. Who knew we were a consensus-based affinity group? SNAP!

At Home With Bob Torres
Controversial as its thesis may be, Making A Killing is an intriguing, challenging, and inspiring read, at least in part because of the uniqueness of Torres's voice. As a scholar-activist with a Ph.D. in sociology from Cornell University and a professorship at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York, he brings pedagogy and agitation into an unsettling, but potentially invigorating, confluence. Read all about his personal and professional exploits at bobtorres.net.

Are Specieism and Animal Liberation Compatible?
This remarkable new book by Tzachi Zamir maintains that, contrary to popular opinion, it is possible to argue to the abolition of many "animal use" industries from "speciesist" premises. Here's a brief description of Zamir's argument from the book's promo page at Princeton University Press:

"Many people think that animal liberation would require a fundamental transformation of basic beliefs. We would have to give up "speciesism" and start viewing animals as our equals, with rights and moral status. And we would have to apply these beliefs in an all-or-nothing way. But in Ethics and the Beast, Tzachi Zamir makes the radical argument that animal liberation doesn't require such radical arguments--and that liberation could be accomplished in a flexible and pragmatic way. By making a case for liberation that is based primarily on common moral intuitions and beliefs, and that therefore could attract wide understanding and support, Zamir attempts to change the terms of the liberation debate.

Without defending it, Ethics and the Beast claims that speciesism is fully compatible with liberation. Even if we believe that we should favor humans when there is a pressing human need at stake, Zamir argues, that does not mean that we should allow marginal human interests to trump the life-or-death interests of animals. As minimalist as it sounds, this position generates a robust liberation program, including commitments not to eat animals, subject them to factory farming, or use them in medical research. Zamir also applies his arguments to some questions that tend to be overlooked in the liberation debate, such as whether using animals can be distinguished from exploiting them, whether liberationists should be moral vegetarians or vegans, and whether using animals for therapeutic purposes is morally blameless."

A Vegetarian Journal for Quakers and Other People of Faith
Though Animal Liberation is often considered a "secular" phenomenon, the cause of compassion for animals is gaining ground among people of faith. These advances are happening because of the work of visionary individuals like Gracia Fay Ellwood, publisher of the Vegetarian Friends website, author of "Are Animals Our Neighbors?", and editor of The Peaceable Table, a Vegetarian Journal for Quakers and Other People of Faith. Though Ellwood lives and works in California, she has connections to West Michigan as an alumna of Calvin College, from which she graduated in 1961 with a major in (what else?) Philosophy. If you find Christendom's general indifference to the plight of non-human animals alienating, then take a page out of Ellwood's playbook and BE THE CHANGE you'd like to see in the Church.

For "edu-tainment" animals, the cost of admission may be higher than you think.
Animal enterprises such as aquariums and zoos count on the public perception that their reasons for being are noble ones: education, conservation, and research that benefits the animals themselves. But is this scenario really plausible? The authors of this article challenge us to think before we patronize such establishments.

Carol J. Adams On The Sexual Politics of Meat
One of the most exciting aspects of veganism is the way in which it challenges one to think holistically about one's relationship to a wide variety of interconnected social justice concerns. While opponents frequently try to paint it as a myopic "one issue" cause, the reality is that veganism witnesses to the urgent need for social change not just in the ways that non-human animals are viewed and treated, but also in the ways that human beings are viewed and treated.

In her pioneering work on feminism, race, and vegetarianism, activist and social theorist Carol J. Adams is concerned, in particular, with articulating the structural and historical parallels between human and animal subjugation. Her guiding question, investigated at length in both The Sexual Politics of Meat and The Pornography of Meat, is that of how dominant culture succeeds in reducing "someone" (an irreplaceable, individual person or animal) into "something"-a consumable object or "mass term" in which all vestiges of the original "someone" are effaced.

Like many texts that question the domination of the status quo, Carol Adams' work is not exactly beach reading. But if you like a challenge, it might well change the way you look at bodies on the beach, be they those of scantily clad people basking in the sun or those of butchered "food" animals sizzling on the grill.

Need Another Reason to Boycott Factory Farmed Animal Products?
As if cruelty to animals, environmental degradation, and the exacerbation of numerous human health crises weren't enough, these new studies conducted by the World Society for the Protection of Animals suggest that industrial agriculture has troublesome implications for the lives of the world's poorest people. Read the full report entitled "Industrial Animal Agriculture: Part of the Poverty Problem" and share your knowledge with socially conscious family and friends!

Here's a special trailer, made by the Humane Society of the US, for the new film "Amazing Grace."

Here's a special trailer, made by the Humane Society of the US, for the new film "Amazing Grace":

Next Friday, you won't want to miss the true story of William Wilberforce (1759-1833), a political activist who was not only a leading abolitionist but one of the founding figures of the animal protection movement. The film captures Wilberforce's determination to end the cruelty and suffering imposed on both humans and animals in his era, and it's an inspiring story of how one person can make a difference. I loved Amazing Grace and hope you'll see it on opening weekend, beginning February 23.

What's the "religious perspective" on abortion? On capital punishment? On war? On eating animals? In particular, what do Christians think about those topics? What's the "Christian view" on these issues?

These questions are often asked, but honestly there really is no answer to them because the question is founded on a false assumption, namely that there typically is one, and only on, position that "religious people" take on issues.

But this is false. For just about any controversial moral or social issue (but probably not all of them . .), there is no one position that all, or even most, "religious people," including Christians, accept.

For example, some people think that "the Christian view" on abortion is that it's (always) wrong, but that's not correct: some Christians think it's wrong and others think it's not wrong and, with luck, they have some reasons to explain why they think what they do.

The same is true about ethics and animals questions. Many people say their religion allows them to eat animals. Others argue that if you take a closer look at the fundamental ideas of that religion, you find that that religion has resources that strongly condemn raising and killing to animals to eat them, wear them and even experiment on them.

So, there's the Christian Vegetarian Association, the Jewish Vegetarian Society, at least some pages about Islam and vegetarianism, and organizations and thinking based in many other religions (indeed, just about all of them). From each religion, there are people advocating for animals and all things veggie.

So, my suggestion is this: if one talks about religious views, one should get specific and avoid the too common false, blanket generalizations like those above.

From the UK's The Independent newspaper:

Don't follow the herd and give a cow for Christmas:
These gifts are not a good thing. They serve only to increase, not diminish, poverty

. . . Paying for farm animals to be gifted to impoverished communities in the developing world, notably Africa, has moved from novelty to omnipresent fashion. . . The message might bring comfort to the target audience, but such schemes, sadly, are not a good thing. They serve only to increase not diminish poverty. Why? Because farming animals is an inefficient, expensive and environmentally destructive way of producing food. All farmed animals require proper nourishment, large quantities of water, shelter from extremes of weather and veterinary care. Such resources are in critically short supply in much of Africa. . .

For sources for humane giving this holiday season, see Humane Charity Seal of Approval program: