Surprisingly I heard about 2 years about Veganism on a show called “Wife Swap” and with my thirst for knowledge I researched a bit on what that was exactly. I guess my question is: Is there a religion point view behind Veganism?
-Question from http://www.formspring.me/P03A – ask me anything about veganism!
This is an interesting question for me firstly because I don’t think I’ve seen this episode because I don’t watch TV very often. I do admit that watching this on YouTube is such a horrible guilty pleasure! It’s so obvious that the people are just doing it for money and that they’re edited to look extreme in any way possible. Why do I keep watching it? Junk food for the brain, I guess. I’m guilty, too. It’s okay.
Back in the days of my youth, televisions were really this big. Crazy, right?
For most vegans, religion isn’t a primary factor for being vegan. I actually cannot think of one religion that teaches its followers to be 100% vegan (of course, many Hindus are vegetarian, but again – not vegan). I know several pagans who incorporate veganism into their faith and practice, but otherwise a person’s choice to be vegan is not necessarily correlated to their beliefs.
and Vegan meatballs, obviously.
I know that oodles of people think we’re a weird huge cult or something though! Food is such a huge part of life for everyone, and so many vegans have always been foodies. We obsess and blog and convert and tweet every meal like they’re daily prayers and regurgitate facts about ingredients you may have never heard of, as if we’ve memorized them better than a preacher knows John 3:16. Need to make sure there’s no carmine in that Kool-Aid we’re gonna serve you.
Just kidding about the Kool-Aid (…maybe). Some vegans have taken advantage of this common misconception for their own amusement. Just look at the Secret Society of Vegans. (on facebook).
“There is no Secret Society Of Vegans. It doesn’t exist. You don’t know us but we know you. We exist in secret and work anonymously.”
(By the way, the best marketing strategy for a store? Make it seem like a secret organization. This store is in London. LONDON! Yet I’m still a fan. Read the whole description on facebook. I love it.)
For me, personally? It’s definitely rooted in my beliefs, but not religion. I hate the word religion. I have no religion! I live my beliefs, and one of these beliefs is in not harming anyone to the best of my ability; this includes animals, myself, my health, my loved ones, strangers, the planet (lol hippy shh) and yes, even the people who work at financial aid (this one is the hardest sometimes).