Is eating meat ethical?

[Lamb]

I have some vegetarian and vegan friends and they don't view eating meat as being ethical. I used to not eat very much meat growing up and didn't feel very healthy until I included more into my diet (yay for bacon). There was a movie that I had to show to the kids when I subbed about meat and the animal farms where they are overcrowded and not treated well. Is that the norm?

 

[psalms 91]

Animals were put here for us not the other way around. I see no ethical dilemma with eating meat

 

[SpiritPsalmist]

I don't see anything ethically wrong with eating meat. Jesus ate meat. The only issue I have with meat now days is the way the animal is treated and how they are raised. With all the chemicals put into the animal, such as chickens shot up with hormones in order to make them larger quicker, then it's on our tables and we're eating whatever was shot into those animals. That is why I believe America is so unhealthy. I think we eat too much meat as well. It use to be that meat was for a special celebration, not an every meal thing nor was it so large a piece of meat.

 

[Forgiven1]

There are feed lots where there is overcrowding. Those tend to be the stops before slaughter. Out in my area of the country, this isn't so.

I don't think eating meat is ethically wrong. Those who want to make it unethical are the kind of people who are not tolerant of other's views on anything. I know vegetarians who do not think that way, they think it is a personal choice. When on a vegetarian diet or vegan diet, one has to make sure they get proteins from varying sources or they will not be healthy. There are differences in proteins in beans and legumes.

 

[kaynoel]

The Bible tells us that animals are for our use. I believe eating meat is perfectly fine. I grew up on a farm, and all the farmers I knew growing up treated their animals very well. If you don't, you have sick animals and your farm isn't worth much and you would go out of business. Don't believe everything you hear about how cattle and other animals are raised. Farmers love their animals, and care very much about them.

 

[psalms 91]

I agree

 

[Lamb]

I live near farms and I see the animals. Some look better off than others. Those documentaries stick in the mind though, but I think they're meant to cause drama and fear for some reason.

 

[psalms 91]

I think that there are lines. We should care for our animals. Moderation in to what point should be used. While I dont ever want to see an animal abused or starving I also dont go as far as PETA

 

[Mountain Girl 406]

I'm one of those ethical vegans, so I'd say no. While it's true that there were many times and places in human history where eating meat was necessary for survival, for most of us (with the possible exception of some living in extreme environments), it is not necessary. Nutrition science confirms that a vegan diet can be healthy and capable of sustaining life at all stages. So, for most, it's a choice to eat meat, not a necessity. In my case, I don't think that's sufficient justification to cause suffering to animals. Of course, it's impossible to completely avoid harming animals, but in every area I can, I do my best to minimize harm.

 

[MoreCoffee]

I have some vegetarian and vegan friends and they don't view eating meat as being ethical. I used to not eat very much meat growing up and didn't feel very healthy until I included more into my diet (yay for bacon). There was a movie that I had to show to the kids when I subbed about meat and the animal farms where they are overcrowded and not treated well. Is that the norm?

Jesus ate meat and fish and I reckon he was ethical so I reckon that folk who say it isn't ethical are implying that Jesus wasn't.

 

[psalms 91]

Of course, animals were put here for us

 

[Ruth]

I think that one day humankind will not eat meat because they will cherish the animals on this earth.

 

[MoreCoffee]

I think that one day humankind will not eat meat because they will cherish the animals on this earth.

​In Eden Adam and Eve ate fruit (not sure if they ate anything else). But since then eating has included all sorts of things including animals.

 

[Mountain Girl 406]

Jesus ate meat and fish and I reckon he was ethical so I reckon that folk who say it isn't ethical are implying that Jesus wasn't.

It may well be that in Jesus' time it wasn't possible for people to get by on a vegan diet, but it is in our time. If we accept the Genesis account as literal, we were vegans before the fall, so we were designed to thrive on just plants. However, practically speaking, humans survived as a species because of our ability to adapt to a wide variety of diets.

Today we have the option to chose vegan, and beyond the issues on animal suffering, meat, especially in it's current modes of producing, is an inefficient use of resources. I don't know what Jesus would eat if he were here today, but there are now compelling reasons to not eat meat today, as well as the opportunity to get what we need to thrive without it.

 

[MoreCoffee]

It may well be that in Jesus' time it wasn't possible for people to get by on a vegan diet, but it is in our time. If we accept the Genesis account as literal, we were vegans before the fall, so we were designed to thrive on just plants. However, practically speaking, humans survived as a species because of our ability to adapt to a wide variety of diets.

Today we have the option to chose vegan, and beyond the issues on animal suffering, meat, especially in it's current modes of producing, is an inefficient use of resources. I don't know what Jesus would eat if he were here today, but there are now compelling reasons to not eat meat today, as well as the opportunity to get what we need to thrive without it.

I agree with the underlined text. I am not so sure about the lack of vegan opportunity in Jesus time; the fact is that many in India were vegetarian at the time so it was possible and I think that the diet of most people in the Roman province of Judea would have been close to vegetarian with a bit of fish and occasional sheep or other meat included - no pork of course - so even though they would not be vegan they'd be close to vegetarian. But the point in my post is that constructing a moral argument to teach that eating meat is immoral implies that Jesus lived an immoral life because he did eat fish and meat.

 

[Mountain Girl 406]

I think that could spin off into an interesting discussion. ..how much do we know for certain about Jesus' everyday life and how should we take his actions as a guide? For instance we have many references to Jesus drinking wine, yet many Christians think that drinking is immoral.
As for me, my conscience tells me that choosing to eat meat, drink milk, wear leather, support circuses and places like Sea World, etc. in today's world isn't the right thing to do. I don't know how i should reconcile that with the accounts we've accepted as Gospel about Jesus' life.

 

[MoreCoffee]

I think that could spin off into an interesting discussion. ..how much do we know for certain about Jesus' everyday life and how should we take his actions as a guide? For instance we have many references to Jesus drinking wine, yet many Christians think that drinking is immoral.
As for me, my conscience tells me that choosing to eat meat, drink milk, wear leather, support circuses and places like Sea World, etc. in today's world isn't the right thing to do. I don't know how i should reconcile that with the accounts we've accepted as Gospel about Jesus' life.

​It would not be easy for a Catholic to think that drinking wine was immoral because our communion includes wine - not un-fermented grape juice - so we tend to see wine as part of life rather than as a threat to it.

 

[Tallguy88]

It may well be that in Jesus' time it wasn't possible for people to get by on a vegan diet, but it is in our time. If we accept the Genesis account as literal, we were vegans before the fall, so we were designed to thrive on just plants. However, practically speaking, humans survived as a species because of our ability to adapt to a wide variety of diets.

Today we have the option to chose vegan, and beyond the issues on animal suffering, meat, especially in it's current modes of producing, is an inefficient use of resources. I don't know what Jesus would eat if he were here today, but there are now compelling reasons to not eat meat today, as well as the opportunity to get what we need to thrive without it.

I would like to have a small farm/ranch. I would raise beef cattle and maybe other animals as well as growing corn and such.

So the arguments about factory farming are good ones, but they are ones that can be remedied without giving up meat entirely.

I do believe we westerners eat too much meat, however.

 

[Tallguy88]

I think that could spin off into an interesting discussion. ..how much do we know for certain about Jesus' everyday life and how should we take his actions as a guide? For instance we have many references to Jesus drinking wine, yet many Christians think that drinking is immoral.
As for me, my conscience tells me that choosing to eat meat, drink milk, wear leather, support circuses and places like Sea World, etc. in today's world isn't the right thing to do. I don't know how i should reconcile that with the accounts we've accepted as Gospel about Jesus' life.

You should follow your conscience. It is Christian freedom to do so.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Yes and no eating meat is perfect fine, but I hold that eating certain meat ( young animals as in veal for example) and the way some animals that are raised for meat are raised overcrowded/abusive situations is NOT ethical.