Celebrate a Compassionate Christmas in Sri Lanka
Posted on December 21st, 2011
Mrs. M. Weeraratna
Though in many traditional Christian Western countires, Animal Welfare Societies run by activists drawn mainly from Christian backgrounds and inspired by the pronouncements of Christian Theologians like Dr. Albert Schweitzer (Nobel Prize Winner) are taking up the cause of animal rights and proposing alternate ways of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ without slaughter of animals and birds, and shedding blood, why is there no such reform movement within Christian circles in Sri Lanka?
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We have yet to hear a Christian voice rising in defence of the lives of innocent animals (destined for slaughter) in the pre-christmas period.
The celebration of peace and goodwill must be based on non – violence and respect for the lives ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ living beings.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
TheƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ commemoration of Vesak providesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ an ideal example of celebration of peace and goodwill combined with compassion and non – violence towards other sentient beings.
It will save lives.
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What can beƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ holy and more noble than that?
Yours faithfully
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Mrs. M. Weeraratna
December 21st, 2011 at 9:15 pm
I am a christian and do not like killing animals in a inhuman way
I do not eat Meat . I am a fishtarian and may be one day will give up fish with the help of God
I wish every one a Happy Christmas and New Year
God bless you all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g_6s-X_1kM&feature=related
I attended this Benny Hinn Crusade in Philly .
Pray to your God for Peace love and Compassion
December 21st, 2011 at 11:34 pm
Killing animals raised for meat is nothing bad.
Cruelty to animals is wrong and must be avoided. Even pet cats and dogs need their share of meat. Otherwise they go hungry.
Imposing non-Christian views on Christians is not going to work. Meat consumption around the world is on the rise.
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/133/11/4048S.full
SL should not be the exception. Take it from me, SL will NOT be the exception!
December 21st, 2011 at 11:49 pm
Jimmy,
Fish are living beings too.
Come to think of it trees are living beings as well. They grow, breath, breed, communicate, trees have feelings (many experiments have proved this), suffer, go old and die. What we eat as food is most often it’s breeding material or it’s young. In most cases the entire tree is killed for getting the food from it. The coconut is a living being. We prevent it from growing into an adult tree, hack it and eat it.
A mango is flesh that sustains a young life. The flesh is needed for the seed to grow. But we cut it and eat it. A life that would have bred many more lives has been cut short.
Blood is what animals have. Similarly trees and “babies” of trees have blood too. They may not be red but that is the life blood of the tree. When in distress, trees don’t produce their young and try to survive.
No food without killing living beings!
Once again cruelty to trees is equally bad. Some fools just tear off tree leaves for fun or chop off its flowers and young fruit needlessly.
December 22nd, 2011 at 10:09 am
kind of agree Lorenzo
Fish are living being too
I love Atlantic Salmon fish with brown rice or vegetables ( grilled salmon )
I also love Oysters and a glass of wine
I am not going to give up eating Fish .
May be one day I might become pure vegetarian
In some countries like Vietnam and Philipine people eat Dog meat. It is unacceptable
What kind of morons eat mans best friend. It is beyond imagination
December 22nd, 2011 at 12:34 pm
In the west, soy based products are now widely used instead of meats by the growing health conscious sector as well as those who want to be vegetarians for ethical reasons. Most of these products taste just like meat. Vegetarian meat flavors (beef, chicken) are available on the internet. We wish a Lankan entrepreneur would undertake the production of tasty beef & chicken burghers from soy.
Vegetarians (not Vegans) can use eggs, milk, milk products to prepare tasty dishes for the Holiday Season. Different nuts (cashew, especially) & seeds (pumpkin) too can be used for tasty special dishes.
December 22nd, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Do not expect Christians in Sri Lanka to voice their opposition to slaughter of animals this Christmas or ever. They never raised their voices when the LTTE were on a murdering spree carrying out bombing throughout Sri Lanka willy nilly and killing innocent civilians. Their main contribution was to compare Poo Paharan to Jesus and say that the “War was unwinnable”.
December 22nd, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Ratanapala,
You cannot generalise all Christians into that. There are many Christians in security forces. The air force commander was a Christian when the AF bombed the shitt out of terrorists.
Tamil bishops were always terrorists. Sinhala bishops were without a backbone to correct them though they had the authority to do so.
December 22nd, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Fran,
Even in the west the total meat consumption is going up.
Anyway western thinking is not what the future is. Growing non-western nations are rapidly increasing their meat consumption.
December 22nd, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Lorenzo,
Total meat consumption is going up everywhere because of population increase. Any type of nutrition is taken for the sake of having food and nutrition, and tasty food – not much thought goes into meat consumption, only habit.
But, it is also true to also say that westerners are becoming more discerning about their food. However, for the sake of convenience, McDonalds & other fast food places which dish out meat & fish with white bread (no food value, really), chips (fatty), salads & sauces, still score – for convenience. But, the frozen food areas in supermarkets are full of more healthy alternatives now, and almost every supermarket in America offers organic vegetables too.
After WWI&II, the east too has taken up western food habits. The earlier pictures of the roasted turkey/chicken from glossy magazines still get us. It all started with the hunt for wild turkey & pheasant in America for food centuries ago, but now the farms have reached mammoth proportions to grow this type of food. I guess this is the hard part for animal lovers and those who are against the act of killing for food.
Still, ’tis the season to be Merry – so go ahead !
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:11 pm
Agree with Fran
He always provides good info
Vegetarian food is the way to go
People can live longer without any disease such as cancer or heart attack with Vegetarian food
Also eat Brown rice instead of White Rice
Former President Bill Clinton advocates vegan food. I saw TV series the otherday that People can lower cholostrol by vegetable diet ( Fruits and vegetables)
I also agree with Fran the benefits on Meditation
One of my new year resolution is to take yoga or meditation classes starting next year
Wish you all a happy New Year 2012 :(
wish you all happiness, Knowledge and Peace
Ayubowan, Vanakam, May You live longer and Healthy. Bonjour Merci Beaucoup
December 22nd, 2011 at 6:04 pm
No offense meant to anyone with my remarks above. Enjoy your holidays, folks !
Thanks, Jimmy, for appreciative response. Yes, do try some Meditation, and let us know how you do with it.
Wish you & all the readers of Lankaweb a safe, Happy & Peaceful holiday season & New Year. Lankaweb has a great team !
December 23rd, 2011 at 3:14 am
Fran,
Per capita meat consumption is GROWING around the world!
Especially in CHINA, INDIA, BRAZIL and other NON-WESTERN countries that are closer to SL than the west.
Trees are living beings too. Vegetarian food is produced by destroying LIFE.
Therefore on compassionate grounds, there is no difference between eating tree based food (most tree based food) and animal based food.
December 23rd, 2011 at 7:14 am
Lorenzo,
I would have preferred not to go in depth into this topic during the holiday season, but since we have already got onto this debate, please allow me go a bit further & digress into other relevant topics.
* Meat eating on a large scale has come about only after invasions, clever advertising & population growth in China, India, Brazil etc. Brazil is a western country in a sense (South American), and definitely not eastern. Meat eating seems to depend on the religion of each land too. In earlier times, Hindu India did not consume meat as a nation. The meat eating habit came about only after Muslim invasions and colonists. China has become a great imitator of western habits to be modern, to feed its vast population plus economic and other reasons. According to the Malthusian Theory, the world would run out of food due to over population, so the fear of famine makes human beings eat what is advertised as a necessary modern food, & made available by entrepreneurs.
* John Robbins is considered by most in the west to be the foremost author for a sustainable future. He advises us to become aware how clever advertising makes us choose our foods. His best known books are “Diet for a New America” & “May All be Fed” – worth reading.
* Plant life has no developed nervous system to feel a great deal of pain, and therefore more suitable as food. All animals do. The invertebrates (no backbone), such as crabs, prawns etc. have only a rudimentary nervous system, and no back spine with a spinal cord which diffuses the nerves all over the body and connects to centre of feeling of pain, the brain. However, the vertebrates (has backbone) such as birds (poultry), cows, pigs, etc. do have a well developed nervous system & brain to feel pain. In fact, cows, pigs, goats, etc. are Mammals (feeding milk to young) just like us human beings. So, these types of animals feel PAIN and fear death, possibly just like us. For that reason, it would be humane for us not to eat meat i.e. try to avoid causing pain to larger animals.
* There are alternative truly healthy & tasty foods now available to the world. The east has forgotten its old vegetarian ways. It is time to go back to some of the ‘old ways’ again, just like the early Americans. It should be so as the west too is now realising the value of low meat consumption for health benefits and to save the environment as well as cost cutting, as the cost of raising animals for meat far outweighs cost of a vegetarian diet. In fact, it’s time for that McVeg burgher in a whole wheat bun ! I would certainly go there for that kind of fare, and they also must be commended for the greatest service by providing clean toilets that any member of the public can use, customer or not.
December 23rd, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Lorenzo,
There was no organized attempt by Christians against Eelam nor about LTTE atrocities. Their churches always justified Eelamist claims that the Tamils in Sri Lanka are a discriminated minority. The lay Christians just let the Church have its say and kept mum except on a few cases where individuals took a very individual stance against Eelamists and the LTTE. We all know about who is discriminating who and this is a much researched subject.
However in the case of the then Air Force Commander it was his father who was at the forefront of the “lie” that war is un-winnable”. This born again Christian himself a former Air Force Commander did enough damage by being an ‘expert’ on warfare quoting Sun Tsu and Count Clausewitz especially to the Robber Queen during her ‘reign’ as President of Sri Lanka. How the father influenced to get his son appointed the Air Force Commander is not a secret. During the conduct of the Great Humanitarian Operation he had no option than to follow orders. Yes, his boys in the Air Force did a splendid job with accurate bombing of LTTE targets and their war effort should be highly commended.
All Sri Lanka loving Christians should confront their Churches and challenge its behavior during the “bloody 30 year Racist Tamil Terrorist war” and why they still continue to support the Diaspora Terrorist and their call for Genocide investigations in Sri Lanka. While doing that also please find out the reason why Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith got Sri Lanka to prohibit the sale of “ Da Vinci Code”. We were the only other country to do so along side Soloman Islands in the Pacific – a country of former Cannibals now a very Christian Country! This is a clear violation of individual freedom in Sri Lanka.
Wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012!
December 23rd, 2011 at 8:49 pm
Fran,
No offence.
* Meat eating is a growing around the world TODAY. It is a fact. China, etc. may imitate the west but meat eating is EMBEDDED in Chinese culture! Nowadays MORE people in China can afford it.
In India too it is growing.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_protein-hungry-india-switches-to-beef-study_1188982
Protein hungry India switches to beef!
It is same in ALL other truely developing countries.
SL should NOT be the exception.
* May be but MOST people around the world think otherwise.
* “Plant life has no developed nervous system to feel a great deal of pain”
Come on Fran! “developed”, “great deal”?
It is scientifically proven they feel pain, drought, etc.
Point #2 is plants breed like animals. Fruits carry their young to LIVE elsewhere. But we eat it and destroy a young plant’s future! It is the same as eating animals.
* Sure. But what tastes best for you may not be as tasty to me.
December 23rd, 2011 at 8:59 pm
Ratanapala,
Yes. That is unfortunately true. But not all bishops/fathers/brothers/sisters are like that. I have personally met so many patriotic Sinhalese fathers/brothers/sisters. Strange they find they are discriminated within the church! Some have been ridiculed for their patriotism.
Harry G was a traitor. He was mostly driven by political BS. But I’m not talking about him. Roshan G is the BEST AF commander we had! That is only one example. Brigadier Ralf Nugera is another. Plenty more examples.
Catholic Church has so many ills in it. You have not mentioned sex scandals around the world. That statue thief – Kasippu Joseph – is still at large. Agree, we should confront these jokers.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012!
December 24th, 2011 at 9:17 am
Lorenzo,
My mistake for not stating my ‘mission objective’ first, for which I apologise.
The objective here is to give more thought to our food, and food production, and not to force others to vegetarianism.
First let me get it clear that I am not attempting to take away your dish of meats. My objective is to turn our ATTENTION to our food & eating habits to more healthy and compassionate fare, using as little meat & fish as is possible. So, I beg to differ with you on certain aspects of our food. I used to eat chicken & sea food myself, but am a vegetarian by choice now. Being a senior citizen, I find it easier. I am sure the younger folk like their meats & fish, and I have no complaint with that.
* On the subject of feeling PAIN, the comparison of a Plant to a Mammal (cows, goats etc), is like comparing a drop of water to the Labugama reservoir ! Nature has not given the capacity to a plant to run away, squeal or defend itself with hoof, horn & claw, when attempts are made by others to turn them into food. Plants are easily gathered, and easily digested by us. Therefore, I surmise, Nature means Plants as food and to be used in other ways.
(Didn’t our ancient forefathers in the caveman days run away from the sabre tooth Tiger ? We were the ‘food’ for them then. Imagine the fear, the sleepless nights in the cold, the pain of death being torn asunder by a Tiger !).
* For strength & brain power, vegetarians are main & stand tall. Vegetarian athletes include Johnny Weissmuller (USA – multiple athletics), Carl Lewis (athlete), and of course, George Bernard Shaw said that he does not want to turn ‘his body into a graveyard for animals’. Refer the net for hundreds of famous vegetarians.
* Indian are vegetarians by nature. Since the invasions, India’s Muslim population of now 150 Million (2nd largest Muslim population in the world), are meat eaters and that accounts for meat eating in India. The non-Muslim population, mainly the Hindus do not generally eat meat. They take milk and milk products such as curd, cheeses, etc.
As for China, meat consumption was/is for pork and sea food and not for beef or other meats. In China, the pig was/is virtually the rural organic ‘dustbin’, as the pig is fed with all the organic throw away material from a household and becomes food in itself. So, in China, the pig is an economic necessity. The Chinese are not milk drinkers nor do they consume milk products as done in India. Therefore, cattle are not reared in plenty in China and there is no widespread eating of beef or other meats. Chicken is more poplar there.
* A human adult needs about 50-60 grams of protein per day. This is a very small amount of meat or fish. The same amount can be taken from vegetarian sources quite easily. Starches (rice & potatoes, etc.) & incomplete plant proteins such as beans, when eaten together form complete proteins. The choice is up to the individual.
* Re health benefits for a vegetarian: the list is so long, I cannot write it all here. Suffice to say that the vegetarian will a longer, healthier life, without cancers, heart & kidney disease, provided we have clean water & air.
Like I said before, ‘each his own’.