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Famous Lisa Kemmerer Quotes

“Those working in slaughterhouses, for example, are often underpaid and overworked, lack insurance, and are required to use dangerous equipment without adequate training. Turnover and rates of injury for jobs in anymal industries are among the highest in the United States. Slaughterhouse employees are almost always poor, they are often immigrants, and they are inevitably viewed by their employers as expendable. Moreover, if we would not like to kill pigs, hens, or cattle all day long, then we should not make food choices that require others to do so. Our dietary choices determine where others work. Will our poorest laborers work in fields of green or in buildings of blood? Fieldwork is difficult, but I worked in the fields as a child, and I am very glad that I never worked in a slaughterhouse.”

CompassionPovertyEthicsSocial JusticeImmigrantsVeganismFieldworkSlaughterhouse
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Another critical religious motivation for reconsidering diet is concern for human suffering—out of compassion—in light of poverty, malnutrition, and starvation. . . . Not only do we damage the environment with our choice of cheese and cutlets—burdening future populations with pollutants, dead zones, and global climate change—but we also feed tons of precious grains to hundreds of thousands of cattle, pigs, chickens, and turkeys while fellow human beings go without food. Food energy is wasted when we cycle grains through anymals. Rather than breed hungry cattle and chickens to consume grains, we should stop breeding anymals and feed precious grains to those who are already starving. If we did not breed and consume anymals, billions of tons of grains could be redirected to feed hungry human beings, alleviating and/or preventing starvation worldwide.”

ReligionCompassionPovertyEnvironmentSocial JusticeClimate ChangeStarvationMalnutritionAnymals
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Increasingly we come to understand that any difference between human and nonhuman primates does not necessarily show humans in a complimentary light.”

CompassionPrimatesAnimal EthicsAnimal BehaviorAnimal StudiesEthics And ScienceAnimal ExperimentationHuman Beings InjusticeAnimal Cognition
Book:Primate People: Saving Nonhuman Primates through Education, Advocacy, and Sanctuary
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“Indigenous religious traditions around the world continue to provide an ancient yet living vision of nature as sacred, requiring human respect and entailing human responsibilities. Anymals are understood to be “people” living in community as humans live in community—all of whom are part of a larger community of living beings. Indigenous religious traditions teach people that we owe respect, responsibility, and compassion to our nonhuman kin, and remember a time of great peace, before predation began. Most indigenous peoples believe that all beings are endowed with souls. Anymals are generally thought to hold exceptional abilities and remarkable powers.”

CompassionMythologyVeganismIndigenous PeoplesAnymalsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsReligion And EthicsRespect For NatureRespect For Animals
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Most people are raised with the belief that anymal exploitation is religiously sanctioned, and they will readily defend this point of view. Consequently, arguments in favor of anymal exploitation—including religious arguments—are easy to come by. . . , but such arguments tend to be both shallow and specific, contradicting core and foundational teachings. Those who pose such arguments, when questioned, often agree readily that their religion does not teach or tolerate cruel exploitation, particularly when such cruel exploitation is entirely unnecessary.”

CompassionVeganismScripturesComparative ReligionAnimal LiberationAnymalsHuman Animal RelationshipsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsEthics And Religion
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Do the religious texts and exemplars support anymal welfare or anymal liberation? What do religions teach us to be with regard to anymals? A concise formal argument, using deductive logic, rooted in three well-established premises, can help us to answer these questions about rightful relations between human beings and anymals: Premise 1 : The world’s dominant religious traditions teach human beings to avoid causing harm to anymals. Premise 2 : Contemporary industries that exploit anymals—including food, clothing, pharmaceutical, and/or entertainment industries—harm anymals. Premise 3 : Supporting industries that exploit anymals (most obviously by purchasing their products) perpetuates these industries and their harm to anymals. Conclusion : The world’s dominant religious traditions indicate that human beings should avoid supporting industries that harm anymals, including food, clothing, pharmaceutical, and/or entertainment industries. It is instructive to consider an additional deductive argument rooted in two well-established premises: Premise 1 : The world’s dominant religious traditions teach people to assist and defend anymals who are suffering. Premise 2 : Anymals suffer when they are exploited in laboratories and the entertainment, food, or clothing industries. Conclusion : The world’s dominant religious traditions teach people to assist and defend anymals when they are exploited in laboratories, entertainment, food, and clothing industries. If these premises are correct—and they are supported by abundant evidence—the world’s dominant religions teach adherents • to avoid purchasing products from industries that exploit anymals, and • to assist and defend anymals who are exploited in laboratories and the entertainment, food, and clothing industries.”

CompassionVeganismAnimal LiberationAnymalsHuman Animal RelationshipsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsReligion And EthicsComparative ReligionsDeductive Reasoning
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Those who stand within one of the world’s largest religious traditions, if they are sincere in their religious commitment, must not buy flesh, nursing milk products, or hen’s reproductive eggs in any form, or support any industry that profits at the expense of anymals, including zoos, circuses, aquariums, horse and dog racing, rodeos, and movies. Furthermore, those who stand within one of the world’s largest religious traditions must assist and defend anymals who are exploited in any of these industries, as well as anymals who are exploited to gather or disseminate information, whether for medicine, biology, pharmaceuticals, veterinary science, pathology, psychology, sociology, anymal behavior, or weaponry, to name just a few. These requirements are not particularly stringent when we realize that these products and activities not only harm anymals, but also have been proven to harm human health and prevent us from gathering more pertinent information.”

CompassionVeganismAnimal LiberationVivisectionAnymalsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsReligion And EthicsAnimal ExperimentationComparative Religions
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“It is a dangerous business to compare sufferings, and generally an unproductive enterprise. Yet compare we must, because most people assume that anymal suffering is somehow lesser—or of less importance—than the suffering of human beings. Why would human suffering be of greater moral or spiritual importance than anymal suffering?”

SufferingSpiritualityCompassionExploitationSpeciesismAnymalsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsComparisons
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Not one of the world’s largest religious traditions teaches that anymals are of lesser importance, or that their suffering might be overlooked while we remedy problems that are more central to human needs and wants. On the contrary—religious traditions hold human beings accountable for their actions with regard to anymals.”

CompassionAccountabilityVeganismAnimal LiberationFactory FarmingAnymalsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsReligion And EthicsFood Industries
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“That said, protecting anymals protects human beings: There are four other critical reasons that the world’s largest religions rightly pay particular attention to anymals—and particular attention to what we eat. Aside from respect for life and compassion for anymals, we ought to choose a vegan diet for the sake of the environment, to alleviate world hunger, to protect laborers, and on behalf of our own health. The consequences of our dietary choices are monumental.”

CompassionHealthVeganismAnimal LiberationWorld HungerAnymalsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsReligion And EthicsComparative Religions
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Hindu religious traditions hold nature to be sacred and offer a philosophy of ahimsa, karma, reincarnation, and oneness that [points to] a vegan diet. . . . Gods, humans, and anymals are sometimes indistinguishable: A Hindu god might manifest as human, tortoise, man-lion, or elephant-headed human; a small, playful monkey might turn out to be the powerful god Hanuman. As gods, and through their own special powers, anymals are spiritually powerful in the Hindu tradition, and provide innumerable lessons and worthy examples for human beings. Humans are obligated to live a life of ahimsa, which requires Hindus to speak up in defense of those who are exploited.”

CompassionHinduismVeganismHinduAnymalsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsReligion And EthicsRespect For NatureRespect For Animals
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“The Christian spiritual life is modeled on the life of Jesus, champion of the oppressed, servant to those in need, protector of the abused, and humble defender of the downtrodden—a man who was not afraid to destroy the property of capitalists who willfully defiled that which God had made sacred. Exemplary Christians, especially saints, reveal that those who are close to God are compassionate and merciful servants, living close to nature and tending anymals. Most fundamentally, Christians are called to love.”

LoveJesusCompassionChristiansAnymalsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsReligion And EthicsRespect For NatureRespect For Animals
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Exploring sacred teachings from around the world demonstrates that nature, including anymals, is sacred, that anymals are central to our spiritual landscape, and that we owe them respect, justice, and compassion. Religious texts remind us that we share a fundamental kinship with tabby cats, rose-ringed parakeets, and slender pygmy swordtails, and that anymals are understood to be remarkable and marvelous—superior to humans in many ways—in the world’s religious traditions. Sacred literature indicates that nonhumans and humans share the same fate after death; faiths that have a Creator teach human beings that the divine is personally invested in the life of every anymal, from the large flightless common rhea to each critically endangered Jenkin’s shrew, from a factory-farmed chicken to each bovine trucked to slaughter. Religious exemplars remind us that all species have personality and intellect—other creatures, whether insects, fish, reptiles, mammals, or birds, can offer much-needed spiritual wisdom for the betterment of humanity. Religions teach of a deep and fundamental unity on planet Earth. Interestingly, consistent with Darwin, the world’s dominant religions teach people that there is much more continuity than separation across species.”

ReligionSpiritualityCompassionScriptureAnimalsComparative ReligionAnimal LiberationReligion And EthicsAnymalEthics And Religion
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“• religions are, overall, radically friendly toward anymals; • people tend to be ignorant of these prevalent teachings; and • our current economic choices (bolstered by our collective spiritual ignorance) perpetuate anymal industries that profit from untold misery and billions of premature deaths.”

ReligionSpiritualityCompassionAnimalsScripturesComparative ReligionAnimal LiberationFactory FarmingAnymalEthics And Religion
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Although there are tremendous differences in the particular expressions of any one branch within each religion, core teachings tend to remain central to all branches of a given religion—each branch generally shares the same core texts, teachings, saints, and/or founders. For example, love is a core value among the many Christian traditions, ahimsa is central to each Hindu tradition, zakat is obligatory in all Muslim traditions, and the list goes on.”

LoveChristianCompassionMuslimAnimal LiberationAhimsaHinduReligion And EthicsComparative ReligionsZakat
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Most people are raised with the belief that anymal exploitation is religiously sanctioned, and they will readily defend this point of view. Consequently, arguments in favor of anymal exploitation—including religious arguments—are easy to come by. On closer examination, most of these arguments do not defend anymal exploitation in general; they merely defend particular habits and practices, most oft en dietary habits and farming practices. People who identify with a given religious tradition oft en use sacred writings to defend personal habits, but such arguments tend to be both shallow and specific, contradicting core and foundational teachings. Those who pose such arguments, when questioned, often agree readily that their religion does not teach or tolerate cruel exploitation, particularly when such cruel exploitation is entirely unnecessary.”

ReligionCompassionAnimalsExploitationHabitsScripturesComparative ReligionAnimal LiberationAnymalEthics And Religion
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Those who defend animal exploitation from a religious point of view usually lack information in three critical areas: • First, they oft en have no idea what goes on in breeding facilities, on factory farms, in feedlots, on transport trucks, in slaughterhouses, and so on. • Second, they lack an understanding of—have usually not even heard about—speciesism, and therefore have no idea how our treatment of anymals is connected with social justice issues more broadly, such as racism, sexism, poverty, and world hunger. • Third, they have often neglected to study sacred teachings or the lives of spiritual exemplars, and even if they have engaged in this important endeavor, they usually have not recognized the implications of religious ideals with regard to anymals or the effect of these teachings on such simple choices as what we eat.”

ReligionCompassionAnimalsVeganismScripturesComparative ReligionAnimal LiberationFactory FarmingAnymalEthics And Religion
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Anymal exploiters may or may not be religious, and those who are religious are likely to lack information in three critical areas (just mentioned). Perhaps most fundamentally, religious people tend to be unaware that chewing on a chicken’s body purchased at a grocery store contradicts the core religious ideals of every major religious tradition. Still other religious people do not take their religious commitment seriously and therefore do not care one way or the other about anymal suffering and slaughter. This book is about what religions teach, not about what religious people believe or how they live. There is often shamefully little correlation between the two.”

ReligionCompassionAnimalsVeganismScripturesComparative ReligionAnimal LiberationAnymalEthics And ReligionReligious Committment
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Indeed, although the world’s religious traditions differ in many critical ways, there is much of commonality in core moral teachings with regard to nature generally and anymals specifically. Religiously sanctioned morals around the world encourage a gentle, benevolent, service-oriented relationship with anymals.”

ReligionCompassionServiceAnimalsVeganismBenevolenceComparative ReligionAnimal LiberationAnymalsEthics And Religion
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Religious adepts tend to extend their compassion beyond their species. Perhaps more important, when anymal- and earth-friendly teachings are taken seriously, sacred traditions favor (or overtly require) a plant-based diet. In short, religious traditions understand that compassion, a core religious value, requires religious adherents to modify their behavior accordingly, and at a minimum, this means that human beings must avoid purchasing or consuming anymal products from contemporary anymal industries.”

ReligionCompassionAnimalsVeganismScripturesComparative ReligionAnimal LiberationAnymalsEthics And Religion
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Rightful relations between humans and anymals are spiritually significant in every major religion. Core religious teachings from around the world require humans to protect and respect all that is natural, to show compassion for all who are sentient, and in contemporary times, to rethink our relations with anymals—especially what we eat.”

ReligionCompassionAnimalsVeganismScripturesComparative ReligionAnimal LiberationAnymalsHuman Animal RelationshipsEthics And Religion
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“Such fundamental changes in diet may initially seem prohibitive, until we realize that not a single meal need be skipped—there is no weakness or hunger involved. We may eat delicious and nutritious foods—or junk food—to our heart’s content at any time of day or night. Then we come to understand that these changes do not require much of us, and a vegan diet is central to any sincere religious expression because either we make choices that cause tremendous suffering and the endless slaughter of adolescent farmed anymals or we do not.”

CompassionEthicsAnimalsVeganismAnimal LiberationReligionsFactory FarmingAnymalsHuman Animal RelationshipsHuman Anymal Relations
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“On reflection, most of us recognize that we would rather protect citizens than corporations—human rights rather than corporate capitalism. On reflection, most of us recognize that anymal advocates who defend life against exploitative industries hold the high moral ground—their compassionate motivation and social justice actions are supported by core teachings in every major religion. Anymal liberationists demonstrate self-sacrificing service on behalf of the exploited. They risk long-term imprisonment on behalf of the defenseless and downtrodden, the maimed and condemned. Those who take core religious teachings seriously will respect anymal liberationists because these dedicated activists treasure life above property and profits, and risk their freedom on behalf of those who cannot help themselves. Anymal liberationists exemplify religious commitment in action, most notably compassionate, self-sacrificing service to those who are most in need.”

CompassionActivismCorporationsServiceAnimal LiberationActivistsAnymalsComparative ReligionsAnymal Liberation
Book:Animals and World Religions
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