“The biblical case for vegetarianism does not rest on the view that killing may never be allowable in the eyes of God, rather on the view that killing is always a grave matter. When we have to kill to live we may do so, but when we do not, we should live otherwise. It is vital to appreciate the force of this argument. In past ages many – including undoubtedly the biblical writers themselves – have thought that killing for food was essential in order to live. But … we now know that – at least for those now living in the rich West – it is perfectly possible to sustain a healthy diet without any recourse to flesh products. … Those individuals who opt for vegetarianism can do so in the knowledge that they are living closer to the biblical ideal of peaceableness than their carnivorous contemporaries. The point should not be minimized. In many ways it is difficult to know how we can live more peaceably in a world striven by violence and greed and consumerism. Individuals often feel powerless in the face of great social forces beyond even democratic control. To opt for a vegetarian life-style is to take one practical step towards living in peace with the rest of creation. One step towards reducing the rate of institutionalized killing in the world today.”
Source: Animal Theology (1994), pp. 131-132
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Andrew Linzey 7
British theologian and divine 1952Related quotes
" Morals, Reason and Animals: Steve Sapontzis Interviewed by Claudette Vaughan https://web.archive.org/web/20100114161007/http:/www.abolitionist-online.com/08_steve_sapontzis.shtml", Abolitionist Online (2009)
Post-Presidency, Nobel lecture (2002)
Source: The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture
Reported in Judaism and Vegetarianism by Richard H. Schwartz (New York: Lantern Books, 2001), in the “ Statements of support https://archive.org/stream/JudaismAndVegetarianism#page/n3/mode/2up” section.
De Abaitua interview (1998)
Context: There are books that have devastated continents, destroyed thousands. What war hasn’t been a war of fiction? All the religious wars certainly, or the fiction of communism versus the fiction of capitalism – ideas, fictions, shit that people make. They have made a vast impression on the real world. It is the real world. Are thoughts not real? I believe it was Wittgenstein who said a thought is a real event in space and time. I don’t quite agree about the space and time bit, Ludwig, but certainly a real event. It’s only science that cannot consider thought as a real event, and science is not reality. It’s a map of reality, and not a very good one. It’s good, it’s useful, but it has its limits. We have to realise that the map has its edges. One thing that is past the edge is any personal experience. That is why magic is a broader map to me, it includes science. It’s the kind of map we need if we are to survive psychologically in the age that is to come, whatever that is. We need a bigger map because the old one is based on an old universe where not many of us live anymore. We have to understand what we are dealing with here because it is dangerous. It kills people. Art kills.
Source: The Stone That Never Came Down (1973), Chapter 23 (p. 180)
“All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.”
Source: Invisible Monsters
Si l'on veut abolir la peine de mort en ce cas, que MM. les assassins commencent: qu'ils ne tuent pas, on ne les tuera pas.
http://books.google.com/books?id=5RAoAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Si+l'on+veut+abolir+la+peine+de+mort+en+ce+cas+que%22+%22MM+les+assassins+commencent+qu'ils+ne+tuent+pas+on+ne+les+tuera+pas%22&pg=PA304#v=onepage
Les Guêpes, January 1849, vi.