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MISSION STATEMENT

V-EGANISM is independent in thoughts and actions, only choosing what is right and just for animals, humans, and the environment. V-EGANISM however does have a mission statement which is how the founder of veganism, Donald Watson, originally coined the word's definition. It was a perfect definition then and it still is a perfect definition now. So the following paragraph is V-EGANISM's official Mission Statement:


"V-EGANISM educates people and helps people and animals regarding the political and social justice cause, Veganism, which is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude--as far as is possible and practical--all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, cosmetics, household products, entertainment, service or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals, and the environment."


OPERATION V-EGANISM SHARING LINKS

I share links daily regarding animal rights/veganism on Twitter. https://twitter.com/LorraineVegan.

Healthy Body, Mind & Spirit Maneki Neko Cat

Healthy Body, Mind & Spirit Maneki Neko Cat

Love & Peace Maneki Neko Cat

Love & Peace Maneki Neko Cat

Animals Killed Counter

The Animal Kill Counter: Basic Version << ADAPTT :: Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow

Animals Slaughtered:

0 marine animals
0 chickens
0 ducks
0 pigs
0 rabbits
0 turkeys
0 geese
0 sheep
0 goats
0 cows and calves
0 rodents
0 pigeons and other birds
0 buffaloes
0 dogs
0 cats
0 horses
0 donkeys and mules
0 camels and other camelids

These are the numbers of animals killed worldwide by the meat, egg, and dairy industries since you opened this webpage. These numbers do NOT include the many millions of animals killed each year in vivisection laboratories. They do NOT include the millions of dogs and cats killed in animal shelters every year. They do NOT include the animals who died while held captive in the animal-slavery enterprises of circuses, rodeos, zoos, and marine parks. They do NOT include the animals killed while pressed into such blood sports as bullfighting, cockfighting, dogfighting, and bear- baiting, nor do they include horses and grey- hounds who were exterminated after they were no longer deemed suitable for racing. Courtesy of ADAPTT

Veg Movies Website - Largest collection of Animal Activism films!

VegMovies plant-based and animal-friendly movie directory


Truth!

Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts

Thursday, October 27, 2022

The Saints and Their Feast Days




"During the first 1,000 years of the Christian Church, there were many saints who loved animals. They lived with them, rescued them, nursed them and saved them from hunters. In turn, many saints were helped by animals." 

From the website: Catholic Concern for Animals:

The Saints and Their Feast Days

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Cruelty-Free Women Polka Dot Newsboy Hats w/ Metallic Accents & Bow!





I purchased these 3 cool and very feminine hats from Amazon! It arrived quickly and best of all, they are cruelty-free! I'll wear them especially when I go to church.

  • 60% Cotton, 40% Polyester
  • Best Fit From 21 1/2"-22 1/2" Head Circumference (Hat Size 6 7/8 - 7 1/8)
  • 3" x 2 1/4" Bow on the Left Side of the Hat
  • 2" Wide Visor

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Gathering in Community - Joining the Circle




I attended an October 24th meet at my church called, Gathering in the Community - Joining the Circle. It's about seeking a smaller group within the large church congregation community with whom to make connections and for spiritual development.

Before the gathering, we were emailed notes to prepare for the meeting. One such notice was to bring a small item representing who we are.

Above, is what I brought. I've been collecting bookmarks since the 1970's, now having about 275 bookmarks from all over the world. But sometimes I make them, like the one above. Bookmarks is a special collection of mine and the longest collection of 3 things I collect.

Also, I decided to mention what pretty much sums up who I am as a person, what I most talk about and what I most study/read about. To know that I'm a pagan and a vegan is to already know a lot about me. So I was very proud to show this bookmark off. I had just made it the night before the gathering!

Also, I met a fellow vegan there! Out of about 12 of us, there are 2 vegans so far.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Charles Fillmore: 19th Century Strict Vegetarian



Charles Sherlock Fillmore (August 22, 1854 – July 5, 1948) founded Unity, a church within the New Thought movement, with his wife, Myrtle Page Fillmore, in 1889. He became known as an American mystic for his contributions to spiritualist interpretations of Biblical scripture.

Charles and Myrtle both had health problems and turned to some new ideas which they believed helped to improve these health issues. Their beliefs are centered around two basic propositions: (1) God is good. (2) God is available; in fact, God is in you. About a year after the Fillmores started the magazine Modern Thought, they had the inspiration that if God is what they thought--the principle of love and intelligence, the source of all good--God is wherever needed. 

Both Charles and Myrtle became strict vegetarians in the 1890s, long before the practice caught on in the West. The Fillmores' nutritional convictions were based on their spiritual beliefs. Charles Fillmore was an ethical vegetarian who did not eat animal flesh. He also refused to wear leather and fur.

For over forty years, from the late nineteenth century into the 1930's, Charles Fillmore wrote passionately about the physical, mental, social, and spiritual harmfulness of eating animal foods, and the necessity of a plant-based diet for anyone serious about developing spiritual maturity and contributing to world peace. He and Myrtle were conscientious vegetarians and encouraged their students to be so. 

There was once a village called Unity Village, where it would be a recreational place for Unity workers and in the future, it would develop into a spot where unity people from all parts of the world may come and commune with nature and study Unity principles.

A Unity Inn lunch menu from 1916 included:

vegetable broth
nut loaf
cucumber 
salad
rice peach pudding
rhubarb sauce
fruits

A dinner menu included:

soup
fried eggplant
browned potatoes
cabbage
stewed tomatoes
salads
desserts

In his later years, Fillmore felt so young that he thought that he might be physically immortal, as well as believing that he might be the reincarnation of Paul of Tarsus. 

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Mason Bee Homes and Gold Certification

My church has an official Backyard Habitat (Gold) Certification. We just received the Gold certification early this year.
 
One of the ways one can get certified is to have (among many other things required) Mason Bee Homes. I had never heard of Mason Bee Homes so I Googled it to find out what they looked like before I searched to find ours on the church grounds. As you can see below, there is more shelf space to the left and right of the church to have even more Mason Bee Homes; maybe we'll get more soon.

Click on photo for larger image.


 
 

    
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
The church's Gold stamp of approval!
 

 
 
 
 
As I was taking photos, I noticed a bee so took pictures of him. Too bad I didn't have my bigger and better camera with me as the image of the bee would have come out much sharper up close.
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
This was taken near my home. I think it's awesome the owner would rather cut holes in the wooden fence than break the tree's branches--loves it!
 

 
 
I've asked to be on the mailing list as a volunteer to help maintain the church's Certified Habitat. I'm really excited about it and can't wait to participate in the program!
 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Animal Chaplain Program



More than 60 percent of households in the U.S. have a companion animal, and many of the people living with those animals attend church services regularly, but only a small percentage of churches serve animals and their caretakers. Ahwatukee Foothills residents Kris and Craig Haley had an idea.

Kris and Craig had spent years working with animal advocate groups. Over the years they both had an awakening to the thought that their animals and all animals they were meeting had a spirit. They became aware that people often have a very spiritual connection with their companion animals but that connection isn’t often officially recognized by churches. So they made a call to Emerson Theological Institute. The director of the school listened to their idea for a course about animals. In the course of studying for their own doctorate, the Haleys developed a Department of Humane Religious Studies for the school. The main department is the Animal Chaplain Program. Kris and Craig are both ordained animal chaplains and since the formation of the program more than 25 students have graduated.

The ministry is more geared toward supporting the people who take care of the animals than the animals. The animals are the teachers but the humans sometimes need support.

The program is a three-module program. The second module is the one Craig focuses on in his own ministry, bereavement. In addition to bereavement the Haleys take prayer requests, offer veterinary hospital and hospice support, conduct memorial, remembrance or life celebration ceremonies, conduct naming and adopting ceremonies, and do animal blessings. As chaplains, the Haleys serve various religious communities and churches and animal adoption events to provide prayer, grief circles, classes and workshops online.

The Haleys oversee the Department of Humane Religious Studies at Emerson Theological Institute. The Animal Chaplain program is completely online. For more information on the church, visit www.onevoiceministry.com.

Creative Living Fellowship Church in Phoenix decided to recognize two animal chaplains as members of the church’s ecclesiastical team. There chaplains are available for members of the church looking for help with issues dealing with their companion animals. For more information on the church, visit creativelivingfellowship.com.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Spiral Scouts




Founded in 1999 in Index, Wash., the Spiral Scouts was initially conceived as the youth group for the Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC). The ATC is the first Wiccan church to receive full legal status.

But when the Spiral Scouts began a national expansion in 2001, the organization avoided rigid identification with any one particular faith. Though open about its basis in pagan beliefs and practices, Spiral Scouts is described more as a program for girls and boys of minority faiths working, growing and learning together. They are a variety of spiritual people who don’t necessarily identify themselves with a certain group.


The Spiral Scouts organization has now spread to 20 states, Canada and Europe. Currently, 127 different groups have been chartered, ranging in age from preschoolers to teenagers to parents. Groups can be structured in two ways: as a “hearth,” which is composed of a single family, or as a “circle,” which has a wider membership.


Spiral Scouts is very similar to mainstream scouting organizations. Members wear uniforms, attend monthly meetings, camp and learn wilderness skills. They perform community service and earn merit badges in subjects ranging from sculpture to ecology and nutrition. The organizational structure of the group is also comparable to its better-known counterparts, with different levels of membership corresponding to a child’s age. Youngsters aged 3 to 6 are known as Fireflies and those aged 9 to 13 are termed Spiral Scouts. Pathfinders, the highest level of membership, denotes teenagers aged 14 to 18. But where the Boy and Girl Scouts recite a pledge to “do my duty to God and my country,” a Spiral Scout promises, among other things, to “respect living things” and “respect the beauty in all creations.” Also, Spiral Scout merit badges are set up in five categories--earth, air, fire, water and spirit--that correspond to the five points of the Wiccan pentacle. One major difference between the Spiral Scouts and the mainstream scouts is that membership is not gender-specific. Each circle is required to have both a male and female leader, who must first undergo extensive background checks.


The Spiral Scouts is not about not being some other group. They are their own holistic group that exists for the kids and the families.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Did John the Baptist Really Eat Locusts and Wild Honey?




There's a longstanding confusion in the etymological origin of the word locust. Locust is both a bean from the carob plant and an insect. The Greek word for cakes or bread made from the flour of the carob bean is 'egkrides' and the Greek word for locust the insect is 'akrides'. The insect locust is approved to be clean for consumption in Leviticus. It was a delicacy in those days and was mostly consumed by the upper and/or priestly class.

John the Baptist belonged to a group of ascetics who believed in repentance and in leading an austere lifestyle. The carob bean was seen as the diet of the lower class who normally endured hardship and exploitation from the priestly class. So most likely John the Baptist ate locust plant seed from the carob tree.

Also, regarding honey, it could be anything from saps of certain trees to juice of the crushed dates. Carob flour and crushed dates made a good damper or sweet rustic cake, hence the word 'egkrides' in the Greek version of the Bible.

Some Church Fathers circa 400AD put forth an injunction to change the word 'egkrides' in the Bible meaning cakes to 'akrides' the insect locust, not realising that locust the insect was a delicacy enjoyed by the priestly upper crust, from whom John the Baptist and people like John distanced themselves from.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

The Lord Christ Jesus Was a Vegan

 
 
Book description (From Amazon):
 
"This book raises many interrelated important issues in life and tries to clarify the spiritual facts and to tie the loose ends, according to the wisdom of Divine Love. The good news about Lord Christ Jesus being a vegan (a strict vegetarian), for Biblical reasons is expounded in this book. This book discuss in detail the interests, the well-beings and the freedom of all creatures. The main points discussed in here, from the Christian vegan perspectives are: why mankind should live to honor God, about the universally abiding laws given us by the supreme Creator, the Christian justice, the importance of Church unity, nutrition, balanced diet and related issues. The pages loudly echo the spirituality of animals and the normal feelings of all that live; encouraging mankind to choose environmentally friendly products and services instead of animal products or animal services. Every violent sport and entertainment that involves animals is denounced together with the modern day idolatry and animal slavery; urging God fearing people to actively love and defend all animals and the universe in the Holy Name of Christ Jesus now and always."

Friday, November 16, 2012

Goodbye, Friend

 
In the book, Goodbye, Friend, author Gary Kowalski takes you on a journey of healing, offering warmth and sound advice on how to cope with the death of your companion animal. Filled with heartwarming stories and practical guidance on such matters as taking care of yourself while mourning, creating rituals to honor your companion's memory, talking to children about death, and considering death and the continuum of life, Goodbye, Friend is a beautiful and comforting book for anyone grieving the loss of a beloved animal and is a much-needed resource for any grieving companion parent.
 

The author shows the need for the Church to recognize bereavement for companion animals in the same way it recognizes bereavement over human loss and the need to stop denying the fact that animals have souls and spirits, just as we do.
Through a series of short chapters, the author walks us through the mourning process of various individuals through whom we can relate our own losses and look forward with hope to seeing our lost companions again in heaven. Our feelings of loss are not unique, but universal among all people of compassion.
He concludes his book with ideas for creating a memorial service and inspirational readings from many faiths, past and present.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Familiar Strangers




Familiar Strangers: The Church and the Vegetarian Movement in Britain (1809-2009) is a book about the history of the relationship between the Churches and organized vegetarianism in Britain over two centuries.

Within the name, Familiar Strangers, author John Gilheany captures the essence of the struggle that has existed between the church and the vegetarian movements for the past 2,000 years, and his study of the last 200 years in Britain highlights the continued struggle, as well as the advances that have occurred.

For far too many years the majority of churches and church leaders have turned a blind eye and heart toward the suffering of animals, and the health problems to human beings that an animal product based diet causes. In Familiar Strangers, John Gilheany brings to light the historical documentation and the need for all of us to become vegetarian/vegan, for it is God's heavenly will for our lives, and the best thing for the animals and the environment.

In Familiar Strangers, we also see how the animal rights movement was a natural progression of the vegetarian influence with it's concern for the suffering of animals.

In 1809, the origins of the vegetarian movement were set in place with the foundation of the Bible Christian Church of Salford. The radical sect, whose congregation included local Civic leaders and the first M.P. for Salford, Joseph Brotherton (1783 - 1857) was instrumental in the formation of the Vegetarian Society, in 1847. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the wider Food Reform movement had developed both secular and spiritual ideals which attracted a notable proportion of Christians.

Among the more prominent religious figures to have shared an association with Christian vegetarianism have been John and Charles Wesley; General William Booth, C.H Spurgeon, Leo Tolstoy, Lord Soper, and even Mahatma Gandhi.

The reluctance of the Vegetarian Society to adopt an overtly theological stance led to the formation of related but distinctly religious organizations. The Order of the Golden Age became particularly influential during the Edwardian period whilst operating from prestigious offices in London's Knightsbridge. The most remarkable achievement of the forgotten organization occurred in 1907, when their propaganda was met with a change in diet on the part of Pope Pius X.

The vegetarian movement entered into a decline after the Second World War from which it was unable to recover until the Counter Culture of the 1960s eventually gave rise to the modern animal rights movement.

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