RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

What is the Importance of Vegetarianism?

All religions strive to reduce the consumption of meat in one way or another. Some religions, particularly in ancient times, turned the eating of meat into a sacrifice, a religious ritual that requires special preparation.Even hunting cultures only consume meat after such rituals and make sure to use all parts of the animal and to ask for forgiveness for their action of harming the creature. Only meat that is appropriately sanctified is considered proper for eating.No tribal people eat meat quickly or carelessly, or accept situations, as today, wherein animals are raised in a brutal and mechanical way for meat production.

Other religions, like Judaism, Islam and Christianity, try to reduce aspects of meat-eating but not meat-eating itself. Judaic and Islamic law forbids certain animal foods, like pork and shellfish, and has a special way of killing animals for consumption that was originally meant to reduce the negative effects of meat (like removing all the blood of the animal).

Even Catholic Christianity has forbidden eating of meat on Fridays. While such measures fall short of vegetarianism, they do show the same direction of motivation. As these religions approve of restrictions on meat consumption, we must consider that it is yet better to eliminate it altogether. Hence it is clear that reduction of meat consumption is a common practice in all religions, the universality of which should be recognized. On the other hand, we do not find instances where any religious books restrict the consumption of vegetables in the same manner.

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