Evolution or Creation - Is animal abuse justified ?

A well educated meat eater, when argued about eating meat would typically say, "We are designed to eat meat" and it would start from the presence of canines to man being an omnivore and then of course there is the point on Iron and Protein sourcing from meat.

It has already been proved and cited by various international food program board, that a well balanced Vegan ( Not even Vegetarian ) diet will give you all the necessary nutrients to lead a healthy life. But still, majority of the population eats meat.

Why is it so ?
Why is it so difficult to convince someone who eats meat to stop it and buy what the fact is ?

For one, there is no 'absolute' truth and it is not only in case of meat eating, but in every walk of life. For some people, Hinduism is the only truth and for some Islam is the only truth and for some Christianity. So there is this problem of recognizing something as 'Absolute' truth by man. What is correct for you may not be for me, What is ethical for you may not be for me, What is modest for you may not be for me, etc...

Another issue is religion. Even though we are at the 21st century and witnessing some of the most marvelous technological developments that Human race has ever seen, we still allow religion to enter almost every walk of our life. Well, I understand it is something personal and is left completely to oneself to follow it to the extent he/she wants, but the point is that two major religions of this world hold eating meat as 'Truth' and necessary citing that god has put plants and animals on earth to be used by man. So there is a religious angle to it as well.

For most, religion is like the a safety blanket which can be used to cover oneself and justify the actions. Meat eating may be one of those actions.

In a meat vs non-meat argument, the issues usually debated are ethical reasons, anatomical and physiological considerations, energy sourcing, environmental issues etc. I have argued with many people about these issues and tried to tell them, why it is wrong to eat meat. I myself had this realization about 3.5 years back. It all started from ethical reasons and today I have a gamut of reasons due to which, I will never taste meat in my whole life.

From the past few weeks, digressing away from the harmful effects of meat processing industry on our environment, animal cruelty and torturing in slaughter houses and factory farms, healthy issues etc, I have been thinking about meat eating from two different and rival concepts - creationism and evolution.

Majority of people in this world, even to this date believe in a 'Creator' or to put it more scientifically, an 'Intelligent Designer'. One person, One man who was responsible to create this extremely complicated system where everything is in sync, everything has a meaning. The existence of sun, oceans, the water cycle, plants,animals and us Humans. Everything has a purpose.

God or the Intelligent designer created plants and trees so that we humans and animals could eat them. Plants do not have brain and the nervous system. They do not feel pain and no 'REPUTABLE ' research has shown this yet. If at all God designed plants to be the way they are then it definitely is an intelligent design. Because, if their purpose is only to be useful to man and animals,then there is no need for them to feel pain as they do not have to run away or defend themselves from animals or man when either approaches to pluck a fruit . They respond to a stimuli and that is it.

Coming to Animals, almost every major religion and its teachings say that, both animals and plants are meant to be used by man. Agreed from the plants point of view as explained above, but animals ? This is where I have a problem. If at all, the purpose of existence of animals was the same as that of plants why would they be designed so different from plants ? To begin with, they have a brain and nervous system just like the way we do. They move around, defend themselves when they sense danger, they exhibit almost all the emotions that we do, they cry just like us, suffer just like us. So why were they created so differently from plants. If they were merely meant to be eaten, god could have just created a 'Pig' plant, 'Chicken' plant, 'Cow' plant. Why create animals as sentient beings and let them suffer and cry in pain when tortured by humans for meat ? Does not go with the concept of 'Intelligent' design by god. Now, either the design is flawed or we are messing with HIM :)


Now speaking purely from an evolution point of view, Darwin's theory says that we all have evolved from a common ancestor. We Humans are no very different from other animals, in fact we are also animals and we just form a small twig in this HUGE tree called evolution. The distinguishing factor between non human animals and us is of course the capacity to reason. Why means, we can ask why is this like this or that like that. If somebody is abusing you or blaming you for no fault of yours, you have the capacity to reason it out. You have the capacity to argue, comprehend various events and phenomenon in universe, understand mathematical equations, learn new languages,learn music etc etc. In short, you can do what you decide to do. In spite of all these, we still share the basic building blocks of emotional components of life with non-human animals - joy,pain,suffering,jealousy etc.

So according to the theory of evolution, even though we are not so different from non-human animals when it comes to emotions, we have an extraordinary tool namely "capacity to reason" which plays a crucial role in our survival. For a non-human animal , there is no need to have a reasoning capacity, as there is no need for it to understand the theory of relativity or the abstract paintings. All it needs is the ability to sense danger and defend itself if necessary from its predator. For us, who have evolved and who live in a civilized society, it is extremely important to know what is right and what is wrong, to plan our future and decide what we want to do with life. Non-Human animals have no need to this and are not evolved to do so also.

Keeping this distinguishing factor of 'capacity to reason' in the spotlight, is it still justifiable to slaughter an animal or abuse it for our needs just because we can reason and have superior cognitive system than a cow or pig ?

I clearly do not think so. Because, if this distinguishing factor gives us the right to eat animals, then going by that logic, does it mean a child which is born mentally challenged, which cannot reason at all, cannot even react to a person smiling at it, does not have the right to eat meat ? This sounds absurd, but this was just for the sake of argument. The point I am trying to drive is, when most people say, we are superior and at the top of food chain, we can eat whatever we want, they are clearly missing the point. What do they mean by superiority?

Capacity to reason? It clearly gives us no right to abuse animals - human and non-human equally for selfish needs.

Another point that one could bring up and argue about is, the evolution of us humans into an omnivore -" Oh, we have evolved into an omnivore and hence we have the capacity to eat what we want to eat ! ". This point is refutable, but nonetheless, just for the sake of argument let us assume that we are omnivores and have the capacity to eat anything and everything, then why do we draw lines when it comes to eating dogs and cats as food ?

We will never have the heart to cook our own pet and eat. We do think of ethics and morality. Which means, just because we have the 'capacity' is it right to do all that we are capable of - rape, genocide, robbery, terrorism etc etc ?. We might have evolved into being an omnivore and more, but that does not give us the right to do anything we want. There is a moral responsibility and an element of compassion that is attached to whatever we do. But when it comes to eating meat or wearing a leather jacket, it seems to disappear. This is not what evolution is supposed to do. Evolution has put us on a platform, where we have the 'capacity' to save the world, its people and do what is logically right.

Another point of evolution is, 'Survival of the fittest'. This is an oversimplified concept. If one reads more about it, it would be clear that this is merely a metaphor and Survival is not a very important component in Natural Selection. Also, fit does not mean anything physical or stronger.When people say they eat meat for survival, I find it surprising and absurd how the whole idea of survival is diluted. There is a tribe in Benin which is in West Africa. There, the males go on hunting of rats as no other animal is available. Needless to say, no plant based food is also available there.

They hunt rats most of the time and eat it. This is survival - the act of surviving in adverse circumstances and the males there are 'fit' in the sense that they have the knowledge about the whereabouts of rats and ability to 'hunt' them down. But, when the same word is used to eat meat in much more comfortable parts of the world, where pigs and cows and chickens are locked in small cages, hormones are injected, tons and tons of corn and soya are fed, reproduction is made in an artificial environment to produce more animals so that more meat can be obtained, it dilutes the whole concept of 'Survival'.

Compassion may not directly be a part of the concept of evolution. The theory of evolution is more inclined towards ones self-interest and perpetuating ones genes. But , is not the 'Capacity to reason' that we have, enough to invoke compassion in us and to imagine and position ourselves in the situation of a cow or pig waiting to be slaughtered and take a moral call to not be a part of this atrocity It surely is! That is why I said, we do draw lines when it comes to even thinking of eating ones own pet. We do have this element of compassion in us that stems from rational thinking.

Whether its creation or evolution, to me animal abuse in any form seems clearly uncalled for. My stomach is definitely not bigger than my heart and more importantly, than my brain.

SPIRITUALITY AND YOUR DIET,

"The most important part of vegetarianism is the real shift in consciousness that takes place. There is a true correlation between our food choices and violence in the world. The only person who would disagree with that is a meat-eater" – Peter Burwash, Davis Cup Winner.

"I don’t eat meat because meat brings out negative qualities such as fear, anger, anxiety, aggressiveness, etc. Vegetables peacefully offer themselves to the earth when ripe, thus allowing a sublime and peaceful thought-consciousness"- Carlos Santana, Musician.

"Truly man is the king of beasts for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places" – Leonardo Da Vinci, Artist, scientist, poet and musician.

"When one becomes a vegetarian, it purifies the soul" – Isaac Bashevis Singer, Author, Nobel laureate
What is the relationship between Spirituality & Meat????
http://www.serv-online.org/Meria-Heller.htm

Obama gives thumbs down to Meat

It’s very rare that you’ll find a political leader, from any party, that will actually, publicly announce, that a main source of greenhouse gas comes from farm animals raised for meat.

Well not only did Obama admit this and that meat is a very inefficient source of protein (referring to the amount of water and grain to get 1lb of meat protein compared to 1lb of plant protein), he also went on to admitting that Americans could benefit from a change in diet.
Read more.....
http://urbangreengirl.wordpress.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt56ER4TSqc

Sexy AND Healthy Vegetarians

Study Confirms Vegetarian Diet Takes Pounds Off
Most Diet programs ask you to take MEAT off your tables as long as you want to lose those extra kilos. Why??? Now this has been proven by numerous studies.
Read more...
A scientific review in April's Nutrition Reviews finds that, as expected, a vegetarian diet is highly effective for weight loss.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/04/vegetarian_weight_loss.html

Low Bone Density doesnt mean weak Bones

Raw food eaters thin but healthy
This post is in response to a study which shows that "Vegans have lower bone density"
Lower bone density doesnt neccesarily mean weaker bones.
Read more....
Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4389837.stm

Beauty is actually skin Deep.Be Beautiful - Cruelty Free!!!!!!!!

Ever noticed a small rabbit on your cosmetic products??
The "No Animal Testing" Label. Why should we look for products that are not tested on animals?
Because:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QRBcHIIsXc
More!!
http://www.grinningplanet.com/2004/10-12/cosmetics-animal-testing-article.htm

Alternatives
http://search.caringconsumer.com/search_list_icons.aspx?Donottest=8&Product=0&Dotest=-1

"Ghas Phoos" for the Smarter Kids

Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life, a study says.
Personal experience tells me that only smart people can be made sensitive to Animal cruelty, Global Warming, Health hazards and the availability of Alternatives.
We have huge potential then :)
"We've always known that vegetarianism is an intelligent, compassionate choice benefiting animals, people and the environment"
Liz O'Neill, of The Vegetarian Society

Source : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/59117.php