When discussing the topic of killing (meat eating) with Christians and Muslims. They ultimately justify killing animals for food by pointing to their scriptures. Thus the main reason why man kills for a living (meat eating) is religion. The Bible and Koran both state that animals are food. They both claim that their scripture is the word of God and thus there is absolutely nothing wrong in killing innocent animals.
This raises the question would God want man to eat meat?
This question can be answered by looking at the health, economic, and violence issues.
1. Health
Is meat good for us?
It’s a scientific fact that vegetarians are healthier than meat eaters. Scientific studies show that vegetarians have a much lower risk of suffering from diseases like cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and other health disorders compared to meat eaters.
Scientific Studies Support a Vegetarian Diet.
A major study reported in the British Medical Journal found that, of 5000 meat-eaters and 6000 non-meat eaters, vegetarians had 40% less risk of cancer and 30% less risk of heart disease than the meat-eaters and were 20% less likely to die of any cause (Oxford Vegetarian Study).
A US study of 50,000 vegetarians showed a very low rate of cancer (Seventh Day Adventist Study, Massachusetts). It has been estimated that by following a low-fat vegetarian diet, the risk of food poisoning is decreased by 80%.
A balanced vegetarian diet is better for humans than one that includes meat (from TIME magazine, July 2002).
An 11-year study of 1,900 German vegetarians has found mortality from cardiovascular disease to be 61% lower in male vegetarians and 44% lower in female vegetarians than the general population.
Hypertension can contribute to heart disease, strokes, and kidney failure. A number of studies have shown vegetarians to have lower blood pressure than meat eaters (Sacks 1974, Armstrong 1977).
The British Medical Association (1986) stated that vegetarians have lower rates of obesity than meat eaters.
Vegetarians have lower rates of colon cancer than meat eaters (Phillips 1980).
There is overwhelming scientific evidence to prove that a vegetarian diet is much more healthier than a meat based diet. Eating meat can seriously damage your health.
What about Protein?
Most people are brainwashed into thinking that meat is the only source of protein. The simple fact is that there is plenty of protein in a vegetarian diet too.
Would God want man to eat food that will increase the chances of suffering from major diseases, reduce the quality of life, and reduce the life span?
Absolutely not.
Would you want your children to eat food that is not good for them? No?
Similarly God doesn’t want his children, you and me, to eat food that is bad for our health.
2. Economic
Does it make economic sense to raise animals for food?
If one acre of land is used to raise cattle, this would produce 20 pounds of meat. If we use the same land to grow soybeans, we would get 365 pounds of protein rich soybeans. The meat would feed one family for around 20 days, and the soybeans would feed 18 families for the same time period. If the millions of acres of land that is currently used to raise cattle was used to produce soybeans and grains, there would be 18 times more food in the world. This would end poverty in the world.
The reason why somewhere in the World a child dies of starvation every two seconds is because of slaughterhouse mentality as described above. If the millions of acres of land, which is used to grow food for animals, were used to grow food for humans directly then there would be at least 18 times more food than currently. Thus there would be no poverty in the World.
About 70% of the crops grown in the US are fed to animals and not to humans. How much more food would there be if the grains/soybeans were given directly to humans?
If everyone in the world became a vegetarian, there would be no such thing as poverty. But unfortunately the majority of the humans simply can’t give up the thrill of killing innocent animals and so the children will have to continue dying due to starvation at the rate of 2 every seconds.
Would God want man to turn 18 lbs of vegetarian food into 1 lb of non-vegetarian food (meat).
Absolutely not.
3. Violence
Is violence related to meat eating?
What do all the terrorists have in common?
What do all the violent criminals have in common?
What do all the murderers have in common?
The simple answer is that they are all killers of animals (meat eaters).
Have you heard of vegetarian terrorists?
Have you heard of vegetarian criminals?
Have you heard of vegetarian murderers?
How does meat eating make one violent?
By killing for a living (meat eating), the human mind develops a taste for killing, which leads to a mentality of violence. The mentality of killing animals spreads to killing humans too. People who kill animals are much more likely to kill people too. This is a fact as the terrorists, and the most violent criminals are animal killers (meat eaters).
The vegetarians don’t kill for a living (no meat) and so their mind develops a taste for non-violence, thus a mentality of non-violence. The mentality of a vegetarian is that killing is totally wrong, thus the killing or even injuring of humans is totally unthinkable.
The US government spends billions of dollars each year on combating terrorism. They think by going after those with guns and bombs will solve the problem. They totally ignore the root cause of violence. Which is human mentality of violence, caused by killing for a living (meat eating).
The simple formula for stopping terrorism and violence in the world is:
No Meat= No killing = No mentality of violence = No terrorism/No violence
What about killing the plants?
There is a big difference between cutting grass and cutting the necks of chickens. Killing plants and animals is not the same.
Would God want man to kill for a living (meat eating) so that they can develop a mentality of violence and become killers of humans too?
Absolutely not.
Why is the Cow Sacred to the Hindus?
The human mother drinks cows milk, and from it produces her milk, which we humans drink at birth. Then at 3 months we start drinking cows milk in a bottle then in cups. We also eat delicious foods made from cows’ milk. Foods like ice cream, yogurt, cheese, and curd. From our birth to our death we rely on cows milk. Thus the cow is considered a mother as she provides us with nourishing food for life. How can you kill such a mother.
Every time you eat pizza, ice cream, yogurt, and other foods made from cow’s milk, you should be very great full to the cow.
How can you kill a mother that provides nourishing food to you for life?
The cow is also the favorite animal of God, Lord Krishna. Why? Since the cow provides nourishing food to Lord Krishna’s children, you and me. Lord Krishna is very much grateful to her. Would you be grateful to someone who feeds your children, or would you order them to be killed and eaten?
Lord Caitanya, who was an incarnation of Lord Krishna states in the Caitanya Caritamrta, Adi-lila chapter 17, verses.165-167.
“Cow-killers are condemned to rot in hellish life for as many thousands of years as there are hairs on the body of the cow.”