The Necessity of Ending Scapegoating Violence. Stephen R. Kaufman, MD. Paraphrased by Dr Chapman Chen

I have been writing on Ursula LeGuin's short tale The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (n.1), in which certain people depart from the town rather than accept the maltreatment of a kid. The townspeople believe that their peace and prosperity depend upon the abuse of the child, but their sense of happiness is precarious.

For scapegoating to produce a general sense of peace, the community must believe that the process—penalising or exiling those considered responsible for evil—actually works. By contrast, when despotic rulers eliminate "enemies of the state," people recognize the falsehood but submit out of fear. There is no real peace, only the illusion of concord.

In Omelas, the people apparently believe the lie, with the exception of those who either do not believe it or who opt to go away because they regard the sacrifice of the child as an intolerable cost for their happiness. This latter consideration is connected with one of my objections to atonement theology—the doctrine that the sacrifice of Jesus atones for human sins (n.2). This theology, in my view, maintains that murdering an innocent person was a good thing because of the benefit obtained for others. Such an ethic readily leads to the idea that the "sacrifice" of animals or other human beings may likewise be justified on the grounds of the advantages it brings to others.

The harmony and security in Omelas are frail because their story is untrue. There will be pain in Omelas for the reason that pain is part of human life. When that occurs, people will feel the temptation to torment additional kids—perhaps the sacrifice of a single kid was not enough. Yet, this will not succeed either, because the sacrifices do not really eliminate evil. This will encourage people to seek new targets for sacrificial violence, and the vicious cycle will go on and on. There will be temporary well-being after some sacrifices because good times occur as well as bad times, but these sacrifices will sooner or later fall short and new sacrifices will be carried out.

Jesus' ministry, as I have examined in depth in my book Guided by the Faith of Christ, Seeking to Stop Violence and Scapegoating (n.3), sought to terminate sacrificial cruelty. It aimed to set up a society founded on compassion instead of sacrificial brutality. Can this happen? Maybe. This entails terminating all sacrificial violence, not only that inflicted upon human beings.

Full Text: https://www.vegantheology.net/post/the-necessity-of-ending-scapegoating-violence-stephen-r-kaufman-md-paraphrased-by-dr-chapman-che

Notes

 1. A short philosophical story authored by Ursula K. Le Guin, a highly influential US writer of science fiction, fantasy, and philosophical fiction. The story was first published in October 1973 in the science-fiction anthology, New Dimensions 3, edited by Robert Silverberg.

2. Chapman Chen (2025): The immediate cause of Jesus’ death is His direct action to liberate animals from the Second Temple (Matt 21:12–13; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46; John 2:13–16), which severely offended the Chief Priests and scribes by greatly compromising their lucrative commercial interests (Tabor 2012; Akers 2020). Secondary causes include long-standing grudges or religious discrepancies between the Jewish priests and Jesus, and the Romans’ concern about the subversive, anti-colonial potential of Jesus’ influence. In general, Jesus died to wake us from our falsities cum cruelness (Matt. 4:17, 5:27-28, 7:12, 23:13, 25:40), meatism (Mark 11:15-18; Matt 9:13), and alienation from God (John 15:5) to spirituality, love, and veganism (Matt. 5:3, 44, 6:19, 18:8-9, 5:27-28, 22:39, 25:40; John 15:13; Luke 12:31, 17:21; Matt 12:7). But He died for us, not in lieu of us. The concept that Jesus cleanses our sins with His precious blood was concocted by Paul (Tabor 2012; Akers 2020; Hyland 1993). The original Eucharist was simply a preview of the vegan heavenly reunion feast (cf. Didache; “Rule of the Community”, Dead Sea Scrolls). Jesus was literally turned by Paul, the anti-vegan apostate, into the very thing He was protesting: a sacrificial lamb whose flesh and blood ends up in the Pauline cannibalistic communion or blood voodoo (Thompson 2024; Hyland 1993). Although animal sacrifice per se ended with the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, it survives today in the Pauline Eucharist and in meatism — sacrifice to the belly-idol (Proverbs 23:20-21; Philippians 3:19). Full Text:  https://www.vegantheology.net/post/jesus-died-for-us-animals-and-humans-not-in-lieu-of-us-by-dr-chapman-chen

3. Kaufman, Stephen R. (2020). Guided by the Faith in Christ. Cleveland: Vegetarian Advocates Press. https://christianveg.org/guided-faith.htm

Original Article: Kaufman, Stephen R. (2020). “The Need to End Scapegoating Violence.” Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - May 25, 2026 https://www.christianveg.org/newsletter/up-20260525.htm