An Animal Rights/Vegan Activists' Strategies Article used with permission from All-Creatures.org

Tami Hay and Paul Papin of the Million Vegan Grandmothers reflect on veganism as a commitment to life and a calling to stand up against cruel norms and traditions. We should heed the intuition of children that killing animals is wrong and strive to honor the bond between mother and offspring of all species. In this way, we can usher in the era of Homo Ahimsa—the non-harming human.

Veganism Isn’t a Lifestyle; It’s a Spiritual Practice
From Tami Hay and Paul Papin, The Million Vegan Grandmothers
August 2025

Images from Canva

When I first became vegan in my early twenties, my roommate at the time accused me of being “trendy”. His accusation was a projection, no doubt, and likely said more about the wellspring of his own choices than about mine, but forty years later I like to think that even he might now be willing to grant that my veganism has deeper roots than a desire to be on point. What this anecdote hopefully illustrates is that in our commodity culture, the decisions we make about how to live are often reduced to “lifestyle” choices, with all that the suffix “style” connotes of transient and trendy fashion. Against this brand-conscious, magazine-cover conception of living, however, the “consumption” choices vegans make reflect a profound and sacred commitment—a commitment to life, not lifestyle. Vegans, moreover, are committed not just to their own best lives but to the best lives of all beings. Veganism, in short, isn’t simply what we do—let alone what we buy—but who we are. To be vegan is to practice daily a sacred vow of non-violence and reverence towards all beings.

To say that veganism is a sacred practice is not to call it a religion—at least not in the reductive sense of religion: a set of traditional rituals practised unreflectively or out of a desire to conform. Like religion in the highest sense and in its most progressive calling, veganism sets itself against problematic traditions, against longstanding but invalid social norms. For the tradition and norm of our society, sadly, is animal exploitation—lately, on an industrial scale. There is nothing more traditional, nothing more normal in our society than to partake of a communal feast centred around an animal sacrifice. To question such a practice, to refuse to participate in it, is tantamount to social ostracism. No matter: vegans seek to create their own community, one ultimately founded not so much on a commonly held belief system as on a shared capacity for suffering. For suffering is a capacity shared by all sentient beings, and when we acknowledge and allow ourselves to feel compassion for other beings’ suffering, we are moved to include them in our community. If veganism has a doctrine, it is the doctrine of ahimsa—non-harm—and it is written in the heart.

Veganism is a sacred uprising against the mechanized numbness of a culture built on domination. Its hymns are therefore meant to awaken humanity from its violent trance. They first make audible the suffering: the tortured bleat of the lamb; the bawl of the calf and the frantic lowing of the cow as they are separated; the final, bloody spray of the whale. Then these hymns sing of the peaceful world to come, the peaceful world already being made one meal at a time.

Many Christians appeal to the Bible to justify eating animals, but in doing so they fail to heed the words of Jesus when he proclaimed: “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). When it comes to sacred nourishment, it is truly the children who show us the way. Watch their eyes widen in disbelief when they learn that bacon comes from a piggy, that beef comes from a moo-cow; out of their innocent horror, a new gospel is continuously being born. Children know without being taught that there is something deeply wrong about killing and eating these gentle creatures. If they go on to forget this truth—God, let them remember—it is only because it is eventually drummed out of them by cultural repetition, and they, too, succumb to the numbness of normalization.

The Essenes believed the darkness could not be fought with swords but must be outshone by the radiance of truth. We are called to become children of light, illuminating a world grown dark with greed, despair, and the forgetting of sacred kinship.

Let me tell you a story—a living scripture. In 2022, a collective of radiant women and men gathered to form a community called The Million Vegan Grandmothers. “Enough!” they collectively thundered. “We will no longer sacrifice our children, the animals, and the Earth to the false gods of convenience and denial!” At the very heart of their movement was a sacred calling to honor and preserve the bond between mother and offspring of all species, for to honor this bond is to honor the very architecture of life itself. It is to stand in holy reverence before the mysteries of birth, milk, touch, and belonging. It is to say, with all our being: No more stolen babies. No more stolen milk. No more stolen love. These belong to THEM! And so the Grandmothers marched, they sang, they shared food and recipes, they wept, they prayed. Their hands planted seeds, their arms held children, their feet walked through fire. And in the process they were calling forth Homo Ahimsa—the non-harming human—who is prophesied to emerge in these times of unraveling, and who will follow, in a mindful and heart-centred way, their own children’s vegan commandments:

1. Thou shalt not kill our family—the family of all living beings.
2. Thou shalt protect our water, air, soil and food, so that we may grow up strong and at peace.
3. Thou shalt not deceive me.
4. Thou shalt not exclude me from the truth.
5. Thou shalt walk with me, sharing in my childlike wonder and joy.
6. Thou shalt embrace playfulness as we enter the kingdom as children.
7. Thou shalt not live in fear, for fear begets control and domination.
8. Thou shalt caretake and protect all creatures.
9. Thou shalt be Children of Light.
10. Thou shalt always follow thy vegan heart.

The grandmothers are rising; the children are leading; and we, the people of Earth, are awakening. By 2026, let our hearts be ready. The prophecy whispers: A compassionate world is not only possible—it is already being born.

As the Grandmothers prepare for International Calf and Cow Day 2026, we are gathering the offerings of our collective love. We invite you to contribute poems, essays, short videos, love letters for all creatures, and artworks of reverence and remembrance. These sacred gifts will form the roots and wings of our community website, honoring the bond between mothers and their babies and celebrating the rising of a new compassionate era.

Let your heart speak. Let your hands create. Let your voice rise. Together, we are telling a new story—one of love that includes every creature.

We are arriving. And we are bringing beauty with us.

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Join the Movement of the Heart

By 2026, let our hearts be ready. The prophecy whispers: A compassionate world is not only possible—it is already being born.

As we prepare for International Calf and Cow Day 2026, we are gathering the offerings of our collective love.

We are now calling for submissions to help seed our community website, a sacred digital sanctuary devoted to honoring the bond between mothers and their babies of all species and igniting global compassion.

We invite you to share:

• Poems that speak to the soul of our shared Earth
• Essays rooted in truth, story, and liberation
• Short videos that shine a light on kindness in action
• Love letters to all creatures, born or unborn, seen or unseen
• Artworks that honor the sacred mother-child bond and all sentient life

Please send your submissions to this form. Include your name, location, and a short description or artist’s note if you’d like.

Together, we are weaving a tapestry of sacred remembrance. Let your contribution be a strand in this great, growing web of life.

Let your heart speak. Let your hands create. Let your voice rise.

We are arriving. And we are bringing beauty with us.

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: August 11, 2025
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