In 100 years, we’ll all be vegetarian.
That’s a bold prediction, one based on literally minutes of careful study - and from an omnivore, for that matter. So you might take it with a grain of salt. I’m mindful that Thomas Jefferson once made the bold prediction, “there is not a young man now living in the US who will not die an Unitarian.” Not one of his more prescient comments, demonstrating prediction is a tricky business (for the record, I don’t foresee everyone becoming Unitarian Universalist anytime soon, nor do I particularly want that to happen – I want, passionately, everyone to know who we are, so they can make up their own mind, but I believe a multi-faith world is a beautiful thing).
But - returning to the topic of vegetarianism - I can’t help but think that vegetarianism is more or less inevitable for us as a species, sooner or later. Think about it: what are the main reasons offered for eating meat? I can think of two: first, meat is an important source of protein and other essential parts of a balanced diet; and second, meat just plain tastes great. However, how long will it be before science, technology, and cooking talent create non-meat products that taste as good as (or better than) meat and deliver as much protein? That day may well have come already. There are quite a few vegetarian restaurants that serve food that tastes nearly indistinguishable from meat, or – if you prefer your vegetables to taste like vegetables – “alternative” meals food that are hearty, flavorful and nourishing.
And this is just the beginning of the vegetarian revolution. Vegetarian food will continue to be more affordable and more nutritious. It will make the alternative more and more unpalatable. Eating meat involves not only the killing of an animal; it also clogs up our atmosphere – the UN Food & Agriculture Organization estimates that 18% of greenhouse gasses come from meat production. That’s a higher percentage than transportation – our hamburgers pollute even more than our Hummers.
OK, I’ll grant that in my minutes of careful research I may not have thought about every possible repercussion of humankind’s switching to vegetarianism en masse. I, for one, am worried about the plight of the cows if we stop using them for meat. Mind you, they seem to do OK in India, a country that has been considering ethical eating issues for thousands of years.
Speaking of which, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Congregational Study/Action Issue this year is ethical eating. This means that congregations all across the continent are considering what it means to live our values when it comes to the food on our plate. The UUA’s website poses these intriguing questions:
• There are different religious teachings concerning the production, distribution, and use of food. Why is food so important in religion?
• There are environmental concerns and concerns about animal rights and human rights. What moral guidelines, if any, should govern food production?
• Some people have too much food and some have too little. How should congregations address issues like poverty and hunger, nutrition education, and health promotion?
• What guidelines, if any, govern the purchase and use of food and beverages in your congregation? Do you pause for a blessing when you serve food?
All of these questions are worth pondering: our appetite for wisdom can be such a delightful source of nourishment – and who knows, it may even cause us to change our habits. Bon appetit!
Rev. Bob
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This past Sunday, I enjoyed a chance to visit the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair and preach there while their Senior Minister, Rev. Charles Ortman, is on Sabbatical.
Rev. Charlie is putting his sabbatical to good use, combining an exciting adventure with social justice by biking across the US to raise awareness of hunger in our midst. He’s collecting sponsorship donations which will go to Toni’s kitchen, a soup kitchen.
You can find out more about this exciting journey by reading the blogs of Charlie and one of his fellows riders, Bill, over the next few weeks:
http://Charliesride09.blogspot.com
http://billsride09.blogspot.com
They dipped their bikes in the Pacific to begin their journey on Friday. It’s been a challenging week-end, judging by their blog posts, but filled with the kinds of challenges it is fun to encounter. There’s nothing like doing what you love towards a great goal, and having the time for a few detours along the way.
In the spirit of adventure,
Rev. Bob
Each year, with the coming of the beauty and warmth of spring, I’ve enjoyed the challenge of preaching the annual Easter sermon to a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Our congregation has Jews, Christians, theists, atheists, multi-theists, Buddhists, pagans, and much, much, more, and if you asked any two congregants what Easter means to them you’d probably get four different opinions! I suspect this may be true in many other congregations as well, but what I love about Unitarian Universalism is these different opinions are never swept under the table; rather, they are considered carefully and honored for what they are: signs that the search for truth and meaning is alive and well.
My Easter sermon this year, which you can read online here in the sermon section in a few days, focuses on my own view of the living Jesus. As I said there, I’m a bit of a Jesus freak: I find the Jesus of the Gospels has a message that speaks to me powerfully, through the centuries, and in spite of the fact that I don’t personally believe the Bible always is, or needs to be, literally true. His message is a challenging one, one that threatens the status quo at every turn, but also challenges our preconceived notions of justice and fairness in a mystical, uncompromising way.
As powerful as the content of Jesus’ message is the way in which it is delivered. He’s there with the crowds in Galilee, there amongst the widows and children and unmarried women and the sick, and his ministry unfolds in relationship with others. He goes off on his own to pray now and again, but rather than give pronouncements from on high, he always gives his messages in the company of others. Even after the resurrection, he is depicted as walking along with his followers, there on the road with them.
I love this image, of Jesus teaching and healing in the midst of relationship. And his example (whoever this prophet from Nazareth actually was, in any historical sense) often helps me consider the way I live my life. Whenever I’m in danger of living too much “in the head”, silo-ed away in the ivory tower of the intellect, I often try and consider four simple questions:
• Where am I, right at this moment?
• What am I doing?
• Who am I with? (who is my neighbor?)
• Why are I/we doing it?
Asking these simple, interesting questions at different points in the day has had a profound effect on me over the years. I invite you to try them for yourself. While these questions don’t, necessarily have anything directly to do with Jesus, it was while reading the Gospels and encountering this Jesus who is always present with others that I was inspired to begin asking the questions.
Whatever your ministry in the world, may it be blessed with presence, activity, comradeship, and purpose.
Rev. Bob
“Does it matter that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003? That he was one of 100+ who tested positive? Does it surprise you? And really, who cares? A-Rod is an entertainer. We pay to see him hit home runs…Baseball is healthier than ever in terms of $$ and attendance.”
-thecitrusreport.com
Call me an old fuddy-duddy if you have to, but when I was a kid, the rules of Wiffle-Ball really meant something.
No steroids. No pandering to TV ratings. No bribing the referee. You had to hit a fair ball to run to first, and if you didn’t reach whatever bottle or stick or rock was being used as first base that day, you were out. Honor and dignity and grace were involved. Was it fun? Heck, yes, it was fun! But no one would accuse us of playing for entertainment. Wiffle Ball, when played by six-year-olds for joy and glory, was deeply serious and important.
Our culture is in the midst of a cheating epidemic. A recent study found that about two-thirds of high school students have cheated on a test; one-third have plagiarized from the internet; and yet 93 percent reported they were satisfied with their own character. Given the amount of cheating at high levels in our society, who can blame them? We learn about company after company posting inaccurate or misleading quarterly reports, costing investors millions and destabilizing our economy. Each year, the IRS loses billions to widespread fraud and deception. Our lip-syncing entertainers are nothing but dolled-up jukeboxes and our performance-enhanced athletes are nothing but juiced-up chemistry experiments. How did we get here?
Dishonesty is hardly a new phenomenon in human society. Sacred texts of many religions stress honesty enough to suggest that telling the whole truth has never been taken for granted. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who can always be relied upon to flip conventional wisdom on its head, goes so far as to state that human beings need lies in order to live, because the unvarnished truth would be too terrible for us to face directly (then, true to form, the poor guy went mad).
Perhaps it is a good thing that the human animal isn’t 100% honest – as an inveterate reader I don’t want novelists to go out of business – but I do think we need to turn back from a culture that prizes results so much over the way we come by those results. What’s harmful about cheating isn’t that you might get caught. What’s truly harmful about cheating is that it demeans the activity you are participating in. When people cheat too much, the heart and soul of our pursuits gets ripped to shreds. Baseball becomes casual entertainment rather than a pursuit of sporting excellence. Rock ‘n’ Roll becomes just another way to make a buck, rather than an opportunity for awesomeness. Institutes of learning and businesses lose their integrity and become all about the numbers, when they should be all about helping individuals and improving society.
We say a cheater never wins; I don’t know if that’s honestly true. We’ve all seen cheaters in some pretty high places, and who knows how many get away with their perfidy. But I will say this: no matter how much you make by cheating, it means a lot more when you don’t. For what does it profit us to gain the whole world, if we do it soullessly?