Below we answer various questions and concerns you may have regarding veganism, ethics and animal rights.
This page will be updated frequently, so please come back later to see answers to more questions.
Last updated: July 23rd, 2023
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If you have other questions about veganism, please also see the following pages:
Veganism & Health
Veganism & the Environment
Veganism – Way of Life
Responses to Anti-Vegan Criticisms
Replies to Anti-Vegan Memes
I don't think I need to cut out animal products to be considered a good person. Besides, it's legal and it's my personal choice and right.
Just because something may be legal at one point in time does not mean it is also morally correct.
Slave ownership used to be legal and women didn’t have the right to vote.
If you lived in such a time and you were the victim, would you accept the law as a moral argument for not having rights?
But even on this day and age they say that “justice is blind”. We can bring up thousands of examples where the victim did not find his/her right, where the prosecutor was bribed, etc.
And besides, what about the right of animals not to be imprisoned, abused and killed?
One’s rights end where another’s begin.
Every day millions of animals live in the most horrible conditions, in feces and cages. They are abused and murdered in front of their families.
A fate you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
A conviction that does not happen to even the worst criminals.
Just because the law hasn’t yet recognized their worth, that doesn’t mean they are not worth.
The law has never been perfect and it won’t be while we have such medieval ideologies.
If you deny the rights of sentient beings for the sake of the law, then we won’t try to convince you that animals suffer and have feelings. On the contrary, you now have to convince us that you would resist the law and not hide behind it if you lived in another time or region where your fellow citizens had no rights.
We Greeks sometimes like to brag that when our ancestors were building temples and making arts and sciences, other civilizations were just eating acorns.
But now the people of countries where the worst crimes against humanity were committed, such as Germany, Italy, England, the USA and Israel, have the largest percentage of vegans in the world. While we have unfortunately been left behind, even though we are the country of democracy and great philosophers who were vegetarians, such as Pythagoras, Plato, Porphyry etc.
On one hand, we;
– brag about the fighting spirit of our ancestors
– applaud the altruism and self-sacrifice of firefighters
– admire superheroes in movies
– comment “oh my poor souls” when we see photos of stray animals
– say that we believe in a God of love and to pray for peace in the world
But on the other hand how can we have such an easy choice that can bring such positive results, save thousands of animals and the environment and just get bored and selfishly reject it?
We live in a generation of people who have learned that they can get something simply because they want it. That something they hear is wrong, if it simply hurts their feelings. That only they exist and no one else. That they don’t have to take responsibility.
Time to let go of this toxic mindset and become the superior beings we claim to be.
Animals don't have souls.
The argument that animals don’t have souls seems to come from Christianity.
Usually arguments based on religion follow a vicious cycle. For example:
– How do you know animals don’t have souls?
– Because the Bible says so.
– And how do you know that the Bible tells the truth?
– Because God inspired it.
– And how are you sure that God inspired it?
– Because that’s what it says in the Bible.
The point is, arguments based on religion show what one believes, not what one knows to be true. We could mention other religions that believe that animals do have souls.
Usually the argument that animals don’t have souls seems to come from people who didn’t grow up with a pet and didn’t have the happiness of seeing love in an animal’s eyes. And they couldn’t appreciate any of the animals being raised for food, because we don’t even give other animals a chance to show us how special they are, since by the time they’re born, they’re already condemned to torture and murder.
According to religious people, the soul is the intangible essence of a being, which contains the personality and memories of that being. Our capacity for love, kindness and empathy is to many religious people proof that we have a soul.
But animals also have this capacity for emotion and have even it proven better than humans in many cases. They also have their own distinct personality and memories.
Animals we have as pets have proven their loyalty and devotion, like Hachiko from Japan, who waited every day for his guardian for 9 years after he passed away.
Animals such as seahorses, swans, beavers, eagles and penguins are monogamous and remain faithful to their mates. Dolphins as well, and they will fight to free their mate if it gets caught in fishermen’s nets.
If you watch a farm animal sanctuary video, you’ll see that pigs like to get belly rubs, just like dogs. And cows purr like cats when they feel safe. And sheep wag their tails when they are happy, like dogs.
Seeing such touching acts, normally people instead of saying “animals have no soul, slaughter them”, they should be praying to God and ask Him to give souls to animals (if indeed they do not already have) and let them enter the Heaven, so that they may continue to share their love.
On the contrary, if you watch videos from slaughterhouses and farms, you will see mother cows running after trucks where their babies were stolen.
You will see animals screaming in pain and crying.
If you can see the above comfortably and say that animals don’t have souls, then for the good of society, please go for a psychiatric evaluation immediately, because saying that animals don’t have souls is the first step to becoming an animal abuser and becoming an animal abuser is the first step to becoming a human rapist.
Please send us at veganfiesta.gr@gmail.com what is your proof that animals do not have souls.
We will publish your message and admit our mistake.
Also answer the following:
Are you proud to believe that animals have no soul? Would you go to a crying child whose dog just died to tell them that their dog is now gone forever? Would you go to an event of an animal welfare group to say that animals have no soul?
We also wonder:
In the beginning God made the animals and man in the garden of Eden, but then the animals were also driven out of the garden of Eden, not because of their own fault, but because of the humans’ sin. Do you think it is fair and reasonable that human who had sinned should have the chance to return to Heaven, while animals should be disregarded?
Humans are superior to animals. Animals don't have logic, they just act on instinct.
If we humans are beings of higher logic and morality than animals, then why even today in the 21st century there is racism, fascism, rape, drugs even in developed countries with a sophisticated education system?
In Greece, the country of democracy, women only got the right to vote in 1952. And in other countries, they still have no rights.
So maybe we’re not as great as we think.
Some of the main problems in the environment are:
- air pollution
- the pollution of the oceans with plastic waste that is so much that it creates entire islands
- global warming
- the loss of biodiversity
- deforestation
- the destruction of the ozone layer
Who is responsible for these problems? The rabbits; The deer? The ducks?
Pigs, mice, chimpanzees, octopuses, crows, raccoons and cows can solve puzzles better than small children.
Birds know how to build strong nests that can withstand extreme weather conditions.
Many animals give gifts to animals they want to attract.
Ants and bees are not only very social animals, but they also help maintain the ecosystem. The consequences to the environment would be irreparable if these 2 species of animals disappeared, but if humans disappeared, the earth could flourish again.
Each animal is intelligent and capable in its own way, so the question is whether you are able to recognize and appreciate this uniqueness.
Also, don’t judge if you don’t want to be judged. Surely you too had acted on instinct many times in your life. For example, as a child you might had refused to talk to a stranger or trust a doctor, even though your parents told you there was no problem. You definitely had your teenage meltdowns and made mistakes, even though you knew they were mistakes. Or you may smoke (despite seeing the disgusting images and messages on the packaging) thus intentionally putting cancer in yourself and risking your health and the health of those close to you for a temporary pleasure.
All animals, whether wild or stray, are essentially babies, lacking the comforts and luxuries you were lucky enough to be born with. And without much life experience, they manage to survive in a harsh world and at an age in which the most notable thing you were doing was soil your diaper.
The Bible says that God made animals for us to eat.
There are also passages in the Bible that can be used to deny human rights, women rights and disabled-people right.
Peter 2:18 | Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
Deuteronomy 22:20-21 | If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 23:1-2 | No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord. No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.
Leviticus 18:22 | “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.
Leviticus 21:18-21 | No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God.
Timothy 2:12 | I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.
Matthew 5:28 | But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Mark 12:19 | “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
Would you support such things?
We hope not.
As our technology evolves, so must our ethics and religion. We are not trying to cut you off from your religion. Christianity has very beautiful teachings and we are not against Christianity, we are against violence especially if it is done with the excuse that “God said so”.
According to the Bible, God had originally given every plant to humans as food, in the garden of Eden.
And finally, according to Isaiah 65:25:
“The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
So since we understand that veganism is a more ethical attitude to life, supported by the Lord in His perfect paradise, why not embrace it as soon as possible?
Some references in the Bible may actually say that eating meat is permitted. But we also have free will. The fact that something may had been allowed to you (in the difficult times that were then), does not mean that it is imposed on you even today, which we know is not necessary, and also that it harms health, the environment and animals.
We can argue all day long and each of us can pick phrases from the Bible and interpret them as we want, to draw whatever conclusion suits us. But let’s look at the matter in general. Every day, millions of innocent creatures live a hell inside slaughterhouses. They are scared, abused and murdered.
If God allows the enslavement and killing of innocent creatures, then what does the devil do?
When we see animals looking at the slaughterer and happily running at him and willingly putting their necks on his knife, then yes, we will believe that their purpose in life is to be killed for us.
Until then, as long as we see the pain in their eyes and hear their screams, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they don’t want to be killed. So if God tells you that He made animals for us to eat, then tell Him that He’s wrong or come and convince us that we are wrong. The previous sentence may seem insulting to you, but to imply that the God of love would wish unnecessary torture on His innocent children, that is the real insult.
The consumption of animal products supports our economy. If we go vegan, a lot of people will lose their jobs and that's a shame. Even slaughterers are people and they are just trying to make a living.
When you buy ecological products, e.g. metal straw or paper/cloth bag instead of plastic straws and plastic bags, do you think it’s a shame for the plastic producers who will lose their jobs and that more non-recyclable plastics won’t be thrown into the ocean?
When you watch a movie on the Internet, instead of going to a video club, do you think it’s a shame for the owners of such stores to lose customers?
You may say so in both of these cases, but the point is that you understand that you are making decisions that are good for the environment and good for your pocket.
Also read: “Bicycle is the slow death of the planet”.
Every beginning of the year we wish love and peace in the world.
But if we have love and peace in the world, then there will be many military people, police people, lawyers, weapons manufacturers, drug dealers, etc. who will lose their jobs.
So should we stop wishing for love and peace?
If we have health, then there will be many doctors, psychologists, cancer researchers, cigarette sellers, toxic chemical producers, etc. who will lose their jobs.
Should we stop wishing for health?
Likewise in the case of animal products.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), animal agriculture is the biggest cause of water pollution and causes more pollution than all other industrial sources and all Mass Transportation combined (cars, ships, trains, airplanes).
Also:
- According to research by the American Longevity Institute, those who consume animal protein are 4 times more likely to die from cancer and 3 times more likely to die from diabetes.
- Livestock farming wastes a lot of water and crops that could feed billions of people.
So if you care about people, what better thing to do for them than to recommend a diet that will give them longer lives and help prevent some of the worst diseases?
What would you prefer for the butchers?
To be surrounded by blood and screams and have to beat and kill innocent, defenseless creatures, or to produce plant-based food in a healthier environment both physically and psychologically?
We are told that no job is a shame, but that is not true – there are many jobs that are harmful to others and the environment and need to evolve or be banned.
In the end, those people involved in the production and sale of animal products can change their job. Already many restaurants have added vegan options and can slowly become completely vegan. Also many slaughterers are becoming vegan.
But on the other hand, the animals that are killed every day are not going to be resurrected and the environment is not going to clean up, as long as we support livestock farming.
Plants feel pain too.
Plants do not feel pain, as they have no nervous system and no brain.
Vegans recognize that animals feel pain and think about that pain when they see e.g. a piece of meat or fur.
If you really believe that plants feel pain
– do you continue to eat plants or do you continue to support farming of animals, which will need to be fed a lot of plants?
– do you feel bad when you see furniture made of wood?
– when it’s cold, do you go outside to dress a tree that might be getting cold?