Thought for the Day

I would say that vegetarianism is the diet of hope, an eschatological diet. It’s not morally obligatory, though it’s morally commendable, because it’s an impossible diet. No matter what we eat, we’re going to take away food from other animals. Even if we turn all of America into cropland we will inflict suffering on animals because you have to keep animals out of the field.

One problem with vegetarianism is that it often gives rise to self-righteousness, a sense of holier-than-thou purity. It can be schismatic, which I think is why the church has seldom embraced it.

It’s a diet of witnessing to your hope that, in the end, God will restore the entire world to God’s original intentions. That God will redeem humans and animals alike.

—Stephen H. Webb