Vegetarianism And The Vegetarian Movement Beliefs
Samantha Brown
With the growing interest in the health benefits of the
vegetarian diets, it is easy to forget why vegetarianism was
invented in the first place. The vegetarian websites are full
of information why vegetarianism is good for us – it lowers our
Body Mass Index, makes us healthier and better-looking. In this
flood of information it is easy to miss the fact that the first
vegetarians weren't interested in their health at all. There
were other, more serious, reasons to quit eating meat.
Roots: ethics
Though it is said that Buddha never ate meat, the first
vegetarians we know of for sure were the philosophers of
ancient Greece and Rome. They were the first to notice the
ultimate cruelty connected with killing animals only to feed
humans. Pythagoras, Plutarch, Seneca – everyone of them became
a vegetarian because of ethical reasons. This notion was also
visible in many various religions, including Zoroastrianism,
Buddhism and several Christian churches.
Though now we tend to think that vegetarianism was brought to
the Europe and the USA from India and Tibet, the first modern
vegetarians were Christians horrified by the idea of eating
other living creatures. It is true, however, that the
vegetarian movement gained momentum in the seventies thanks to
growing popularity of traditional Chinese, Indian and Tibet
culture. It was no more than 50 years ago when vegetarianism
became also a matter of health.
Today: health
The recent years were the time of a considerable shift in the
vegetarian movement ideas. Instead of the outrage caused by
unnecessary deaths of animals, most vegetarians tend to be
fueled rather by the health benefits of the vegetarian of and
diets.
For good or for ill, the ethics fades into the background.
However, it is still good to remember that being a vegetarian
is, above all, about not killing innocent beings.
About The Author: Samantha Brown has been a vegetarian since
her teens both for cultural and health reasons. Visit her
ever-growing Web site
http://www.benefitsofvegetarianism.com to
read more about the benefits, advantages, and even disadvantages
of vegetarianism.
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