Karl Keating's E-Letter of October 5, 2004 - Page 3

BobCatholic · #31 Jan 3, '07, 8:19 pm

Quote:

I find vegetarians and vegans to be inconsistent in their principles and inconsiderate in their practices. The chief problem is that, while both disapprove of killing animals, they approve of killing plants.

In addition, many are pro-abortion, so they approve of killing unborn babies. Again, inconsistent.

dianeeh · #32 Sep 2, '07, 9:00 am

It sort of reminded me of a bumper sticker I once read: "I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants!"

That said, God gave us the earth and the plants and animals in it to take care of, and many of the over 600 laws in the Torah deal with properly and humanely taking care of the land, the crops, and the animals. I don't see how Karl can make a big joke of that.

I do think that omnivore/carnivores and vegetarians could be more charitable towards one another, but the number of poor we could feed, the land and water we could preserve, and the heart diseases and cancer we could prevent just by eating more plants and fewer animals is irrefutable.

Too many people think it has to be all or nothing. To be completely sacrificial and go vegan is just incredible, but having one meatless evening meal a week would make a difference, too. Have pasta with marinara instead of meat sauce. Make a veggie stir-fry and hold the chicken. Make tacos with vegetarian refried beans instead of ground beef in the filling with the veggies. It's not that hard. Offer it up in prayer for blessings for the poor. Donate the money you save on meat to your parish poor box or food pantry.

And all you vegans who feel awkward going to a friend's house who eats meat. Jesus said to his disciples to eat what they feed you when you go to someone's home. Eat something before you go if you are at the point where you cannot digest meat well anymore (due to being vegan for so long, this can happen), or offer to bring a dish everyone can eat. If you are willing to acknowledge that the animal already gave its life by being purchased by your friend, you can honor its life by not wasting it and eating some, if your stomach can handle it.

God bless and take care, all!