I’ve decided to become a vegetarian once again. Long, long ago, when the New Kids on the Block were climbing the charts, I was a vegetarian for a year and a half. But with the urging of my parents, I gave it up and never returned.
And I’m the biggest meat-eater. I love pork chops, curried lamb, cinnamon chicken, and all-beef patties with special sauce, lettuce, cheese, and anything under the sun on a sesame seed bun. But I’ve wanted to go back for months.
So many religions have strong traditions of vegetarianism, and Christianity is no different. Check out these verses (New International Version)
Genesis 1:28-30, which comes after God created Adam and Eve, describes their blessing and what they should take for food.
“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so.”
Then Genesis 9:1-4, after the flood, changes the tone.
“Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.’ “
Until the flood, animals did not fear man, and were not intended for food. But only after the two great sins of early Genesis – eating from the Tree of Knowledge and the pre-flood descent into iniquity – does God allow man to eat meat, but with caveats. So even though eating meat is allowed, it’s not the original plan.
Yesterday, the Humane Society hijacked the Religion Newswriters Association by hosting a lunch at the Press Club. While everyone was happily munching on salad, captive in their chairs, the Humane Society started a video.
In my view, it’s rather tasteless to show videos of mangled chickens and abused cattle while people are eating, even if they have a point. The factory farm industry in America is hideously inhumane, terrible for the environment, the spread of disease, and morality in general. If God decided to let us eat animals, He certainly didn’t mean for us to eat them like this.
For God makes covenant with the animals too, and places both animals and humans around His throne.
But I digress. As much as it distresses me, from now on I’ve made a decision to cut out all animal products except for honey, eggs, and cheese – with fish on very special occasions.
Wish me luck.
And now, on a completely different note, let’s get to atheism.
Last night, a bit after I received my third place award, Heather Donckels, the first place winner, gave a speech. A tiny, shy, unassuming woman, she seemed incredibly nervous and demure, barely able to look up and address the crowd.
At the end of her speech, however, she thanked Jesus, her personal savior. In fact, she was the only one that night who explicitly thanked any form of the divine.
As she spoke for at least two or three minutes on God’s presence in her life, I looked around the room. Journalists were shifting in their seats, uncertain how to process this unexpected expression of faith in their midst.
Now if I’m painting religious journalists as irreligious, it’s certainly not my intent. But it was certainly a surprise to see this young woman get on stage and talk about Jesus. The conference, and much of religious journalism in general, is about academic religion – changes, movements, activism, interpretation. Religion journalists document the expressions of others, and don’t often broadcast their own.
In fact, many don’t talk about their own faith with people they interview, even though they often ask. We don’t want our faith to color the way others speak to us about their own, whether they be more or less inclined to open up.
But because of this, many religion journalists become agnostic or atheist, even if they start off with their own faith. In the face of so many equally valid versions of faith, with a responsibility to be open and objective, it’s hard to hold solid personal faith.
After all, unless you’ve had a personal experience of the divine that brings you to a certain religion, it can be hard to align yourself with one. They all have strengths and weaknesses, and rely on faith, not empirical evidence, as the basis of their truth.
There’s a constant debate among religion journalists about whether it’s better to be a faithful person or an uncertain one when covering religion. I’m not going to weigh in on that right now. I don’t even know it myself.
But I will say that I can see how easy it is to lose faith. Often, especially on this journey, I find it happening in me. Not that I lose faith that there is a God, but more on how He or She or They are truly expressed.
Hard faith in a certain truth requires invisible barriers to other truths, like a man-made harbor. You can let foreign ships in, but you have to be in charge of what to trade and when to turn the lighthouse on.
If you’re just a ship at sea, coming in to all harbors, like I am, your cargo is in constant flux, traded at every station.
