Can I call myself a real, peace-loving Quaker if I ate chicken twice today? And dare I add that it was conventional chicken, not the happy hens who roam, scratch and cluck in pastoral bliss until "farm" meets "table"?
The Quaker Peace testimony and general social concerns are, as far as my hasty research shows, generally concerned with human rights, not animal rights.
In New England Faith and Practice the Peace Testimony is repeatedly described in terms of human rights, not universal critter rights.
- "The witness for peace is an affirmation of the divine Light in every human being... Christ teaches us to love our enemies. George Fox calls us to seek that of God in everyone. Warfare denies these teachings, denies the sanctity of human life." 1985, (p. 182).
- "The Quaker peace witness developed from a deep faith in the essential unity of mankind and the sacredness of each individual because of that 'of God' or the 'Inward Light' in each person comprising that unity." 1965 (p. 183)
- Early Friends found that "the many forms of social injustice witnessed round them 'struck at their life' and could no longer be tolerated" (Note, "their" lives, not the lives of other creatures.) 1958 (p. 175).
But conventional animal production is surely cruel, and while it may not produce explicitly the occasion for war, it does involve violence against defenseless victims. Moreover, the "equality" testimony is implicated, since raising animals in conditions below their dignity represents a severe power imbalance.
Thank goodness that the #1 Famous American Quaker took a stand where many others didn't.
Representing the Silent Majority, John Woolman championed the rights of all of creation:
"Our gracious Creator cares and provides for all his creatures. His tender mercies are over all his works; and so far as his love influences our minds, so far we become interested in his workmanship and feel a desire to take hold of every opportunity to lessen the distresses of the afflicted and increase the happiness of the creation." 1863 (p. 174)
He was even more explicit in this excerpt from his Journal. In it he recounts that when he was young he once threw stones at a mama bird and killed her.
"At first I was pleased with the exploit, but after a few minutes was seized with horror, at having, in a sportive way, killed an innocent creature while she was careful for her young. I beheld her lying dead, and thought those young ones, for which she was so careful, must now perish for want of their dam to nourish them."
Young John climbed the tree and killed the babies too, to reduce their suffering. But he was deeply marked by the incident:
He writes, "[I] was early convinced in my mind that true religion consisted in an inward life, wherein the heart does love and reverence God the Creator, and learns to exercise true justice and goodness, not only toward all men, but also toward the brute creatures."
I like Adam Curle's words on the peace testimony.
"We never know what ripples spread from what seems the smallest action. Only let us be led by the spirit and we will vanquish the philosophy of death. This is the only preparation for peace.
Does the peace testimony ask us to abstain from meat raised in non-peaceful ways? I'll try to be led by the spirit, (and not the scent of neighborhood barbecues...)
The Quaker Peace testimony and general social concerns are, as far as my hasty research shows, generally concerned with human rights, not animal rights.
In New England Faith and Practice the Peace Testimony is repeatedly described in terms of human rights, not universal critter rights.
- "The witness for peace is an affirmation of the divine Light in every human being... Christ teaches us to love our enemies. George Fox calls us to seek that of God in everyone. Warfare denies these teachings, denies the sanctity of human life." 1985, (p. 182).
- "The Quaker peace witness developed from a deep faith in the essential unity of mankind and the sacredness of each individual because of that 'of God' or the 'Inward Light' in each person comprising that unity." 1965 (p. 183)
- Early Friends found that "the many forms of social injustice witnessed round them 'struck at their life' and could no longer be tolerated" (Note, "their" lives, not the lives of other creatures.) 1958 (p. 175).
But conventional animal production is surely cruel, and while it may not produce explicitly the occasion for war, it does involve violence against defenseless victims. Moreover, the "equality" testimony is implicated, since raising animals in conditions below their dignity represents a severe power imbalance.
Thank goodness that the #1 Famous American Quaker took a stand where many others didn't.
Representing the Silent Majority, John Woolman championed the rights of all of creation:
"Our gracious Creator cares and provides for all his creatures. His tender mercies are over all his works; and so far as his love influences our minds, so far we become interested in his workmanship and feel a desire to take hold of every opportunity to lessen the distresses of the afflicted and increase the happiness of the creation." 1863 (p. 174)
He was even more explicit in this excerpt from his Journal. In it he recounts that when he was young he once threw stones at a mama bird and killed her.
"At first I was pleased with the exploit, but after a few minutes was seized with horror, at having, in a sportive way, killed an innocent creature while she was careful for her young. I beheld her lying dead, and thought those young ones, for which she was so careful, must now perish for want of their dam to nourish them."
Young John climbed the tree and killed the babies too, to reduce their suffering. But he was deeply marked by the incident:
He writes, "[I] was early convinced in my mind that true religion consisted in an inward life, wherein the heart does love and reverence God the Creator, and learns to exercise true justice and goodness, not only toward all men, but also toward the brute creatures."
I like Adam Curle's words on the peace testimony.
"We never know what ripples spread from what seems the smallest action. Only let us be led by the spirit and we will vanquish the philosophy of death. This is the only preparation for peace.
Does the peace testimony ask us to abstain from meat raised in non-peaceful ways? I'll try to be led by the spirit, (and not the scent of neighborhood barbecues...)
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