anti-meat essay in Pakistani newspaper

[Guest guest]

The following essay was published in the Political Economy section of The

News International (Pakistan's largest English language newspaper) on Sunday

06 January 2003. You may have seen an earlier version of this essay on an

email list. This version is shorter and stronger and may be reprinted or

forwarded freely.

 

 

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2003-weekly/nos-05-01-2003/pol1.htm#5

The News International (Pakistan)

The News on Sunday 06 January 2003

Political Economy section

Who would Jesus kill?

 

By Pattrice Le-Muire Jones

 

On Christmas Day 2002, a global activist indulges in a holiday meditation on

America's campaign against Iraq

 

As Christians gather to celebrate the birth of the founder of their

religion, I find myself asking a question that I wish Christians would ask

themselves: who would Jesus kill?

 

Lately many Christians have been using the simple question, " What would

Jesus do? " to help them make ethical judgments that are consistent with

their religious beliefs. This holiday season, as Americans discuss the

prospect of war over dinner tables groaning with factory farmed meat, the

most apt variant of " What would Jesus do? " is: who would Jesus kill?

 

Most Christians envision Jesus as the " Prince of Peace " and remember his

injunctions to turn the other cheek and refrain from casting the first

stone. Even those who imagine Jesus as an avenging warrior do not conceive

of him smiting the innocent or torturing the helpless.

 

Yet, this holiday season, Christians across the USA are sitting down to

dinners centered upon the carcasses of tortured and innocent animals. The

top topic of conversation: whether and when to attack Iraq.

 

Before I go further, let me make it clear that I don't think the United

States ought to make policy decisions on the basis of the Christian faith. I

believe in the separation of Church and State, and I devoutly wish that we

had that here in the USA. The fact remains that I have the leisure to write

this essay today specifically because a Christian holy day is recognised as

a national holiday. George W Bush and his cabinet regularly invoke religious

imagery, speaking of a " crusade " against " evil " , while the members of the

Senate and the House get together to sing " God Bless America " , rather than

the secular national anthem.

 

Therefore it is reasonable to ask ourselves and them: who would Jesus kill?

Would Jesus kill Iraqi children so that the friends of Dick Cheney can gain

control of Iraqi oil reserves? Would Jesus kill Iraqi mothers so that

armament companies can profit from perpetual warfare? Would Jesus kill Iraqi

wildlife in order to replace one undemocratic regime (Saddam Hussein) with

another (military occupation)? Would Jesus kill any Iraqis at all, since

there is no evidence that Iraq is a threat to us or anyone else?

 

Jesus is sometimes imagined as a judge. I wonder whether judge Jesus would

approve of the USA casting the first stone against alleged Iraqi weapons of

mass destruction, when the USA has more weapons of mass destruction than any

other country; the USA has pulled out of international treaties limiting

weapons of mass destruction; and the USA has announced an official policy of

pre-emptive first use of weapons of mass destruction?

 

I wonder how Jesus would judge the honesty of the Bush regime's efforts to

trick the public into supporting an attack on Iraq? Jesus would know that

Israel and Turkey (not Iraq) are the most flagrant violators of UN

directives. Jesus would know that an attack on Iraq would make terrorist

attacks on the United States more (not less) likely. Jesus would know about

all of the hospitals, homes and houses of worship leveled by US 'precision'

bombing over the years and know that such attacks are part of a deliberate

(not accidental) military strategy intended to demoralise the population.

 

Jesus would know that anything the government of Iraq has done--invading

other countries, oppressing its own people, deploying weapons of mass

destruction--the government of the USA has done more often and to worse

effect. Jesus would know that the only just resolution of the conflict

between George W Bush and Saddam Hussein would be a peaceful compact rather

than a violent conquest. Jesus would know that violence only begets more

violence.

 

People of every faith see themselves and their religions as embracing peace

and love. Most Americans think of themselves as peaceful people. How is it

that people who imagine themselves to be peaceful are so easily persuaded to

embrace war?

 

Every Sunday afternoon, I participate in a small peace vigil in a nearby

town. Right across the street from where we stand are three fast food

restaurants serving a distressing array of unhealthy and unethical foods.

Staring across at those restaurants last week I began to wonder if the

American diet might help to explain the ease with which Americans are

persuaded to embrace violent solutions to problems.

 

Meat eating is an unnecessarily violent solution to a problem. As every

healthy vegetarian demonstrates, it's just not necessary to eat meat. Meat

eating is killing for pleasure rather than killing for self-defense. When we

encourage our children to eat meat, giving them the wings of dead birds as

after-school snacks, we teach them to place their own pleasure over the

right to life of another being. When we allow egg factories and dairies to

brutalise animals while polluting the environment, we teach our children to

have reckless disregard for the environment and for the feelings of others.

They grow up to be the kind of people who would rather spill blood for oil

than give up their SUVs.

 

Would Jesus kill the little chickens? Six weeks old they are when the people

come to take them to the slaughterhouse. They've never seen the sun, never

breathed fresh air, never met their mothers or jumped in a mud puddle. Would

Jesus kill the little children? Over 800m people, most under the age of

five, live with hunger and malnutrition. Yet precious food is wasted as

animal feed, at a rate of about ten pounds of grain or soy for every pound

of meat produced. Every two seconds, another child dies of a hunger-related

illness. The average meat-eating American consumes enough plant, water, and

energy resources to feed 20 people a healthy vegetarian diet.

 

Who would Jesus kill? The answer, of course, is: no one. This holiday

season, I hope that his followers will choose peace in their daily lives and

in the policies of their governments.