Related: In reply to: Humans have souls; animals do not.

Context

• This page addresses several related objections to veganism and animal rights that center around religion—that we have dominion over animals, that animals were put here for us to eat, and that scripture condones eating them.

Note: Here we assume the perspective of the Christian religion, as Christianity is the predominant religion in the countries of most of our readers. See the last point for Christian, Jewish, and Muslim initiatives supporting veganism and vegetarianism.

Points to Consider

Because the Bible does not require us to eat animal products, we are each free to follow our own conscience.

• Even the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family,^[1]Charles Joughin. “10 Things You Should Know About Focus On The Family.” Human Rights Campaign. November 14, 2013 which supports a literal interpretation of the Bible,^[2]“How Do I Interpret the Bible?” Focus on the Family, April 27, 2009. says that “the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that followers of Jesus are free to follow the dictates of their conscience when it comes to matters of dietary regimen.”^[3]“Vegans, Vegetarians, and the Bible.” Focus on the Family, August 9, 2012. Focus on the Family also states that the idea that “vegetarianism was part of God’s original purpose and plan for both man and the animals” is “not an unreasonable assumption.”^[4]“Vegans, Vegetarians, and the Bible.” Focus on the Family, August 9, 2012.
• Research reveals that most, if not all, Bible scholars who have addressed this issue (e.g., Rich Deem) believe that the Bible permits us to eat meat but does not require it.^[5]Deem, Rich. “Should Christians Eat Meat or Should We Be Vegetarians?” God and Science.
• You would be hard-pressed to find a Christian scholar, philosopher, or cleric who believes that God requires us to eat animal products. If such people exist, they are outliers.^[6]The author tried and failed to find such a scholar

Times were different then.

• The Bible was likely written between 1400 BC and 100 AD, with much of the text centered around people living in the desert or semi-arid lands.^[7]“When Was the Bible Written?” The International Bible Society, July 28, 2016.
• The people in those times and places most likely did not have available to them the abundance of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and grains that most of us enjoy today. Nor did they have the science we now have that clearly shows we do not need to eat the flesh of animals or products that come out of animals to be healthy.
• It is not our intention to judge harshly the dietary choices of those whose circumstances differ from our own in the availability of foods or knowledge of nutrition, but for people today to use circumstances of a time or place entirely removed from them as a rationalization for making choices that result in unnecessary suffering seems, at a minimum, unjustified.

The Bible seems to condone many practices that we no longer deem acceptable.

• It’s not difficult to find passages in the Bible that seem to support slavery, the subjugation of women, death for adulterers, and many other practices we now renounce,^[8]These include 1st Samual 15:2-3, Number 31:17-18, Deuteronomy 13:6-10, 2nd Chronicles. 15:13, Genesis 15:9-10, 1 Samuel 15:2-3, Deuteronomy 22:14-21, Numbers 15:32-36, Leviticus 20:13, Leviticus … Continue reading but Bible scholars have hermeneutically rejected the idea that Christianity is compatible with such beliefs.

Because the Bible seems to contradict itself on the topic of eating meat, it’s hard to draw conclusions from the Bible.

• There are passages in the Bible that either seem to be for or against eating animal flesh—so many, in fact, that it’s hard to reach any definitive conclusion from them.
  • Verses that seem to be mostly against eating meat:
    • Leviticus 3:17
    • Leviticus 19:26
    • Isaiah 11:6–9
    • Isaiah 66:3
    • Acts 15:29
    • Romans 14:21
  • Verses that seem to mostly support eating meat:
    • Genesis 1:29
    • Genesis 9:3
    • Leviticus 11:1–47
    • Deuteronomy 12:20
    • Deuteronomy 14:1–29
    • Deuteronomy 14:21
    • Acts 10:9–15
    • Romans 14:2
    • 1st Corinthians 10:25

The word dominion carries the obligations of stewardship and responsibility.

• According to Genesis 1:26, “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
• Some believe Genesis 1:26 gives us permission to do whatever we wish to animals and the environment. But many Bible scholars believe that the word dominion, in the context of this Bible verse and in its original Hebrew meaning, carries with it the obligations of stewardship and responsibility.^[9]Bible Dominion Stewardship Responsibility”, Google Search.
• Today’s animal agriculture industry, it could be argued, is the opposite of stewardship and responsibility, both in its disregard for the lives and suffering of animals and its environmental destruction. See our introduction to veganism for details and citations.

The Bible does not necessarily support the notion that animals were put here for us to eat.

• Genesis 1:29 states that God gave man plants to eat for meat, with no mention of eating animals. Since the timeline of the Bible maintains that animals were already created when that assertion was made, it’s hard to argue that the Bible supports the notion that God put animals here for humankind to use for food.

The Bible may present the vegan diet as an ideal.

• Using Genesis 1:29, it could be argued from the Bible that God’s original plan was for leaving animals off the plate.
• Genesis 1:29, which is before the fall, states that “God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
• Perhaps Isaiah 11:6–9 foresees a return to a meatless diet in depicting a world where carnivores coexist peacefully with herbivores, saying that “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” Wolfs and lambs, leopards and goats, and calves and lions shall lie down with each other, and “the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”

There are Bible scholars who believe the Bible directly supports vegetarianism.

• Although you would be hard pressed to find a Bible scholar who believes the Bible requires we eat animal products, it’s not difficult to find Bible scholars who believe that the Bible directly supports abstaining from animal products.
• In his book Is God a Vegetarian?: Christianity, Vegetarianism, and Animal Rights, Richard Allan Young, who teaches the New Testament at Temple Baptist Seminary, uses biblical ethics to make an argument for vegetarianism.^[10]Young, Richard Alan. Is God a Vegetarian?: Christianity, Vegetarianism, and Animal Rights. Open Court, 2012

Religion-focused vegetarian and vegan associations can help you sort this out.

• The following organizations may shed additional light on the topic:
  • The Christian Vegetarian Association
  • Jewish Veg
  • The Vegan Muslim Initiative