Abrahamic Religions and Veganism

[Brian W]

Which is part of the reason I consider the bible to be a progressive revelation of God via fallible human beings. Long before the times of the prophets we had developed a different understanding. For example, Psalm 51:16 says "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings" and Hosea 6:6 says "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." The Bible starts with the word for God being the plural Elohim, i.e. "the gods" and says "let us make man in our image" and there is a passage (I can't remember where) that instructs the people to set up 12 standing stones and an altar stone. Together with animal sacrifices, we appear to be seeing the pagan roots of the Abrahamic religions. I believe the Bible is an account of fallible human beings in their search for their creator and should not be taken as infallible. Inspired by God, maybe, but not infallible.

 

[vegan89]

I get the impression all 3 "Abrahamic" religions are hostile to veganism to varying degrees. Christians (at least those in the United States) usually defend the cruelty of factory farms and consumption of animal products by pointing out God created the animals for humans to use (animal exploitation), and gave humans "dominion" over them, which they claim is in the Bible.

I'm aware there are some Christians who seem to take other views, like this one:

Amazon.com: Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy (Audible Audio Edition): Matthew Scully, Sean Runnette, Tantor Audio: Audible Books & Originals

Amazon.com: Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy (Audible Audio Edition): Matthew Scully, Sean Runnette, Tantor Audio: Audible Books & Originals

www.amazon.com

But they seem to represent a minority of Christians.

2/3 of the Abrahamic religions demand male circumcision (Judaism & Islam), which I also consider animal cruelty (because humans are animals).

And both Judaism and Islam involve animal sacrifices. (This seems to be more common among Muslims than Jews in modern times, but there are still many Jews who are excited to rebuild a particular Jewish Temple in Jerusalem so that they can resume animal sacrifice practices there). Thus, the view popular among vegans that animals have rights is in conflict with the animal sacrifices these religions apparently demand.

I was under the impression that the religions more friendly to veganism are probably Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism... not any of the Abrahamic religions. (But I say that as someone with limited knowledge of these other religions, so take that with a big grain of salt).