The Spiritual and Religious Reasons to Become a Vegetarian
The custom of tormenting and killing of beasts will, by degrees, harden their hearts even towards men. And, they who delight in the suffering and destruction of inferior creatures, will not be apt to be very compassionate or benign to those of their own kind. Children should from the beginning be brought up in abhorrence of killing or tormenting any living creature.
John Locke
All religions have strong injunctions against cruelty to animals. The wisest among us have understood the powerful connection between inflicting cruelty and suffering on an animal and the willingness to do the same to people—the thinnest of lines separates the two. The converse is almost always true, and indeed many people have felt or witnessed the depth to which animals connect us to our humanity. Kindness and compassion for animals exercises and therefore strengthens our best selves.
The ancient religion of Judaism has strict laws against cruelty to animals for this very reason. The Jewish kosher laws are both profound and complex, and among the maze of guiding rules and principles are many that specifically forbid causing any animal to suffer. The Torah requires that meat and poultry be slaughtered by a process known as shechita, a means of causing instantaneous death with no pain to the animal. However, due to the sheer number of animals killed under kosher rules, millions, it is no longer possible to provide a humane slaughter; there is no longer any kosher meat. Unfortunately, some of the rabbis in charge of kosher slaughter believe that if they follow the letter of the law, they can ignore its intent, but this is clearly a self-serving rationalization that needs far more discussion and hopefully change.
"Animals possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren.”
Pope John Paul II
According to the Bible, "God said, 'Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat' " (Genesis 1:29). Later, God grants Noah’s descendants permission to eat meat, but not without grave and unpleasant consequences. Many biblical scholars interpret this to mean that God originally intended human beings to be vegetarians and that people would do well to follow a plant-based diet. Finally, in the messianic age there will be universal vegetarianism, even among normally carnivorous animals. Isaiah 11:7 says, "The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.” Additionally, the Bible absolutely forbids the eating of pigs: “Do not eat pigs ... They must be considered unclean ... (Deuteronomy 14:3-18) (also Leviticus 11:1-47). It should also be noted that many strict cautions against cruelty to animals appear throughout the Bible.
Not to hurt our humble brethren (the animals) is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission—to be of service to them whenever they require it … If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
Saint Francis of Assisi
The Holy Prophet Mohammed said, "Whoever is kind to the creatures of God is kind to himself," and there is no greater kindness humans can offer animals than the decision to go vegetarian. The Holy Prophet was once asked if kindness to animals was rewarded in the life hereafter, and he replied, “Yes, there is a meritorious reward for kindness to every living creature.” The Holy Prophet also said, “It is a great sin for man to imprison those animals which are in his power." Most Imams, those who study the Qu’ran, have concluded that vegetarianism is halal, meaning lawful.