Vegetarianism is a groing trend right now with more and more people choosing it as their diet. Why?

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Vegetarianism is a groing trend right now with more and more people choosing it as their diet. Why? Everyone has their own different reasons, but all share in the many benefits. Vegetarianism makes sense to a lot of people. It entails more than just "eating like a rabbit", it is a healthy way of life. Contrary to popular opinion, iron and protien can be found in foods other than meat and dairy products! Vegetarians eat much more than lettuce, actually their diet is most likely more rounded than a non-vegetarian/meat lover. They have their own Basic 4 food groups: grains and cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables, and nuts and seeds. These foods eaten in the right combinations can provide vegetarians with enough of all vitamins and minerals necessary to be healthy and alive. 

Another reason why vegetarianism makes sense--biologically humans are not carnivores. Believe it or not, humans are designed to eat plant foods. Our body is not suited for a diet of meat, like other carnivorous animals are. Our teeth are flat, not pointed and sharp; also our digestive tract is much longer than that of carnivores. Meat-eating animals have a very short digestive system, designed to move the meat through their bodies as quickly as possible. 

Vegetarianism is probaby the safest way to eat. Think once about all of the chemicals, hormones, and additives put into meat. Then think about the bacteria and disease that always accompanies meat. By eliminating meat from their diets, vegetarians also eliminate any of the potential disease associate with it. 

Historically, the Scriptures have been used to justify slavery, child abuse, spousal abuse, and polygamy, so we must be careful not to misuse them to justify animal cruelty. 

According to the book of Genesis, God created animals, including human beings, on the sixth day. In Genesis 1:28, God says: "Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." Immediately after, in Genesis 1:29, God states: "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food." Whatever the word that is translated as "dominion" means, it does not mean that we have a right to eat animals. In fact, most theologians recognize that this word is more accurately translated as "stewardship" and that the meaning of this text is that humans are supposed to be stewards and guardians, protecting and respecting the beings with whom we share the gift of creation. 

Theologian Rev. Andrew Linzey states, "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 9, the text often cited as justification for eating animals, is recognized by most theologians as either a very temporary post-flood concession (all vegetation had been destroyed) or as a concession to human sinfulness (Genesis 9 is also used to justify slavery). St. Jerome wrote: "As to the argument that in God's second blessing (Gen 9:3), permission was given to eat flesh--a permission not given in the first blessing (Gen 1:29)--let him know that just as permission to put away a wife was, according to the words of the Savior, not given from the beginning, but was granted to the human race by Moses because of the hardness of our hearts (Mt 19), so also in like manner the eating of flesh was unknown until the Flood ..." 

No matter how one views God's original intent, the complete disdain afforded animals who are turned into food is absolutely heretical. The fact is that human beings are playing God with animals, genetically breeding them to grow so quickly that their hearts, lungs, and limbs can often not keep up. God's creatures have their bodies mutilated without painkillers, their natural deisres totally thwarted, and their every need and desire entirely ignored. At the end of their miserable lives, they are trucked through all weather extremes, without food or water, to a violent, bloody, totally ignoble death. Humans are playing God with animals, and ethical people should have no part in it.

The scientific definition for vegetarianism is "Way of living with avoiding every form of killing animals". However, today this definition has changed a bit. Basically every vegetarian eats no meat, but there are differences. Ovo-lacto-pisce vegetarians eat no meat, but fish and ovo-lacto vegetarians eat no fish and no meat. That is the most common form. Lacto vegetarians eat additional no eggs and Ovo vegetarians eat besides meat and fish no milk and milk products. Vegans avoid every animal ingredient and also leather, fur and so on. Most vegetarian who became one for ethical or moral reasons avoid also leather and fur without being a complete vegan.

Our position:
Not everybody from us is vegetarian, but we all believe that animals should not be tortured unnecessary, if there exist "necessary" torture at all. We all are against animal tests and vivisection, animal transports and mass livestock breeding and we advocate the welfare of animals. Some oppose every form of killing animals, be it for meat, for fun (fishing) or for fur and leather. Others avoid also animal ingredients, because they believe that even livestock breeding is torture. Even since not everybody from us lives exactly this position, we distribute these arguments, because at least everybody supports the position.

Argument: Alone I cannot save animals at all!
Counterargument:
Oh yes, you can! One example: the average American eats up to his 75th year about 11 cattle, 3 lambs and sheep, 23 pork, 45 turkeys, 1100 chickens and 862 pounds of fish. Even if some people guaranteed eat less than that, a lot of animals still would be saved. Certainly every American family had for Thanksgiving a turkey. If every family member would agree not to have a turkey, you would save at least one animal.

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Argument: But the animals get slaughtered anyway.
Counterargument: Sure, the animals who lay in the freezer in the grocery store are dead, but as everybody knows the demand for something regulates the supply. If nobody would buy meat, no animals would have to be slaughtered to fill up the freezer.

Argument: For certain occasions it is just tradition to eat meat.
Counterargument: A lot of families in Europe eat for Christmas a goose or for New Year's Eve a carp or trout. Or in the USA every Thanksgiving thousand of turkeys get eaten. But still in the beginning of this century it ...

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