By the time I decided to see James Cameron’s Avatar, I had already heard enough about the film to be unsure whether it would be worth the time, effort and petroleum to see it. People’s comments about the film ranged from praise for its groundbreaking 3D animation; to criticism of its racist portrayal of the [...]

If you’re near Grand Rapids, Mich. on January 22-23 and want to start the new calendar year off with a new outlook drop by Calvin College for the annual Wake Up Weekend for nonhuman animal awareness and advocacy.
This year, the featured guest will be Vegan Soul Kitchen eco-chef and bestselling cookbook author Bryant Terry. Other [...]

In recent news, a man was arrested for murdering a Yale graduate student in an animal research laboratory at Yale University. At this animal “research” lab the students, professors and technicians engaged in the following kinds of projects:
At Yale University, the IACUC permitted psychiatry professor Marina Picciotto to measure despair in mice by forcing them [...]

This past spring we helped to organize a small informational gathering on veganism at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, called “peaceable eating.” Mercy for Animals gave a presentation on the egg industry showing that not only regular eggs but also “free range” eggs are part of an industrial system that treats the chickens very poorly in many ways. We then showed a video called “Wegman’s Cruelty” which makes the point very well through images.

The response after the presentation and the video by one of our AMBS professors has had me thinking for quite a while about the use of video and imagery in making a case for veganism. This particular professor told me that everybody can agree that the way the animals are treated is just aweful and something ought to be done to make sure they are treated well. But he could not agree that using nonhuman animals for food is in itself a problem. It is the treatment that is the problem, not our use of nonhuman animals for our own purposes.

I have wondered whether the video (and perhaps the initial presentation) did not reinforce that presumption in this friend and professor.

Recently, The Progressive Radio Show had a great interview with Bruce Friedrich, vice president for policy and government affairs at PETA. During the conversation, Friedrich responded to several challenging questions about PETA’s tactics, drew connections between his Christian faith, his veganism and his activism on behalf of nonhuman animals, and discussed his book The [...]