As I know there is some possible understanding behind the meat eating of Jews. They ate meat, but as you know they didn’t eat the blood, it wasn’t cosher. But blood was somehow understanded as soul, so people took animal’s flesh, but they didn’t take away the core of animals life, the self of animals, their soul. So there is some philosophy behind the cosher rules.(Maybe some commentators of OT made such commentaries, I don’t know). It wasn’t just utilitaristic thing - eating animals, animals had their own soul, that by God’s commandment couldn’t be taken from them.

Sorry, I’m from Russia, don’t know English very well. I hope, my thoughts could be understood.

Michael

You are quite understandable, Michael. And yes, there is an idea that the life of an animal belongs to God, which was ritually identified with its blood, so the blood was poured out rather than consumed by the Jewish people. That was the philosophy behind this Old Testament practice. It was an acknowledgement of God as the Lord of life.

Thank you for commenting!

Then somebody will say he was a pescatarian.  There are getting to be too many ‘-tarians’ to keep track anymore! :)

Thank you Lord, for allowing animals for food!
I spent 4 years as a vegan, and it was the worst thing for my health that I’ve ever done.  I would strongly caution people against veganism, and encourage traditional diets, as opposed to the Standard American Diet.

Excellent Post.  I am a 99% vegan man (the other 1% being cheese pizza once every three months or so).  I think there are very good scientific arguments to be made for a plant-based, whole foods diet (e.g. T. Colin Campbell “The China Study”) but eating meat is not sinful, nor is it un-Christian.  That said, there are some serious issues with animal protein to the extent that we consume it today.  Excessive casein is linked to cancer, and animal flesh and dairy products are linked to a host of health issues.  Yes, Jesus ate meat, but he got to eat good meat.  Not the garbage pimped by Walmart that was produced in high-density feed lots and laced with antibiotics, growth hormones, and “up-to-a-twelve-percent=solution.”  We’re dying, and the meat is killing us…not the meat that God gave us, but the meat that Satan (a-la-Monsato-and-pimps) have given us.  Watch “Food, Inc.” and “The Future of Food” and then tell me there isn’t a problem that would not be best served by all of us Westerners eating less meat and dairy.

It’s my personal belief, based on both research and my own bad experiences with soy, that God intended legumes as a good cover crop and nothing more. There’s reason to believe that the over-exposure to the phytoestrogens in soy is what could be causing earlier-than-normal puberty in girls. And I don’t think it’s a good idea to overload boys with phytoestrogens, either.  I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about that one….

@ Elodie - Too much of anything can cause problems.  There was a ridiculous article published in the New York Times a while back called “Death By Veganism” in which the author offered up the Straw Man of a couple who gave their baby soy milk and apple juice and nothing else.  Well…of course the baby died!  The author tried to make the argument that there are no traditional, naturally occurring cultures that practice veganism.  That’s probably true, but then, there are also no naturally occurring cultures that murder their babies in abortion mills at the rate of a million a year, plunging themselves into demographic winter.  For that matter, there are no naturally occurring cultures that eat ground beef laced with chemicals and antibiotics, or with beef patties that contain the tissue of 3,000 different animals!  There are also no naturally occurring cultures that lace their milk with BGH, and there are no naturally occurring cultures that consume meat and dairy at the rate we do today, and there are no naturally occurring cultures that find it necessary to rip open people’s chests for bypass surgeries at the rate of 500,000 a year.  And…there are no naturally occurring cultures that have nearly half their populations on some kind of long-term drug be it diabetes meds, statins, etc.  A vegan diet may not be the right choice for everyone, but a major reduction across the board in the consumption of animal products will make for a healthier, happier nation.  The data are in, and the science is irrefutable.

Jesus ate fish, which isn’t vegan behavior. Vegan rhymes with pagan. If Catholics abstain from meat on certain days for religious reasons, it better be because they want to fast and sacrifice for God or save souls, and not animal worship. Animal worship grows in societies when respect for human life diminishes. Vegans enthusiastically support animal rights, abortion and contraception, in that order. I never met one who didn’t.

@ That Hat Lady - “Vegans enthusiastically support animal rights, abortion and contraception, in that order. I never met one who didn’t.”

Well, That Hat Lady, allow me to introduce myself.  My real name is Mark, I am a parishioner at a Catholic parish in Illinois (which is as much as I’m going to share online).  With the exception of an occasional bite of cheese every few months, I eat fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes in all sorts of forms and varieties.  I am for the humane treatment of animals, but DO NOT support animal “rights,” in a juridical sense.  My wife and I do not contracept, and I do not support abortion.  I don’t know what kind of little Catholic bubble you live in, but there is a whole world out there with all sorts of people leading very interesting and different lives…and doing so while remaining faithful to the Magisterium, but without recourse to the ignorant little pigeon holes in which you seem to need to place people.  As Jimmy Akin points out, eating meat is not incompatible with Christianity, and neither is not eating meat.  One can be a faithful Catholic and eat just about anything (except people of course).  So…now you’ve met one.  Imagine what else you might accomplish today with God’s grace.  Go in peace, your wanton ignorance is forgiven.

Sincerely yours,

A pro-life, non-contracepting, anti-PETA, faithful Catholic, veg-head.

Hello upbeat Dad, I am faithful, Catholic former vegan who has big issue with studies like the China study.  No traditional diets were included, and no peoples like Inuit Natives and Masai tribesman were taken into account.  Those two cultures eat little to any plant food at all, and have the same lack of cancer as Campbell’s vegans.  We get all of our meat from local farms in IL, thereby doing our civic duty supporting our local farmers, as well as keeping our children safe from feedlot evils.  We have never been in better health, and we were “perfect” organic vegans before.  I strongly recommend that you look up the benefits of cholesterol on the brain of a child and start feeding it to your kids…. Along with all the wonderful veggies, of course. 
God bless!  In all our years of veganism, I never met another Catholic one!

My conscience, based on my understanding of stewardship,  has led me to try within our means to avoid meat that has come from animals that were treated as nothing more than matter to be processed—as is typical in large factory farms and meat processing plants.  I still have to feed my family properly and my husband likes to eat meat often, so there are lots of trade-offs, but I can’t ignore my conscience.  I do not feel that eating meat often is necessary and it is not important enough that I want to participate in confining animals, feeding them non-nutritious foods to fatten them, and buying into the machinery of modern food production that makes pain-feeling beings into just “stuff”.

Also, I know a few vegans who are pagan/non-religious, and prolife, too.  I agree that it is less-than-integrated to hold certain vegan ideas and yet be ok with abortion, esp. after the first few weeks gestation.

@ Katheryn - Thanks.  I’d be interested to know what made you revert from the plant-based diet.  I’m not probing or anything, just curious as I’ve often wondered if we might eventually need to add back some dairy some day (assuming we can find some that is not toxic). Right now the issues for us are weight loss and high blood pressure.

One note on the China Study - the reason it didn’t include the Masai or Inuit, is because there aren’t any in China.  Campbell’s work did, in fact, include traditional diets.  Those being the traditional diets of various provinces in rural China, which are not vegan.  The point was that they consume very few animal products relative to us here in the West.

As far as the cholesterol thing goes, doesn’t the human body already synthesize enough cholesterol on its own without needing any dietary cholesterol?  If you could point me in the direction of some sources, I’d appreciate it.  Thanks

@upbeat dad, you can find tons if info on the Weston A. Price foundation website, in addition to sourcing good, clean, raw milk.  I also recommend Dr. Mercola, (mercola.com). I wish I could somehow privately get you my email address…
The thing about cholesterol is this… The child brain is built by cholesterol.  Human milk is a ridiculously high percentage cholesterol.  I am a bit hesitant to hijack this blog to explain it though, and the two organizations that I mentioned above can also do a better job! Oh! The documentary “Fat Head” available on Netflix is great too. 
We left veganism because our children were sickly and my mental health was at an all time low.  None of us is sick anymore.

@ Katheryn That’s interesting to hear, because different people seem to react in different ways.  For me my mental health didn’t turn around until I have been vegetarian a while (not yet vegan)  Prior to that, I was on half a dozen meds, including two antidepressants.  Once I started in with the fruits and vegetables, though, the weight dropped off, the blood pressure returned to normal, and I went of the antidepressants, which were making me sick anyway.

Our daughter is 5 and I do care to see that she is getting what she needs.  We give her multivitamins daily and supplement her B12 intake with fortified cereals and soy milk.  B12 I know is an issue, but I guess I just thought that the body could manufacture enough cholesterol on its own.

If you wish, you may email me at (ignore the spaces) m a r k z o b e l @ m a c (dot) c o m

Should Christians be vegetarian?

Anglican priest Reverend Andrew Linzey notes that “humans are made in the image of God, given dominion, and then told to follow a vegetarian diet (Genesis 1:29). Herb-eating dominion is not despotism.”

However, Linzey acknowledges the need for a new theology, an animal liberation theology, which would revolutionize our understanding of humanity’s place in creation and relationship to other species, just as the Copernican picture of a sun-centered universe replaced the earth-centered picture.

“We need a concept of ourselves in the universe not as the master species but as the servant species–as the one given responsibility for the whole and the good of the whole. We must move from the idea that animals were given to us and made for us, to the idea that we were made for creation, to serve it and ensure its continuance. This actually is little more than the theology of Genesis chapter two. The Garden is made beautiful and abounds with life: humans are created specifically to ‘take care of it.’ (Genesis 2:15)

“A great wickedness of the Christian tradition,” observes Reverend Linzey, “is that, at this very point, where it could have been a source of great blessing and life; it has turned out to be a source of cursing and death. I refer here to the way Christian theology has allowed itself to promulgate notions that animals have no rights; that they are put here for our use; that animals have no more moral status than sticks and stones.

“Animal rights in this sense is a religious problem. It is about how the Christian tradition in particular has failed to realize the God-given rights of God-given life. Animal rights remains an urgent question of theology.

“Every year,” says Dr. Linzey, “I receive hundreds of anguished letters from Christians who are so distressed by the insensitivity to animals shown by mainstream churches that they have left them or on the verge of doing so. Of course, I understand why they have left the churches and in this matter, as in all else, conscience can be the only guide. But if all the Christians committed to animal rights leave the church, where will that leave the churches?

“The time is long overdue to take the issue of animal rights to the churches with renewed vigor. I don’t pretend it’s easy but I do think it’s essential–not, I add, because the churches are some of the best institutions in society but rather because they are some of the worst. The more the churches are allowed to be left to one side in the struggle for animal rights, the more they will remain forever on the other side.

“I derive hope from the Gospel preaching,” Linzey concludes, “that the same God who draws us to such affinity and intimacy with suffering creatures declared that reality on a Cross in Calvary. Unless all Christian preaching has been utterly mistaken, the God who becomes incarnate and crucified is the one who has taken the side of the oppressed and the suffering of the world–however the churches may actually behave.”

The Bible teaches God’s love and compassion for humans, animals and all creation; beginning (Genesis 1:29) and ending (Isaiah 11:6-9) in a vegetarian paradise. Christianity teaches not just the redemption of man, but that of the entire creation.

Jesus taught nonviolence and performed acts of mercy and self-sacrifice. Jesus opposed the buying and selling of animals for sacrifice in the Temple. He substituted a sacrament of bread and drink offered to God in place of such a ritual, and finally offered himself as a divine sacrifice before God. Christ is the savior of all flesh-and-blood creatures. All flesh shall be redeemed, and the entire creation awaits resurrection.

According to Church history, the first apostles, including Jesus’ very own brother, were vegetarian. The New Testament teaches compassion, mercy, repentance, faith in God, baptism, rejoicing, refraining from gratifying fleshly cravings (Romans 13:14), and not being a slave to one’s bodily appetites (Philippians 3:19).

Some of the most distinguished figures in the history of Christianity have been vegetarian or at least sympathetic to animal rights. Many Christian thinkers are beginning to seriously address the moral issue of animal rights. The Catholic periodical America has run articles on animal rights, as has the Protestant publication Christian Century. Compassion towards animals–to the point of not killing and eating them merely to satisfy one’s taste buds–is consistent with Christian teaching.

Perhaps the real question true believers should be asking themselves on issues such as animal rights and vegetarianism is not, “Why should Christians abstain from certain foods?” but rather, “Why should Christians want to unnecessarily harm or kill God’s innocent creatures in the first place?”

Thanks Mr. Akin for the great video!
—
I always think that if Jesus was a vegetarian and wanted the rest of us to be so, he would have been a bit more explicit about it. I don’t recall any parables or miracles that served to promote vegetarianism. Then again, there are still some people that think we shouldn’t be drinking alcohol because we’re Christian…but what was Jesus’ first miracle? Water into wine—and not just some cheap franzia, the best wine! I think some people will pull what they want from scripture, no matter what. That’s why I thank God for the Church and her wisdom. Instead of diving into scripture without a guide or a standard, you have her guidance and wisdom there to help you out at all time—you want to know if eating meat is permitted? Crack open your catechism and read what it says.

I would like to see organized religion join secular organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in the struggle for animal rights, condemning the killing of animals with the same moral fervor now reserved for serious human rights issues, like abortion.

On this website, I see eaf praising “...the Church and her wisdom” but religion has been wrong before. It has been said that on issues such as women’s rights and human slavery, religion has impeded social and moral progress.

It was a Spanish Catholic priest, Bartolome de las Casas, who first proposed enslaving black Africans in place of the Native Americans who were dying off in great numbers.

The church of the past never considered human slavery to be a moral evil. The Protestant churches of Virginia, South Carolina, and other southern states actually passed resolutions in favor of the human slave traffic.

Human slavery was called “by Divine Appointment,” “a Divine institution,” “a moral relation,” “God’s institution,” “not immoral,” but “founded in right.”

The slave trade was called “legal,” “licit,” “in accordance with humane principles” and “the laws of revealed religion.”

New Testament verses calling for obedience and subservience on the part of slaves (Titus 2:9-10; Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-25; I Peter 2:18-25) and respect for the master (I Timothy 6:1-2; Ephesians 6:5-9) were often cited in order to justify human slavery.

Some of Jesus’ parables refer to human slaves. Paul’s epistle to Philemon concerns a runaway slave returned to his master.

The Quakers were one of the earliest religious denominations to condemn human slavery.

“Paul’s outright endorsement of slavery should be an undying embarrassment to Christianity as long as they hold the entire New Testament to be the word of God,” wrote Quaker physician Dr. Charles P. Vaclavik in his 1986 book, The Vegetarianism of Jesus Christ: The Pacifism, Communalism and Vegetarianism of Primitive Christianity.

“Without a doubt, the American slaveholders quoted Paul again and again to substantiate their right to hold slaves. The moralist movement to abolish slavery had to go to non-biblical sources to demonstrate the immoral nature of slavery.

“The abolitionists could not turn to Christian sources to condemn slavery, for Christianity had become the bastion of the evil practice through its endorsement by the Apostle Paul.

“Only the Old Testament gave the abolitionist any Biblical support in his efforts to free the slaves. ‘You shall not surrender to his master a slave who has taken refuge with you.’ (Deuteronomy 23:15) What a pittance of material opposing slavery from a book supposedly representing the word of God.”

In 1852, Josiah Priest wrote Bible Defense of Slavery. Others claimed blacks were subhuman. Buckner H. Payne, calling himself “Ariel,” wrote in 1867: “the tempter in the Garden of Eden… was a beast, a talking beast… the negro.” Ariel argued that since the negro was not part of Noah’s family, he must have been a beast.

“Eight souls were saved on the ark, therefore, the negro must be a beast, and “consequently, he has no soul to be saved.”

The status of animals in contemporary human society is like that of human slaves in centuries past. Quoting Luke 4:18, Colossians 3:11, Galatians 3:28 or any other biblical passages merely suggesting liberty, equality and an end to human slavery in the 18th or 19th century would have been met with the kind of response animal activists receive today if they quote Bible verses in favor of ethical vegetarianism and compassion towards animals.

Some of the worst crimes in history were committed in the name of religion. There’s a great song along these lines from 1992 by Rage Against the Machine, entitled “Killing in the Name.”

Someone once pointed out that while Hitler may have claimed to be a Christian, he imprisoned Christian clergy who opposed the Nazi regime, and even Christian churches were subject to the terror of the Nazis.

Thinking along these lines, I realize that while I would like to see organized religion support animal liberation (e.g., as was the case with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement) rather than simply remain an obstacle to social and moral progress (e.g., 19th century southern churches in the U.S. upheld human slavery on biblical grounds), this support must come freely and voluntarily (e.g., “The Liberation of All Life” resolution issued by the World Council of Churches in 1988).

Religious institutions can’t be coerced into rewriting their holy books or teaching a convoluted doctrine to suit the whims or the secular political ideology of a particular demagogue.

Liberals argue that principle of the separation of church and state gives us freedom FROM religious tyranny and theocracy. Conservatives argue (the other side of the coin!) that one of the reasons America’s founding fathers established the separation of church and state was to prevent non-parishioners from intruding into ecclesiastical affairs.

I agree with Reverend Marc Wessels, Executive Director of the International Network for Religion and Animals (INRA), who said on Earth Day 1990: 

“It is a fact that no significant social reform has yet taken place in this country without the voice of the religious community being heard.  The endeavors of the abolition of slavery; the women’s suffrage movement; the emergence of the pacifist tradition during World War I; the struggles to support civil rights, labor unions, and migrant farm workers; and the anti-nuclear and peace movements have all succeeded in part because of the power and support of organized religion.

“Such authority and energy is required by individual Christians and the institutional church today if the liberation of animals is to become a reality.”

No way should the Church ever support such organizations like PETA. It’s diabolical to put the life of an animal on the same level as a human being.

Recently I was reading about monastic diets, and there was mention made about vegetarian diets.  There was a posting where vegetarianism was linked to the vow of poverty.  This might make an interesting follow up article.

If Catholics are going vegan, they had better be doing it for health or economic reasons, or perhaps atonement for sins against God. They better not be doing it for animal worship lest they risk damnation.

GregB wrote:  “Recently I was reading about monastic diets, and there was mention made about vegetarian diets.”

Hi GregB, your comment caught my attention.  I am an oblate at a Benedictine monastery.  The Benedictines follow “The Rule of St. Benedict,” which is (I believe) followed by nearly all the monastic orders with exception of a few.  The Order of St. Benedict is the oldest monastic order, over 1,500 years old.  The Rule of St. Benedict does not permit meat, except for sick monks:  Ch. 39 of the Rule:  “...Let everyone, except the sick who are very weak, abstain entirely from eating the meat of four-footed animals.”  Pax. 

Oh I forgot to add: I have been a vegetarian for around 25 years.  And no, ThatHatLady, I do not worship animals, nor do I support animal rights or abortion or contraception.  I do believe in treating animals ethically as God gave us dominion over them, and I believe God’s idea of “dominion” implies love and care in the form of humane treatment. Pax.

Just wanted to add my bit: Please don’t lump all vegetarians/vegans in one group. I have been a vegetarian since before I was born. I don’t eat meat the same reason most meat eaters don’t eat dirt or bugs - it is not what I consider to be food. Not because I worship animals. Also I am a 100% pro-life non-contracepting 20-something stay-at-home mom. And as my mom has said many times “Please don’t define people based on what they do or do not eat. Food is a gift from God”
P.S. I am a dog lover but not a PETA fan.

From history, we learn that the earliest Christians were vegetarians as well as pacifists.  For example, Clemens Prudentius, the first Christian hymn writer, in one of his hymns, exhorts his fellow Christians not to pollute their hands and hearts by the slaughter of innocent cows and sheep, and points to the variety of nourishing and pleasant foods obtainable without blood-shedding.

It’s possible historically that Christianity began as a vegetarian religion, but was corrupted over the centuries.  Secular scholar Keith Akers writes in his as of yet unpublished manuscript, Broken Thread:

“The ‘orthodox’ response to vegetarianism has been somewhat contradictory…The objection to meat consumption has been taken as evidence of heresy when Christians have been faced with outsiders; however, vegetarianism met with a kinder reception among the monastic communities…Vegetarianism does attain a certain status even in orthodox circles.

“Indeed, a list of known vegetarians among the church leaders reads very much like a Who’s Who in the early church.  Peter is described as a vegetarian in the Recognitions and Homilies.  Hegesippus, quoted by Eusebius, said that James (the brother of Jesus) was a vegetarian and was raised as a vegetarian.  Clement of Alexandria thought that Matthew was a vegetarian…

“According to Eusebius, the apostles—all the apostles, and not just James—abstained from both meat and wine, thus making them vegetarians and teetotalers, just like James.  Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Basil, Gregory of Nanziance, John Chrysostom, and Tertullian were all probably vegetarians, based on their writings…they themselves are evidently vegetarian and can be counted on to say a few kind words about vegetarianism.  On the other hand, there are practically no references to any Christians eating fish or meat before the council of Nicaea.

“The rule of Benedict forbade eating any four-legged animals, unless one was sick.  Columbanus allowed vegetables, lentil porridge, flour, and bread only, at all times, even for the sick.  A fifth-century Irish rule forbids meat, fish, cheese, and butter at all times, though the sick, elderly, travel-weary, or even monks on holidays may eat cheese or butter, but no one may ever eat meat.

“The Carthusians were especially strict about vegetarianism.  The origin of their order is related by the story of St. Bruno and his companions, who on the Sunday before Lent are sitting before some meat and are debating whether they should eat meat at all. 

“During the debate, numerous examples of vegetarians among their monastic predecessors are mentioned—the Desert Fathers, Paul (the Hermit), Antony, Hilarion, Macharius, and Arsenius, are all cited as vegetarian examples.  After much discussion, they fall asleep—and remain asleep for 45 days, waking up when Archbishop Hugh shows up on Wednesday of Holy Week!  When they wake up, the meat miraculously turns to ashes, and they fall on their knees and determine never to eat meat again.

“It is true that the church rejected the requirement for vegetarianism, following the dicta of Paul.  However, it is interesting under these circumstances that there are so many vegetarians.  In fact, outside of the references to Jesus eating fish in the New Testament, there are hardly any references to any early Christians eating meat.

“Thus vegetarianism was practiced by the apostles, by James the brother of Jesus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Basil, Gregory of Nanziance, John Chrysostom, Tertullian, Bonaventure, Arnobius, Cassian, Jerome, the Desert Fathers, Paul (the Hermit), Antony, Hilarion, Machrius, Columbanus, and Aresenius—but not by Jesus himself!

“It is as if everyone in the early church understood the message except the messenger.  This is extremely implausible.  The much more likely explanation is that the original tradition was vegetarian, but that under the pressure of expediency and the popularity of Paul’s writings in the second century, the tradition was first dropped as a requirement and finally dropped even as a desideratum.”

In her 2004 book, Vegetarian Christian Saints:  Mystics, Ascetics & Monks, Jewish scholar Dr. Holly Roberts (she has a Master’s degree in Christian theology) documents the lives and teachings of over 150 canonized saints:

St. Anthony of Egypt; St. Hilarion; St. Macarius the Elder; St. Palaemon; St. Pachomius; St. Paul the Hermit; St. Marcian; St. Macarius the Younger; St. Aphraates; St. James of Nisibis; St. Ammon; St. Julian Sabas; St. Apollo; St. John of Egypt; St. Porphyry of Gaza; St. Dorotheus the Theban; St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch; St. Sabas; St. Fugentius of Ruspe; St. Gerasimus; St. Mary of Egypt; St. Dositheus; St. Abraham Kidunaja; St. John the Silent; St. Theodore of Sykeon; St. Lups of Troyes; St. Lupicinus; St. Romanus; St. Gudelinis; St. Liphardus; St. Maurus of Glanfeuil; St. Urbicius; St. Senoch; St. Hospitius; St. Winwaloe; St. Kertigan; St. Fintan; St. Molua; St. Amatus; St. Guthlac; St. Joannicus; St. Theodore the Studite; St. Lioba; St. Euthymius the Younger; St. Luke the Younger; St. Paul of Latros; St. Antony of the Caves of Kiev; St. Theodosius Pechersky; St. Fantinus; St. Wulfstan; St. Gregory of Makar; St. Elphege; St. Theobald of Provins; St. Stephen of Grandmont; St. Henry of Coquet; St. William of Malavalle; St. Godric; St. Stephen of Obazine; St. William of Bourges; St. Humility of Florence; St. Simon Stock; St. Agnes of Montepulciano; St. Laurence Justinian; St. Herculanus of Piegaro; St. Francis of Assisi; St. Clare of Assisi; St. Aventine of Troyes; st. Felix of Cantalice; St. Joseph of Cupertino; St. Benedict; St. Bruno; St. Alberic; St. Robert of Molesme; St. Stephen Harding; St. Gilbert of Sempringham; St. Dominic; St. John of Matha; St. Albert of Jerusalem; St. Angela Merici; St. Paula; St. Genevieve; St. David; St. Leonard of Noblac; St. Kevin; St. Anskar; St. Ulrich; St. Yvo; St. Laurence O’Toole; St. Hedwig; St. Mary of Onigines; St. Elizabeth of Hungary; St. Ivo Helory; St. Philip Benizi; St. Albert of Trapani; St. Nicholas of Tolentino; St. Rita of Cascia; St. Francis of Paola; St. John Capistrano; St. John of Kanti; St. Peter of Alcantara; St. Francis Xavier; St. Philip Neri; St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi; St. Jean-Marie Vianney; St. Basil the Great; St. Jerome; St. Ephraem; St. Peter Damian; St. Bernard; St. Catherine of Siena; St. Robert Bellarmine; St. Peter Celestine; St. Olympias; St. Publius; St. Malchus; St. Asella; St. Sulpicius Severus; St. Maxentius; St. Monegundis; St. Paul Aurelian; St. Coleman of Kilmacduagh; St. Bavo; St. Amandus; St. Giles; St. Silvin; st. Benedict of Aniane; St. Aybert; St. Dominic Loricatus; St. Richard of Wyche; St. Margaret of Cortona; St. Clare of Rimini; St. Frances of Rome; St. James de la Marca; St. Michael of Giedroyc; St. Mariana of Quito; St. John de Britto; St. Callistratus; St. Marianus; St. Brendon of Clonfert; St. Kieran (Carian); St. Stephen of Mar Saba; St. Anselm; St. Martin de Porres; St. Procpius; St. Boniface of Tarsus; St. Serenus.

In the (updated) 1986 edition of A Vegetarian Sourcebook, Keith Akers similarly observes:  “But many others, both orthodox and heterodox, testified to the vegetarian origins of Christianity.  Both Athanasius and his opponent Arius were strict vegetarians. Many early church fathers were vegetarian, including Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Heironymus, Boniface, and John Chrysostom.

“Many of the monasteries both in ancient times and at the present day practiced vegetarianism…The requirement to be vegetarian has been diluted considerably since the earliest days, but the practice of vegetarianism was continued by many saints, monks, and laymen.  Vegetarianism is at the heart of Christianity.”

History shows that Christianity, like Buddhism, began as a pacifist religion, and was pacifist until the time of Constantine, when it became a state religion.  Before Constantine, Christians who took up arms were excommunicated.  After Constantine, Christians who laid down their arms were excommunicated! 

I’m not saying we should lay down our arms (the Bhagavad-gita, after all, was spoken on a battlefield!), but that it’s not hard to imagine Christianity similarly beginning as a vegetarian religion, and being corrupted over the centuries…the corruption beginning, perhaps, with the apostle Paul?