ALL RELIGIONS: How do you justify meat eating?

[Deeje]

@Hockeycowboy

Yes, sliced and fried, without it a full english breakfast just isn't full.

Its a very common British dish.

I could eat almost everything else on that plate though....

 

[ajay0]

It's what my canine teeth were designed for; tearing into and ripping meat apart.

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If god didn't want me to eat meat then why give me teeth designed for it?

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The appendix may have served a functional purpose milleniums back, but it does not have one now as humans have evolved out ot it.

Similarly with respect to the canine teeth.

There was possibly a time in prerecorded human history when cannibalism used to take place. Children possibly were especially cherished as targets due to their tender flesh. As human beings got civilized they decided to eat other animals and plants through agriculture rather than eat each other up.

Vegetarianism, I would say, is the next step in human civilization, to ensure growth in human sensibilities and cultural values.

 

[Watchmen]

As a practitioner of a spiritual path it is very important to not kill an animal, also to gain food. But if you did come across a already dead animal in the forest, technically you could eat this meat since there is no life in it.
And also we must think about if we going to visit somewhere, and they serve food, that if one choose to eat the meat, that the animal was not killed dedicated to you directly. Because this would create karma not only for the one who did the killing, but also morally for you since you choose to eat it.

Why is the life of an animal valued over the life of a plant?

 

[Watchmen]

It's what my canine teeth were designed for; tearing into and ripping meat apart.

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If god didn't want me to eat meat then why give me teeth designed for it?

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I think scientists have concluded that that’s not true.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Why is the life of an animal valued over the life of a plant?

In order to survive one has to eat. Now the question is how can you survive and at the same time cause less suffering to others? By eating just the single sensed beings you cause much less pain, hence attract way less karma than killing a 5 sensed animal. But yes everytime we do cut plants we will gain some karmic effect.

 

[ajay0]

Yup, but that doesn't invalidate the fact that at one time god recognized mans' need to eat it and thus provided the means to do so. Hence, he is just fine with killing animals for food. It's only modern day grass eaters who have sentimentalized animals and adopted a "Save the Animals" mentality, and who contrive reasons not to eat Big Macs thinking it's healthier for you. It isn't. In fact, it can rob you of needed Vitamin D, Zinc, and iron, and has been shown to lead to anemia, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.

But what the hell; eat what you like, just leave your Only Meanies Eat Meat pamphlet on someone else's door step. I'll be in the back yard with my grill and baby back ribs.

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Following are links on vegetarian foods rich in vitamin d, zinc and iron.

23 High Zinc Foods for Vegans and Vegetarians

https://oldwayspt.org/blog/vitamin-d-sources-vegans-and-vegetarians

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/iron-rich-plant-foods


Leonardo da Vinci, the renaissance superman, and George Bernard Shaw are examples of famous intelligent vegetarians.

Carl Lewis and Martina Navratilova are examples of vegetarian athletes.Navrotilova had credited a vegetarian diet for extending the longevity of her tennis career.

For Americans, considering their spiralling health care costs (about which one hears a lot) and issues with obesity, being vegetarian maybe the best thing for them. You save money and look trim, attractive and young effortlessly. Also reducing chances for cancer and cardiovascular diseases which can later bankrupt you.

Or at least reduce meat considerably and increase the vegetarian proportion.

I would say vegetarianism is a better and more intelligent lifestyle choice for them.

 

[ChristineM]

@Hockeycowboy


Its a very common British dish.

I could eat almost everything else on that plate though....

Not really common, more north of uk.

The black pudding war

Scotland to “fight” England for black pudding rights - Deadline Newsa

 

[Deeje]

Not really common, more north of uk.

The black pudding war

Scotland to “fight” England for black pudding rights - Deadline Newsa

Me Mam's a wee Scot.

 

[syo]

I eat meat for health reasons.

 

[Quintessence]

Humans are obligate heterotrophs. We have to kill to live, period. It's simply the way of things.

Rationalization of these facts is approached in different ways by culture. It is worth noting that animistic cultures - those which do not regard "person" as applying exclusively to humans - were not vegetarian. For these cultures, it respecting something and recognizing it has its own will and needs doesn't mean you don't kill it. You have to kill something. Killing one thing isn't better than killing some other thing. It's still killing. What makes the difference is how that sacrifice is honored.

In the culture I'm surrounded by, little to no honor is paid to the things we kill to live. Worse, we obtain most of our food in a way that blinds us to its origins and its sacrifices. Whether it is heavily processed sustenance packed into cardboard boxes and plastic wrappers or a tomato whose cultivators live over a continent away, my people are more detached from the process of killing to eat than our ancestors ever were. Our culture makes it so, and... well... it is what it is. It has its strengths and its weaknesses. It is a way that is at odds with my own religion, but there are limits to what I can do to reconcile that while still maintaining some semblance of sanity. I dream of living on a self-sustaining farm, but am under no delusion of how much work that would be - never mind that I utterly lack the financial capital to do this. So I partake in local farmer's markets, buy local when I can, grow a few things in what space I have, and make peace with the rest.

 

[Samantha Rinne]

I am not a vegetarian but I am Hindu. Like 550 million other Hindus of the world I eat meat and i've been constantly criticised for it.

The main argument is you're killing another creature for taste.

How do you justify it?

If you eat the root part of a root vegetable or cut a plant that won't grow back, you're killing a plant. The fact is, in this imperfect Earth, your bodies need a certain amount of meat. But you can limit that amount. However it is not actually as simple as being a vegetarian. According to an article online called something like "Vegetarian There's More Blood On Your Hands" (I've probably skipped words but you can search it) they basically say that in order to plow a large field you have to bulldoze and that kills snakes and rats, whereas eating some meat (or fish or simply milk) and having a farm largely subsistence is lower impact.

Meat should not be eaten just because. And I don't eat it like a Texan or anything, I eat some fish and rice and stuff.

And what the person above me says about not knowing where the food is coming from. Today's culture can make moral judgements on meat eaters while some of these people (probly not you) are what is called junk food vegetarians, meaning the bulk of what they eat is heavily processed, and less than ethical things are done to get the food (genetic engineering, wasting crop for tax refunds, actually poisoning the land to prevent gleaning, aforementioned killing of animals that burrow there, etc).

 

[Maponos]

It's the natural order.

 

[Jainarayan]

I occasionally try going vegetarian. I fail because I don't plan. There are a lot of very good Mediterranean and Indian vegetarian dishes. I'm Sicilian as well as Hindu. Vegetarianism is keeping in line as much as possible with the dharmic principle of ahimsa, non-violence, non-harm. And while I'm not doing the slaughtering and butchering, by buying and consuming meat I'm contributing to the deaths of animals. It's something I wrestle with.

 

[Jainarayan]

If you eat the root part of a root vegetable or cut a plant that won't grow back, you're killing a plant.

For that reason Jains avoid root vegetables or any vegetable that harvesting it will kill the plant.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

I occasionally try going vegetarian. I fail because I don't plan. There are a lot of very good Mediterranean and Indian vegetarian dishes. I'm Sicilian as well as Hindu. Vegetarianism is keeping in line as much as possible with the dharmic principle of ahimsa, non-violence, non-harm. And while I'm not doing the slaughtering and butchering, by buying and consuming meat I'm contributing to the deaths of animals. It's something I wrestle with.

Maybe you could wean yourself off meat. Limit yourself to certain types

 

[Jainarayan]

Maybe you could wean yourself off meat. Limit yourself to certain types

That's what I do.

First, nothing with mammary glands, hair or fur. Eliminates land and marine mammals, and platypuses. I've done pretty well with that and can't honestly remember why I backslid. The funny thing is that there isn't much in the way of mammals I do eat. I don't eat beef (that Hindu thing ); lamb or veal (no reason to eat cute baby animals); never had goat, rabbit, squirrel; I don't like most pork except for Italian sausage and shoulder. Then I'd eliminate feathers and eggs. I don't really care for eggs or turkey anyway, and I'm sick of chicken. Then fish and other seafood. Giving up seafood might be hard.

 

[Vinayaka]

I occasionally try going vegetarian. I fail because I don't plan. There are a lot of very good Mediterranean and Indian vegetarian dishes. I'm Sicilian as well as Hindu. Vegetarianism is keeping in line as much as possible with the dharmic principle of ahimsa, non-violence, non-harm. And while I'm not doing the slaughtering and butchering, by buying and consuming meat I'm contributing to the deaths of animals. It's something I wrestle with.

Boss and I have an ongoing discussion on how we, as vegetarians, should approach non-vegetarians. I think our differences were caused by me being a teacher, having to watch people eat meat, while she was a stay at home Mom, and rarely got to watch people eat meat. Therefore, when she sees it, which is really rare, it turns her stomach.

I just accept it ... you can't change others, and I've observed small dietary changes over the years ... more food when we travel, people cutting back some on the steak and eggs for breakfast mentality. She sill reacts.

So a lot has to do with what you've experienced. Some guy here at a chicken packing house told my daughter there were only 10 vegetarians in this city. It came up because PETA was protesting at the factory. My daughter was working on the large door ... part of her job. Ignorance all around is still there.

 

[RoaringSilence]

Even though Sikhism agree's on Karmic Load caused by Meat Eating , They Need meat as a Diet since they are a warrior clan and its justified , But Overeating for sense gratification is a concern if one aims to reduce karmic load on self and planet.

 

[Shaul]

OP: There is a presumption in your question that meat eating needs to be justified. I don’t concede that. Both meat eating and vegetarianism are amoral. Each can be moral or immoral depending on how they are practiced.

 

[Beard-A-Bear]

I am not a vegetarian but I am Hindu. Like 550 million other Hindus of the world I eat meat and i've been constantly criticised for it.

The main argument is you're killing another creature for taste.

How do you justify it?

I don't have any reason or need to justify it. Heathenry neither condemns nor endorses meat-eating.