Thoughts on Faith

LauraAnn and I have been vegetarians now for more than 12 years, and our boys have grown up with only a vegetarian diet. Sometimes we get questions about what that means and why we choose a vegetarian diet, so I thought I’d write a short blog post about.

I want to be upfront that our choice of a vegetarian diet is completely personal. We do not believe that everyone should be a vegetarian, and we do not cast judgment on those who eat meat. We don’t at all mind people eating meat around us, and we don’t even mind meat being in our house. We just don’t eat it personally, that’s all. Here’s what that means for us.

What is a Vegetarian Diet?

To be vegetarian family simply means that we don’t eat meat. Or to be more direct, we don’t eat animals. There are similar diets that we have tried in the past (such as vegan or pescatarian), but they are different. A vegan diet means that you don’t eat animals or anything that comes from them (including dairy, eggs, and sometimes honey). A pescatarian diet means that you eat seafood but no other meat. As vegetarians, we do eat dairy and eggs (though we try to be more conscious of where they come from), but we do not eat fish or any other animals. 

Why a vegetarian diet?

For me, there are four reasons. 

1. Compassion for animals.

The vast majority of meat produced in the United States and other places comes from abused animals. I mean this in quite a literal way. What you’d go to jail for doing to a dog, is the normal treatment of cows, pigs, and chickens in factory farming. Most of us simply would rather not know “how the sausage is made.” When LauraAnn and I learned a bit about the meat industry, meat lost its appeal. 

That said, there are non-abusive ways of getting meat. Hunting or buying from your local farm is a great alternative. We just decided to keep it simple and not eat meat at all. 

2. Compassion for our bodies.

From our research, a plant-based diet that reduces the consumption of meat (especially red meat), is significantly better for the body. And taking care of our bodies is important.

3. Compassion for the environment.

Surprisingly, the meat industry is one of the biggest contributors of carbon emissions and thus climate change. My understanding is that eating a vegetarian diet has a greater positive impact on the environment than even switching to an electric vehicle.

4. Compassion for the poor. 

It takes a lot of food and land to produce livestock, and we’d have more food to feed the global hungry if those resources were redirected directly to people rather than the animals we raise to eat. We decrease the amount of food available to the human population when we eat meat.

These four reasons have guided us to our family’s decision to eat a vegetarian diet. I don’t write as an expert on these issues, just as someone doing the best I can to cultivate compassion in the world and in our family life. Lots of others come to other decisions, and that’s perfectly okay! No judgement here. I encourage us all to prayerfully do the best we can with the information that is given to us.

Vegetarianism and Faith

You’ll notice that in my reasons I haven’t explicitly cited Scripture or my faith. Faith is certainly a huge influence in my intention for being a vegetarian, but it is not a Scriptural or doctrinal mandate. There is nowhere in Scripture that says you should reduce your meat consumption and there is no Christian doctrine that says you should be a vegetarian. That said, there are many Christians throughout the centuries that have become vegetarians or have had plant-based leaning diets. I think that’s because when we cultivate compassion in our lives and seek to find God’s presence in everything around us, it inevitably effects the way we see animals and the way we eat as well. Does my faith have something to say about the way I eat? I say, yes. Some of the Christians and religious leaders that influenced me the most in my vegetarian diet may surprise you: early Christian monks and nuns, Francis of Assisi, John Wesley, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and… Mr. Rogers!

What do the larsons eat?

We eat a lot! And especially fruits and vegetables, of course! These days though there is a vegetarian substitute for almost everything, even hot dogs. So our diet doesn’t actually look that different from a lot of others. We just substitute the meat for something else. Impossible Burgers and Beyond Burgers are delicious! Generally though, we eat lots of Italian and Mexican foods, which are easy to make vegetarian. We’re always up for trying a new vegetarian dish.

Honestly, after 12 years of not eating meat, we hardly even think about our diet anymore. It’s not something hard to do, though at first there might be a learning curve. People tell me all the time that “they could never be a vegetarian,” and maybe that’s true, but when I became a vegetarian I didn’t even like vegetables. I started small. I reduced red-meat consumption. I ate vegetarian for Lent. I tried new things. It was something I learned and came to love. Maybe you would like it to!