COW PROTECTION IN CHRISTIANITY:
Many early Christians were vegetarian, including Clement of
Alexandria, Origen, John Chrysostom, Jerome, and Basil the Great.
According to some early church writings,Matthew, Peter, and
James the brother of Jesus were vegetarians. Many of the Old Testament
principles concerning compassion for animals are accepted by Christians.
God's compassion for
animals is indicated at several points in the New Testament as well: Luke 12:6
states,"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is
forgotten before God." Matthew 12:7 states about animal sacrifice:
"If you had known what that text means, `I require mercy, not sacrifice,'
you would not have condemned the innocent."
Old Testament of the Bible which applies
to both Christians and Jews in Issaih, chapter 66 verse 3:
"He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man. He that
sacrifices a lamb is as if he slit a dogs neck, he that offereth it as an
oblation is as if he offered swines blood, he that burneth it as incense as if
he blessed an idol. Yea they have chosen their way and their soul delighteth in
their abominations."
Modern day Christian vegetarians include many in the Seventh-day
Adventist church, which recommends vegetarianism to its members, and the great
humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, who said:
"While so much ill-treatment of animals goes on, while the
moans of thirsty animals in railway trucks sound unheard, while so much
brutality prevails in our slaughterhouses . . . we all bear guilt. Everything
that lives has value as a living thing, as one of the manifestations of the
mystery that is life."
