Summary : Many flesh-eaters seize upon "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth… into your hands are they delivered” (Genesis 9:2 KJV) and “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you” (Gen. 9:3 KJV) to claim that God thereby gave humans permission to kill and eat any animals they fancy. Upon close scrutiny, this interpretation is incorrect.   1. Gen. 9:2 as a Description, Not an Approval Judging from its context, Gen. 9:2 is a des

St Francis of Assisi (1181/1182–1226) was renowned for his extraordinary compassion towards God’s innocent creatures. He addressed animals as his brothers and sisters, protected them from harm, and healed many of them (I:234–5). Animals, in turn, were often deeply attached to him, responding to him with devotion, gentleness, and even obedience (Bonaventure 1904:8.1, 8.6-11). However, because the medieval Church frequently accused strictly vegetarian or vegan groups—such as th

Summary:  In Exodus 3:8 (NKJV), God speaks to Moses from the burning bush and announces His plan to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and bring them into Canaan, described as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Israel then sets out toward Canaan, and the spies sent by Moses later confirm its extraordinary fertility with a massive cluster of grapes. The people’s fear causes a forty-year delay in the wilderness, and only the next generation, under Joshua, finally e

For the last 2000 years, numerous anti-vegan theologians and clergy have claimed that according to the Bible, animals, unlike humans, do not have a soul, and so it is ok for humans to exploit them, use them to the core, and kill them for food, for labour, for transport, for entertainment, for experimentation, etc. Yet, it is stated clearly in the Hebrew Scripture that animals, just like humans, are given a living soul (nephesh) and a spirit (ruach). Augustine & Aquinas St. Au

“Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die” (Proverbs 31:8). For sure, this applies to political dissidents imprisoned in dungeons, tortured, and organ-harvested by dictatorial regimes. Nonetheless, it also applies to animals crammed into small cages in dark factory farms, and throat-cut, scalded, cut open, and skinned alive in slaughterhouses and laboratories. These helpless, terrified creatures cannot speak for themselves. They have no

Saints Kosmas and Damian of Mesopotamia, the twin physician-saints known throughout the Christian East as the Holy Unmercenaries, were born in the province of Cilicia, probably in the city of Ægeæ, in the third century, to a pagan father and a profoundly devout Christian mother, Saint Theodotē, whose faith, compassion, and instruction shaped the whole course of their lives. Theodotē taught her sons to receive the healing arts as a gift from God and to offer medical care freel

1. What it is: World Vegan Day is an annual day of celebration and reflection observed globally on 1 November. It marks not just plant-based living, but a commitment to non-violence (ahimsa), compassion, ecological responsibility, and spiritual integrity. 2. Origins: World Vegan Day was established in 1994 by Louise Wallis, then Chair of The Vegan Society (UK), to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Society (founded in 1944). Donald Watson, who coined the term “vegan” tha

Halloween stands on the eve of All Saints’ Day, a time traditionally meant to honour holy men and women who lived lives of compassion, purity, and faithfulness to God. Yet, in the modern world, Halloween has become a celebration of the grotesque: images of death, violence, fear, and—most disturbingly—feasts of dead flesh displayed as entertainment. But the earliest Christian tradition offers a stark warning regarding such imagery and practice, especially when it concerns the

On 30 October, animal rescuer Zoe Rosenberg was convicted of felony conspiracy and three misdemeanours for rescuing four very sick chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse in California. She now faces up to five years in prison. Meanwhile, Petaluma Poultry faces no charges whatsoever for leaving sick birds to die or scalding animals alive on its killing line. This is precisely what follows when the law recognised the birds only as human property — not as sufferi

Charles Sherlock Fillmore (1854–1948), co-founder of the Unity School of Christianity with his wife Myrtle, was a pioneering New Thought teacher who believed that the spiritual life must be reflected in one’s body, diet, and daily conduct. Myrtle Fillmore adopted vegetarianism (veganism) in 1895 for ethical reasons, and Charles followed, making his first public declaration on diet in the 1903 Unity tract As to Meat Eating. For roughly three decades, Fillmore taught that absta

Long before Christianity emerged, a stream of Jewish holiness opposed animal sacrifice, rejected violence, and sought purity through compassion rather than blood. Jesus stood within this tradition. Its history runs through four interconnected movements—the Nazirites, the Essenes, the Nazoraeans, and the Ebionites—each preserving a stage of the same abstention-based, peace-oriented spirituality. The Dead Sea Scrolls allow us to clarify this lineage and to distinguish the vegan

Does “ dominion ” in Genesis 1:28  mean domination? Does “ subdue ” in Genesis 1:28  mean treading down animals? Does being “ made in God’s image ” ( Genesis 1:26–27 ) mean that only humans mirror God and therefore have God-assigned authority over other animals? For nearly 2,000 years, these verses have been used by influential anti-vegan theologians such as St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther , and even by “animal-friendly” theologians like John Calvin, Karl B

Dear All, Please be reminded that our free online course, Vegan Theology , will start on Saturday, 18 October, at 4:30 pm (UK time)  / 11:30 am (U.S. Eastern) / 10:30 am (U.S. Central) / 9:30 am (U.S. Mountain) / 8:30 am (U.S. Pacific). https://www.vegantheology.net/post/join-us-this-saturday-oct-18-for-session-1-of-the-vegan-theology-course Session 1 will be Introduction to Vegan Theology . In this session, we will explore how to determine whether a biblical verse is an in

Summary: Many modern “animal-friendly” theologians—such as John Calvin, C. S. Lewis, Karl Barth, Stephen Webb, and David Clough—actually...

Many anti-vegan theologians, such as St Augustine ( The City of God ), Martin Luther ( Luther’s Works , 2:132), and Karl Barth ( Church...

Today, as the moon rises in her fullest splendour, families across East Asia gather to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) — a time...

Dr. Jane Goodall (1934–2025), the celebrated British primatologist and vegan advocate for animal rights, passed away on 1 October 2025 at...

Summary:  Today (October 4) is World Animal Day, chosen to coincide with the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), the patron...

Dr. Jane Goodall (1934–2025), the celebrated British primatologist and vegan advocate for animal rights, passed away on 1 October 2025 at...

World Vegetarian Day, celebrated on October 1, was established in 1977 by the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) and later endorsed...