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Feature-Was Jesus a Vegetarian? and Does that Help Cows?
Reuters
25-FEB-98

      By Judith Crosson 

     DENVER (Reuters) - An animal rights group has a new way to
persuade consumers to give up meat, arguing that Jesus was a
vegetarian and his followers should imitate him.

     But, judging by the early returns, it looks as though it
might be easier to turn loaves into fish and water into wine.

     Reston, Virginia-based People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA), known for headline-grabbing photo opportunities,
is waging a campaign to persuade leaders of Christian faiths to
counsel their members to shun meat.

     More than 400 Catholic bishops, archbishops and cardinals as
well as evangelical Protestant leaders Billy Graham, Pat
Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Oral Roberts have received letters
from the group's vegetarian coordinator, Bruce Friedrich.

     ``...I am writing to ask that you encourage your diocese to
follow Jesus by adopting a vegetarian diet throughout Lent and
beyond,'' he wrote to the Catholic leaders.

     The timing could not be better as Lent begins this week with
Ash Wednesday, when Catholics must abstain from meat. They are
also obliged to abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, a
period of sacrifice and reflection leading up to Easter.


     MASTERS OF TIMING
     ``If anything, PETA is a master of timing,'' said Steve
Kopperud, senior vice president at the American Feed Industry
Association.

    Friedrich's big argument for forgoing meat is a disputed
claim that Jesus was an Essene, a Jewish sect that Friedrich
says avoided meat, and that early Christians did not eat meat.

     ``The stream of meat darkens the light of the spirit,'' he
wrote, quoting St. Basil, in the letter to Catholic bishops.

     ``It's a kooky idea,'' said biblical scholar Joseph
Fitzmyer, a Jesuit theologian and professor emeritus at Catholic
University in Washington. ``There's nothing in the New Testament
that would suggest he was a vegetarian,'' Fitzmyer said, adding
that there was also no proof Jesus was an Essene.

     While nobody seems to be jumping on the vegetarian
bandwagon, Friedrich said he was encouraged by some responses he
has received. ``I'm heartened by the people who will pray over
the issue,'' said Friedrich, who has received about a dozen
written replies that range from bestowing a blessing on him to
challenging his argument that Christ was a vegetarian.

     ``I certainly will give your recommendation serious
consideration and I am grateful to you for bringing this matter
to my attention,'' Catholic Bishop James Timlin of Scranton,
Pennsylvania, wrote him in a politely worded response.

     A representative of evangelist Billy Graham said that while
it is ``important that animals be treated kindly, not cruelly,''
there was no evidence that Jesus was a vegetarian.


     LATEST BELLYACHE FOR MEAT INDUSTRY
     The meat industry has had to deal not only with low prices
but with bad publicity generated by a lawsuit by Texas cattlemen
who claim an Oprah Winfrey television show on mad cow disease
caused the price of beef to fall.

     While the industry would never presume to comment on a
religious practice, Kopperud said, it was a bit ``naive'' for
PETA to believe ``it had the inside track on what Jesus ate.''

     More people giving up meat is not what ranchers would like
to see on the menu. Total annual red meat consumption in the
United States has dropped from an average of 127 pounds per
person in 1980 to an estimated 63.3 pounds in 1997.

     PETA's latest anti-meat campaign is not the first time the
animal rights group has tangled with the meat industry. A PETA
member dressed as Satan was arrested this month for spray
painting on the walkway outside the hall where the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association was holding its annual meeting.

     And when the Oscar Meyer meat company's ``Wienermobile'' --
a sausage-shaped motor vehicle -- was auditioning children for a
television commercial, PETA members were out yelling ``meat is
murder,'' Kopperud said. ``The mothers were furious,'' he added.