Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - December 18, 2018
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Original Sin part 57: Truth, part 2
  2. The December “Peaceable Table” Is Now Online
  3. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

Please donate to the CVA to support our important ministry. This year, we distributed over 100,000 booklets to Christians at concerts, revivals, and other events. You can send a check to CVA, PO Box 201791, Cleveland OH 44120. Thank you.

1. Original Sin part 57: Truth, part 2

Last week, I discussed how lies, which manifest as fairy tales, magical thinking, and superstitions, constitute the foundation of the scapegoating process. I think this can be readily recognized in America’s tragic history of racism. Though racism remains a problem in the United States, I’m sure CVA members categorically reject it. Consequently, for this audience, racism illustrates how the scapegoating process relies on lies about both the victims and the victimizers.

Civil rights activist and philosopher James Baldwin wrote, “The American Negro has the great advantage of having never believed the collection of myths to which white Americans cling: that their ancestors were all freedom-loving heroes, that they were born in the greatest country the world has ever seen, or that Americans are invincible in battle and wise in peace, that Americans have always dealt honorably with Mexicans and Indians and all other neighbors or inferiors, that American men are the world’s most direct and virile, that American women are pure.”

Reflecting on Baldwin’s writings, Chris Hedges, in his book America: The Farewell Tour, observed, “America was founded on an imagined moral superiority and purity. The fact that dominance of others came, and still comes, from unrestrained acts of violence is washed out of the national narrative. The steadfast failure to face the truth, Baldwin warned, perpetuates a kind of collective psychosis. Unable to face the truth, white Americans stunt and destroy their capacity for self-reflection and self-criticism. They construct a world of self-serving fantasy. Those who imbibe the myth of whiteness externalize evil – their own evil – onto their victims. Racism, Baldwin understood, is driven by an inner loneliness and latent guilt.

Next, I’ll reflect on how these observations apply to animal issues.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

2. The December “Peaceable Table” Is Now Online

Contents include:

  • In the Glimpse of the Peaceable Kingdom, a dog and a cat, fast friends from day one, love to hike in the mountains together with their two human friends.
  • The Editor's Corner Essay considers the famous Milgram experiments on obedience to authority, in which about two-thirds of the subjects obeyed orders to shock another person all the way to the highest level, despite the fact that many of them felt they were doing wrong. There are analogies to the situation of many flesh-eaters, who continue despite their belief that it is wrong to harm animals. But there is also encouragement and hope to be gained from the comparison.
  • One good result of the 2018 elections is that a measure in Florida to ban greyhound racing passed by a large majority. See the NewsNotes.
  • The December Unset Gem is a judgement-day joke about three deceased animals, two dogs and a cat, being questioned by God.
  • Holly Roberts, author of Vegetarian Christian Saints, also wrote an inspirational book entitled Compassionate Vegetarians, containing insightful aphorisms and drawings. This potential Christmas gift is Reviewed by Robert Ellwood.
  • Last month our Pioneer (Part I) was world-class novelist Leo Tolstoy. In this issue we present Part II, which sketches Tolstoy's reflections on the inseparability of nonviolence toward humans and towards animals.
  • For the Holydays, try the Recipe for this "Nut Roast With Gravy" by vegetarian chef Ivan Baker.

To read this issue, go to http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/issue152.html.

Gracia Fay Ellwood, Editor

3. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

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