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HUMANIST VEGETARIAN GROUP NEWSLETTER         MAY 2008

Website and FORUM http://www.humanist.veggroup.org

RELIGION, HUMANISM AND ANIMAL WELFARE Buddhism and Jainism have long traditions of concern for non-human animals but not so Christianity, Islam or Judaism. Their lack of concern for animal suffering was one factor which alienated me from their world view and their belief in a supposedly benign all-powerful god. In particular the notion of free will providing some sort of explanation for animal suffering in nature, let alone at the hands of humans never seemed at all convincing. However, recently I have started to encounter publications and Christian groups which promote vegetarianism and animal welfare. One such is http://www.all-creatures.org and also see http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-specter-of-speciesism-buddhist-and-chr istian- views-of-animals-by-paul-waldau.jsp

This raises the question, do we regard them as allies in promoting humane treatment of nonhuman animals? It is part of the wider question of how far if at all secularists and Humanists look upon moderate / liberal religionists as allies, in the sense of working together with ‘all people of good will’, in particular against fundamentalist extremists and for humanitarian causes. Mutual support has been my position in the past, in contrast to ’militant anti-religion secularists’ --- but I am starting to reconsider, influenced by some of the books by what the media chooses to call ’new atheists’. I am not much drawn to the repeated ’religion poisons everything’ conclusions of Christopher Hitchins in ‘God Is Not Great‘ yet find it hard not to accept the arguments of Sam Harris in ’The End of Faith’; he fears that religious moderates provide a screen for fanatics in an age in which a single person will be able and motivated to cause millions of deaths or render a city uninhabitable.

I would be interested to know your views on these related issues.

[Incidentially Richard Dawkins who I understand is not a vegetarian writes approvingly of Peter Singer’s ideas on speciesism in ‘The God Delusion’]

[note that I referred above to ‘secularists and Humanists’ rather than secular Humanists. The BHA has asked us not to refer to ’secular Humanists’ or use any other qualification. Rather, they say we should insist on ‘Humanism’ on its own, we should be claiming the more specific usage of the word to represent our world view with its secularism taken for granted.]

Speciesism: Vivisection and Factory Farming

We have published an article on the website written for us by new supporter Julian Bennett. The way in which this was prepared has been an interesting exercise. Julian posted a draft on our Forum, inviting members to comment. A substantial discussion followed, in the light of which Julian revised the article before submitting it for publication. (The previous article on Speciesism which I had put on our website mainly to draw attention to a range of articles on animals and ethics published by the BBC, is now linked to at the end of the new article).

It would be a valuable exercise if others were to do something similar, submit a draft to the Forum for discussion and eventual publication. It could be as short or long as the author wished.

Further comments on the Julian’s Speciesism article are welcome. I hope you will go to the website for a look (I intend to send a paper copy to our non-internet members).

WORLD FOOD CRISIS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The role of meat eating in the world food crisis and in environmental damage generally appears to be coming more widely appreciated. What follows are and an extract from an email from the campaigning organisation AVAAZ sent to me by HVG supporter Michael Maybury and an open letter from Sir Paul McCartney.

AVAAZ campaign

http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/9.php

The prices of staple foods like wheat, corn and rice have almost doubled, and the crisis is slipping out of control — so we're calling for immediate action on emergency food aid, speculation and biofuels policy, while asking forthcoming summits to tackle deeper problems of investment and trade. The global food crisis touches and connects us all, creating a tsunami of hunger for the poor and damaging economies and squeezing citizens in the rich world too. But solutions are on the horizon if leaders act fast — sign the petition at the link below now, then forward this email and ask friends and family to do the same: http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/9.php With hope, Paul, Galit, Ricken, Graziela, Iain, Mark, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team Sources:

1. BBC: “How to stop the global food crisis”: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7365798.stm

“The New Economics of Hunger”, Washington Post, 27 April 2008 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR200804260204 1_pf.html

1. Zainab Bangura, Foreign Minister of Sierra Leone, video message to Avaaz members http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/9.php

2. Chinese news citing World Bank figures: http://www.cctv.com/english/20080426/102406.shtml

Reuters: “Rising food prices to top UN agenda” http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSL1890947220080424

1. See BBC article above, and “Rising Food Prices” by Alex Evans (Chatham House report) http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/11422_bp0408food.pdf

UN scientific report on fixing the world food system: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7347239.stm The Guardian: “Credit crunch? The real crisis is global hunger”, George Monbiot http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/food.biofuels ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means “voice” in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

Letter from Sir Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney has asked us via an open letter in The Vegetarian magazine to draw attention to a United Nations Report ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow.’ Sir Paul quotes Henning Steinfeld of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO): “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems of today. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation.” After quoting some of the statistics on land and water degradation and emissions of harmful greenhouse gasses Paul McCartney says “By simply considering altering eating habits people can strike a blow for the environment, our children and the future” and he provides the following references:

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation: http://www.fao.org. For a PDF download of the full Report go to http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library … 701E00.pdf

On the same theme, the growing scientific case that vegetarianism can make a major contribution to countering global warming and other environmental threats there are pages on the Vegetarian Society website which deal with this in some detail, including many references to research papers and other documents, at http://www.vegsoc.org/environment

NATIONAL VEGETARIAN WEEK 19 to 25 May

Lots of events and special offers all round the UK can be found on the Vegetarian Society’s special website at http://www.vegsoc.org/nvw/2008/events/index.html

EMAIL PROBLEMS  I hope I have overcome the problems with my email system. Thank you to everyone who responded to my request for help with getting it sorted out ----- it took a lot of time and effort and is still a mystery how some of the email addresses disappeared.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS  Now that HVG has been running for over a year it is time to review what we are doing. In a few weeks I intend to write to everyone outlining how things stand and how I see the Group operating in future ----- and of course asking for your response.

The Humanist Vegetarian Group is a Special Interest Group of the British Humanist Association.

Chris Clayton

03/05/08

HUMANIST VEGETARIAN GROUP

NEWSLETTER JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2007

Website and Forum: http://www.humanist.veggroup.org/

THIS NEWSLETTER

My input to HVG is going to slow down a bit for a while for a variety of reasons. One effect is that I will aim to send out the Newsletter every two months rather than Monthly. I know some members do appreciate the Newsletter as a means of communication and a reminder of HVG’s presence plus I use it to encourage use of our website, forum and egroup ----- so I will do my best to keep it going. Items for inclusion are always welcome, as is your participation in the forum and egroup. The bi-monthly timing may give me a breathing space to try to sort out a continuing problem I have been having with my email program which results in addresses added to the Address Book disappearing ----- if you have received this email it is not affecting you. From this issue onwards I also intend to post the Newsletter on our website on the Articles page.

NEW ARTICLES

I have posted two new articles on our website, one on Henry Salt an important figure in the animal welfare movement and much else. It is written by Nigel Sinnott, a former editor of Freethinker who is an HVG member now living in Australia; the other is on Specieism, as a brief example of many articles on the ethics of our treatment of animals which can be found on the BBC website.

VEGGIE FOOD FOR ALL OCCASIONS?

Recently I attended a BHA Local Development Training Project at which we were asked to consider our response to a scenario in which there was a proposal to provide only halal food at public events in order to accommodate Muslims. Of course the most common response was that there should be a choice (not always practical?), but I proposed half seriously and half tongue in cheek, that a solution would be to offer only vegetarian food. To my knowledge there are no religious or other objections to eating vegetables so you would think this could be acceptable and inclusive of everyone. By pure coincidence a couple of days later I received the following email from Mike, one of our HVG members:

“Reading through a well prepared booklet relating to Holocaust Memorial Day (January 17) I noticed a constructive idea which promotes the provision of vegetarian food as “most favoured and sensitive choice”. I quote:- "If you are providing food at your event it is worth remembering that some people have specific dietary requirements. There are specialist kosher and halal caterers in many regions who can provide food for special occasions. EXPERIENCED ORGANISERS, OF PREVIOUS SUCCESSFUL HMD (Holocaust Memorial Day) EVENTS AND COMMEMORATIONS, HAVE FOUND THAT VEGETARIAN DISHES ARE OFTEN THE MOST FAVOURED AND SENSITIVE CHOICE AT AN EVENT THAT AIMS TO BE INCLUSIVE. ********************************** You may care to note that, although most of the people behind this organisation are Jewish, they mention all the other groups that were targeted by Hitler in the Holocaust, such as “Gypsies, gay men and lesbians, Black Germans, Jehovah's Witnesses, trade unionists, disabled children and adults, Russian prisoners of war and Slavic people”. They also mention other genocides before and since 1940, have an extensive bibliography and list of organisations from a very wide base of views and beliefs. May I suggest that it might be a useful idea to spread this idea of “all catering vegetarian, or even vegan” more widely by a concerted campaign to all organisations and authorities who invite staff or public to events, who will often have diverse views on what is acceptable food. Promoting this idea, particularly with a back up list of suitable approved caterers around the UK, may serve to promote vegetarian ideas in a different way to a group of influential people and organisations. Best wishes, Mike Maybury VIP Vegetarian Information, Portsmouth. “

I would be interested to know what others think of this and if you have anything to add. Might it be an appropriate issue for HVG to champion?

SAVING WHALES Many of you will have seen the recent publicity given to the Japanese decision to start hunting whales again under the guise of scientific investigation, and the efforts to impede their activities. I was interested to read that the decision by the Australian Government to cease whaling and to actively oppose it was influenced by evidence presented by leading humanist moral philosopher Prof. Peter Singer whose has developed the principles of positive Utilitarianism to include promoting the welfare of animals. Jeremy Bentham, a founder of Utilitarianism wrote of non-human animals in Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1789 “The question is not, can they reason? Nor can they talk? But can they suffer?” There is a short article by Singer on our website. A recent very useful book by Singer and Masson is Eating and he wrote the Forward to Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good by scientist Jonathan Balcombe.

BOOKS Member Paul Mace has recommended Juliet Gellateley’s books Born to be Wild and the Silent Ark, obtainable from VIVA! And Vernon Coleman’s Animal Rights-Human Wrongs and Food For Thought.

ATTITUDES TO VEGETARIANISM Recently at a local Humanist Group annual lunch someone, not a member of HVG, told me she had been shocked at the antipathy to vegetarianism of some Humanists she had been dining with. She wondered what gave rise to such attitudes. We could understand lack of interest and indifference but why should Humanists (and others of course) feel such animosity? We could not think of any other convincing explanation than that they might have a (subconscious?) sense of guilt which made them aggressively defensive. Do you have any other suggestions or comments on this?

Chris Clayton