also many animals

A while back my mother pointed me to an admirable article written by Rev. Leonard Vander Zee for The Banner of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.  The article is titled ... Also Many Animals, a reference to Jonah 4:11 in which God tells Jonah, who is anxious for Nineveh to be judged for its wickedness and to save his own psyche in the process, "Should I not have concern for the great city Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people ... and also many animals? (Today's New International Version).

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back to the start

We don't often share material which advertises a particular product or company, but as many others have found, this "Back to the Start" short from the Chipotle restaurant chain contains a powerful message on its own.  With quaintly animated farm scenes and characters, and set to a surprisingly poignant cover by Willie Nelson of Coldplay's "The Scientist," the 2 min. video movingly portrays the shift away from traditional animal farming practices to sterile and industrialized, or "factory farming," systems; but it ends with such a hopeful revelation and commitment to returning to the way things used to be ... 

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happy turkey day?

I've been admittedly reluctant to write a post on this subject in recent years.  I have many happy memories of Thanksgivings past which prominently featured a turkey as the main course, and multiple turkey sandwiches afterward.  Thanksgiving traditions run deep in our society, and it's a time for remembering all we have to be thankful for, including the family and friends who share our tables, and the food upon it.  Please know I don't mean to detract from the day in the least.

But in honoring this special day and its traditions of gratitude, it's important that we're able not only to give thanks for the bird at the center of our meal, but for the life which God gave it, and for the way it was raised and slaughtered.  As someone once poignantly put it, are we truly able to say "grace" over the food before us, even a Thanksgiving turkey?

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creation care, chronic pain and a plants-based diet

Here is one last personal reflection, and a thoughtful and nuanced one at that, in our series on veganism (see the introduction and motivation) from a regular contributor to not one sparrow, Lauren Merritt of The Christian and Creation: Glorifying the Creator ...

Six years ago, concern about eating animal products was not on my radar.

I was a division-one college swimmer, busy burning thousands of calories every day and scarfing them all back down in the form of dining hall hamburgers, pizza, and ice cream.  My body paid my way through the first two years of college, doing its time in the pool and weight room.  But it didn’t hold up under the strain of training and began to break down. 

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can we just change the subject?

Continuing a series on Christians and veganism (please see our motivation for sharing more about this possible option for eating compassionately) with an honest and thought-provoking post from a good friend, Valerie McGowan of Black. Female. Christian. Vegan. ...

So, there's something you should know about me.  I hate confrontation.  I mean really.  In fact, I avoid it like the plague.  It’s so much easier to have nice, non-threatening conversations that never become tense or uncomfortable.  But I still manage to have plenty of disagreements and debates, only they take place in my head and always hours or days after my human companions have left the scene.

One topic that seems to always be at the heart of these discussions (ok, arguments) is the treatment and consumption of animals.  Among my friends (both inside and outside the Church) and family, I’m a minority in terms of my diet and lifestyle, which is primarily vegan.

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the good shepherds

Many thanks to Lauren Merritt of The Christian and Creation for sharing this poignant and challenging post contrasting the good shepherd model of animal husbandry with today's callous industrial farming.  Lauren also shares some excellent encouragement and resources toward eating more humanely ...

Good shepherds lead their flocks kindly, provide them rest and shelter, are tender with the mothers and young, and protect the flock from harm.  The flock, in turn, is comforted, rather than fearful of the shepherd’s staff and turn to him for guidance and care.

It’s the pastoral ideal.  It’s the scene portrayed in children’s books and famous paintings, seen in movies, and commercials about happy cows.  But today, it’s a sadly misleading version of an American farm. 

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Salmon CAFO's

The following is a thoughtful post from our friend and Christian author William Kruidenier on the question of eating fish in general, and industrially farmed salmon in particular ...

More than once, I have been asked by people who learn that I'm a "vegetarian" (vegan), "Do you not even eat fish?"  As an organic gardener who peruses numerous seed catalogs every year, I can't remember ever seeing seeds for a bush, vine, or tree that grows fish.  Why do people think vegetarians eat fish?  Or, why do people think fish are any less a form of meat than a cow or chicken?  Out of sight (beneath the surface of the water), out of mind, I guess.  I have been interested to read recently that new scientific research is showing that fish are every bit as sentient as land-based animals whose sentiency is finally being widely acknowledged.

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the end of the line

One of the gravest problems facing God's creation and creatures is the pervasive overfishing of the world's waters, an unfolding crisis which the film The End of the Line poignantly documents (Docurama/New Video '09).   Based on the book by the same title, The End of the Line: How Overfishing is Changing the World and What We Eat by journalist Charles Clover, featured prominently in the documentary, the adaptation is both aesthetically engaging and morally compelling.

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Genesis and William Wilberforce Award

A sincere congratulations goes to Christianity Today and our friend Leslie Leyland Fields for being honored with the 2011 Humane Society of the United States William Wilberforce Award, "dedicated to journalistic excellence on animal protection issues in faith-based publications," and one of their annual Genesis Awards.  The Wilberforce Award was given for Leslie's thoughtful cover story from last November "A Feast Fit for the King: Returning the Growing Fields and Kitchen Table to God," which was accompanied by a commendable sidebar on "The Grim Realities of Factory Farms."

The following is a short video of Leslie's acceptance speech at the Genesis Awards, which you won't want to miss for her poignant and faithful witness to a biblical worldview:

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creation care, a missing component?

continuing a personal reflection on "Why Creation Care Needs Creature Care" ...

As alluded to a moment ago, one the ways in which creation and the creatures most immediately entrusted to our dominion have been groaning most heavily is through the behemoth industry of Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO’s), commonly referred to more critically as ‘factory farms.’  Before expounding on some of the substantial warrant for this criticism, let me just note for a moment the sheer number of creatures affected.  

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