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Are Christianity and veganism compatible?

Although veganism is not a religion, many people find moral guidance and spiritual solace in the vegan ethic. Because vegan principles are so all-encompassing, they often function as a core value system for practitioners.

Vegans come from all walks of life as well as all religious affiliations and spiritual perspectives. There are numerous biblical passages which support a cruelty-free lifestyle. Nevertheless, when opposing groups engage in scriptural sparring, they each invariably unearth every imaginable excerpt to support their contrary positions.

If a person believes in a supreme being or higher power who created all life, it would certainly take a cruel god indeed to beget sentient beings whose sole purpose is to suffer and die at the hands of humans. One argument opposed to a compassionate life is that Christianity contends that nonhuman animals do not have souls and therefore cannot go to heaven. If one believes this, then it makes even more sense that we be as kind as possible to animals now, if this is the only life they may experience.

When we extinguish a precious life, it is gone forever; we cannot bring it back. When we kill without need (and what need is there to kill?), we are committing murder. Judeo-Christian theology embraces the ten commandments, the precepts given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is a tenet which the people of Israel and their followers (including Jesus and his followers) were mandated to obey. Vegan principles champion this directive. Furthermore, those who practice vegan living and believe in a higher power honor their god ever more fully by actively protecting and defending all life and all creation.

None of the world's major religions assert that "might makes right." However, when we take the lives of other animals in the name of food or clothing, we are contending just that. Killing other animals becomes even more heinous in light of the fact that we have innumerable alternatives to animal products for virtually every commodity.