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Some people are Vegetarians as an extension of their religious beliefs. So Vegetarianism can be incorporated into religions. The motivation, then, can be religious in nature.
But the practice, itself, is not a religion.
We became Vegetarians for a whole host of reasons: none of them religious. Mostly, we wanted to eat as low on the Food Chain as possible, to avoid the buildup of toxins that now are in animal flesh. Even single-cell animals have higher toxin buildup than single-cell plants. By the time you are talking about the flesh of a Cow, versus the succulent heart of an Artichoke, the difference is enormous. What surprised us was how much better we slept, and what an improvement the change made in our temperaments. That was something we had not been told about, and it was a nice bonus. Losing a pound a month, for the first year or so, was a welcome dividend, too.
Dominique Browning, Editor of House & Garden, wrote, a few years back, of the current trend toward people's inability to distinguish matters of faith, from matters of fact. I believe that many who practice Vegetarianism are foggy about what they are doing, and why. And those foggy individuals may have influenced your perception of the trend toward Vegetarian diets. It is regrettable that they have distorted your perception of what is going on. Vegetarianism, in practice and in theory, is merely way of eating.
Oh, did I mention how wonderful it is to not have stinky garbage? I'll also mention that after Katrina, our Vegetarian friends in Louisiana were the only people in their neighborhoods who did not drag their refridgerators and freezers out to the curb...trashed. In fact, they told us that a lot of the stuff inside was still edible. People with freezers full of meat had nightmares disposing of the stuff.
Not a religion it is a dietary choice. I am not in any way a vegetarian, and would be classed more a carnivore except for the cheese I eat. I am always glad to see vegetarian groups. It relates to more meat for me LOL. Vegans are even better as they don’t even eat cheese. I feel sure if we had enough vegans the price of cheese would drop.
Do vegetarians gather on Sunday mornings to form a circle while holding hands around an alter covered with squash, celery, cabbage and other delights from the vegetable kingdom? No they do not.
What? Well, of course we do! I thought all Vegans did that?
Seriously though, it is spiritual for me - but is only an offshoot of my core spiritual beliefs which include not inflicting misery/pain/hardship on conscious creatures.
Strict vegetarianism, on a global level, would require the conversion of existing critical wildlife habitat into cropland, plus the extensive additional withdrawal of water for irrigation to the level of ruining most aquifers. Wildlife would suffer, as, for example, is happening in the Amazon right now.
Higher food-chain animals, by functional design, concentrate simple foods into high quality protein and fats, all of which we require.
What we actually need to do is significantly reduce the world's human population, not try to feed an ever-growing population strictly on vegetarian foodstuffs. That's logically impossible by any metric.
Do vegetarians gather on Sunday mornings to form a circle while holding hands around an alter covered with squash, celery, cabbage and other delights from the vegetable kingdom? No they do not. They look up recipes on the internet, they're trying to be healthy and maybe get their cholesterol levels under control and those sorts of things. There's nothing even remotely religious about those activities.
Strict vegetarianism, on a global level, would require the conversion of existing critical wildlife habitat into cropland, plus the extensive additional withdrawal of water for irrigation to the level of ruining most aquifers. Wildlife would suffer, as, for example, is happening in the Amazon right now.
Higher food-chain animals, by functional design, concentrate simple foods into high quality protein and fats, all of which we require.
What we actually need to do is significantly reduce the world's human population, not try to feed an ever-growing population strictly on vegetarian foodstuffs. That's logically impossible by any metric.
Let's get it down to about 2 billion, OK?
Critical Wildlife Habitat? Are you talking about the farm factory animals that supply the majority of the "quality protien and fats"
to the large populations on the earth? The methane and CO2 emitted from farm factory animals in the U.S. beats automobile emissions in the U.S. x11 per year.
The unprocessed stool from the cows alone is absolutely staggering.
How many cows would you like on your burger?
I looooove meat but prefer to get the majority of my quality protien and fats from non-muscle sources.
Strict vegetarianism, on a global level, would require the conversion of existing critical wildlife habitat into cropland, plus the extensive additional withdrawal of water for irrigation to the level of ruining most aquifers. Wildlife would suffer, as, for example, is happening in the Amazon right now.
Higher food-chain animals, by functional design, concentrate simple foods into high quality protein and fats, all of which we require.
What we actually need to do is significantly reduce the world's human population, not try to feed an ever-growing population strictly on vegetarian foodstuffs. That's logically impossible by any metric.
Let's get it down to about 2 billion, OK?
Actually all nutritional needs can be met more efficiently and without the huge waste involved in raising animals for food. Anecdotally, I am on my second meatless year and have never felt better.
I do understand that their are logistical problems that would need to be addressed if the whole world went vegan overnight (which <incidentally> is never going to happen so is not worth arguing over).
Also - there are specific metabolistic issues with some individuals where vegetarianism is concerned - just as some are unable to eat meat.
But from what I understand, it requires more land, morewater, and moreenergy to produce meat products than to grow foods. In fact - it's many times more efficient to grow foods unless, of course, you work for the cattle lobby and have different 'facts'.
Some people are Vegetarians as an extension of their religious beliefs. So Vegetarianism can be incorporated into religions. The motivation, then, can be religious in nature.
But the practice, itself, is not a religion.
Yeah, that's where I'm at. Meat-free since 93. I incorporated a vegetarian lifestyle into my religious practice, kind of like taking a vow. And Vegetarianism is like prayer; it can be done in conjunction with any religion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by firstborn888
Also - there are specific metabolistic issues with some individuals where vegetarianism is concerned - just as some are unable to eat meat.
There are some people with a medical condition called phenylketonuria (PKU) who must live totally vegan because they cannot metabolize certain amino acids (I believe they are from animal proteins). These people can live very healthy lives by combining certain plant-based foods to get other proteins they can metabolize. In the days before we had a test for such things (late 1950s-early 1960s), these people would be institutionalized as they would be so severely affected by an omnivorous diet that they could not function (profound mental retardation, no verbal skills, etc.). So sad, especially since now we know it is preventable.
Last edited by PatsCats; 02-06-2010 at 12:10 PM..
Reason: addition
I'm not defending the current meat production paradigm. Who could? But that does not make "veganism" the answer either. My point was that the reduction of the necessary nutrients humans need is by no means easily met through adoption of vegetarianism. We don't need to raise cattle, pigs and chickens as we now do, unless we consciously choose to propagate the McDonald's/Burger King/KFC approach to feeding our populace, most of whom could care less about anything but whether their order is super-sized or not.
I'm talking about taking social responsibility for planning, population control and proper nutrition. We are omnivores, a biological fact, but there are those who deny that fact or, for their own spiritual needs, want to control my life and eating habits.
Let's not present vegetarianism as some sort of global solution with pictures of cows wallowing in their own filth. That's quite a different issue than vegetarianism, which, if globally adopted, I'll say again, would create just as many problems as the current ag-culture has. Same problem, different consequences.
By the way, my personal excursion into a vegan diet for 6 weeks left my omnivorous biochemistry feeling quite out of sorts. You can't really suggest that we're all the same, now can you? Only socialists want to ram every square or triangular one of us into the same round hole, casually knocking off the edges known as individuality and personality.
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LOL. Vegans are even better as they don’t even eat cheese
. I feel sure if we had enough vegans the price of cheese would drop. 
