One of the big problems that people have with the idea that Jesus was a vegetarian is the "fish stories" in the New Testament -- stories in which Jesus distributes fish as food to people, or in one case actually eats fish. If Jesus was a vegetarian, then what are these stories doing in the New Testament?

We can get an important clue as to what they are doing in the New Testament if we take a quick look at what their effect is and has been. From the point of view of a meat-eater, these fish stories are very convenient. Jesus ate fish, therefore eating meat must be all right.

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

With over seven billion people crowded onto the planet and increasing numbers of them hungry, what can compassionate people do to help? The most important action we can take, beyond being careful not to waste food, is to go vegan, because growing plant foods for direct human consumption is the most efficient use of farmland, water, fuel and other resources. But what if we could make even more food available? Beyond even the efficiency that veganism provides, what if we could make 100% of our food available to the hungry? That is, be able to offer the same amount of food we eat every day to the starving? (In some cases, this might not mean that food would get sent anywhere, but it would free up the resource potential to grow and ship an equal amount of food.) And what if we could compound the additional food with 100% of our water consumption, 100% of the fuel we use for cooking, heating and transportation, 100% of our cars, household appliances, clothing, and everything we use as an average American? Did you ever stop to think that remaining childless does exactly that? Let me explain.

After a twenty-year period as abbot of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, Thomas Keating moved to St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, called by the late Fr. Theophane Boyd, the "Magic Monastery" because of the beauty of its surroundings, the peace inside its walls, and the extraordinary transformations that take place there.

Sundays at the Magic Monastery collects the inspiring and witty homilies of four members of St. Benedict's: Fr. Thomas, Abbot Joseph Boyle, the late Fr. Theophane Boyd, and Fr. William Meninger. Together, they explore the scriptures through the important feast days of the Christian calendar and provide great insight into the contemplative life.

During his time at Snowmass, Fr. Thomas was deeply involved in interreligious dialogue (see www.monasticdialog.com). Over a twenty-year period, a series of interreligious dialogues took place at Snowmass, the proceedings of which were kept private so that the participants could explore freely the wealth of their own traditions and dialogue from the heart about the differences and similarities between their paths of wisdom. These dialogues have now been captured in The Common Heart. Participants include Fr. Thomas, Roshi Bernie Glassman, Swami Atmarupananda, Dr. Ibrahim Gamard, Imam Bilal Hyde, Pema Chödrön, Rabbi Henoch Dov Hoffman, and others.

In 1996, a group of monastics from the Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian traditions met at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky to share their experiences of the monastic life. This meeting took place for two reasons. The first was Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, who resided at Gethsemani, and pioneered interreligious dialogue, when he met His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1968. It was perhaps partly out of that curiosity and faithfulness to the idea of dialogue that the Vatican started an organization eventually called Monastic Interreligious Dialogue in the mid-1970s to encourage continued dialogue between those faiths with monastic traditions (Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism), an effort that continues to this day.

Lantern has published a number of titles on interreligious dialogue, including Islam Is. . . and The Common Heart. However, it is even prouder to now be the publisher of all three books to emerge from the three Gethsemani Encounters that have taken place thus far: 1996, 2002, and The Spiritual Life, Finding Peace in Troubled Times, and Green Monasticism. The extraordinary range of voices—which include in The Spiritual Life the Dalai Lama—represent the fullness of a life dedicated to the principles of discipline, devotion, authenticity, practice, and compassion.

What can we say about the Holocaust, and can we in any way talk of it in the same breath as the routine slaughter of billions of animals on today's factory farms?

In a thoughtful and thought-provoking contribution to the study of animals and the Holocaust, The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale, Karen Davis makes the case that significant parallels can, and must, be drawn between the Holocaust and the institutionalized abuse of billions of animals in factory farms. Carefully setting forth the conditions that must be met when one instance of oppression is used metaphorically to illuminate another, Davis demonstrates the value of such comparisons in exploring the invisibility of the oppressed, historical and hidden suffering, the idea that some groups were "made" to serve others through suffering and sacrificial death, and other concepts that reveal powerful connections between animal and human experience, as well as human traditions and tendencies of which we all should be aware.

In Eternal Treblinka, scholar Charles Patterson shows the links between the Chicago meat-packing industry, the assembly lines of Henry Ford, and Hitler's embrace of mechanized slaughter and eugenics perfected on animals: a deadly combination that led to the killing of over six million Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and communists. Thoughtfully showing the ideology of purity and dehumanization that led to the Holocaust, Patterson reveals how the fascist mentality exists even today in the destruction of life unworthy of life in the factory farms of today.

Photo: Bev
Sykes

Doubtless you have already heard the latest news story, so thick with irony that it is its own satire. Paula Deen, the "queen of butter," not only announces that she has Type 2 Diabetes, but -- wait! there's more! -- announces that she has become a paid spokeswoman for pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. She's even got a web site to promote her bad habits.

Since the irony will likely be lost on a lot of people, I'll spell it out.

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

For those of us concerned about poverty, environmental degradation, and climate change, the idea that economic growth underlies these problems will probably not come as a surprise. Growth-- higher production of consumer goods, stepped-up extraction of resources, more and bigger houses, freeways and shopping malls--has been accepted almost unconditionally as the best way to run governments and assure prosperity. It is seen as the most potent answer to lifting people out of poverty and assuring full employment. Go out and shop more, we are told. Few people dare to publicly challenge the American religion of growth, and those who do should be read, supported, and discussed.

Or in the case of one new documentary, watched. I'm referring to Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth (remember Ghostbusters?), in which Dave Gardner, a courageous citizen of Colorado Springs, Colorado, becomes sufficiently fed up with the development, congestion, and depletion of resources he sees around him to run for his city council.

Many of us want to create change in the world, but face tremendous obstacles in getting our message out. The powers that be have vastly more resources at their disposal than activists do—but these Lantern authors have discovered how to shift the balance of power.

In Strategic Action for Animals, Melanie Joy explains how to use strategy to exponentially increase the effectiveness of activism for animals. Drawing on diverse movements and sources, she offers tried and true tactics and explains how to address the most common problems that weaken activists' efforts. Whether you are working alone or with a group, whether you are a seasoned activist or new to the movement, this book can help you make the most of your efforts to make the world a better place.

Without question, one key strategic element of activism is maximally effective presentation—whether your audience is a single individual, a small group, a large audience, or the world media. In Move the Message, communications consultant and activist Josephine Bellaccomo delivers a step-by-step process, complete with tactics, strategies, examples, and exercises, to ensure that your message is focused, powerful, and reaches the power holders for winning results. The book not only makes a wonderful guide for those who wish to be an activist, it is an astonishing repository of tips on successful communication, and, as such, should be read by all those who want to become more effective in the world.

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

As a new year begins, we hear much talk of resolutions, ways to improve one's life in the coming year. These might have to do with weight loss, increased fitness, decreased indulgence in sweets, alcohol or tobacco, controlling one's temper, and better budgeting of money. As a regular participant in fitness classes, I notice every January a sudden increase in attendance by new people I've heard called "resolutioners." These folks start out with the best of intentions, but unfortunately do not continue; within a month they are mostly gone.

The desire people have for personal improvement is something we as practical peacemakers want to encourage. Progress on any of the goals listed above leads to a more harmonious personal and family life, and thus a more peaceful society. However, the urge to make improvements that require discipline is fragile; it is no easy thing to change long-standing habits. In fact, it seems that the making of resolutions is considered a sort of joke: "yeah, sure, you're going to quit smoking--how long is that going to last?" "You say you're going to get up earlier in order to exercise--right."

How can we turn around this expectation of failure and make the keeping of resolutions more likely? I have three ideas.

For thirty years, Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO, has been reclaiming the Christian meditative tradition that he calls Centering Prayer.

It takes its roots from a number of sources: the ancient prayer practices of the Christian contemplative heritage, notably the Fathers and Mothers of the Desert; Lectio Divina, (praying the scriptures); The Cloud of Unknowing; St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. With his fellow Trappist monks, Fr. William Meninger and Fr. Basil Pennington, and through his organization, Contemplative Outreach, Thomas Keating has shown that contemporary Christianity can be an enlivening, mystical experience, both free of dogma and deeply personal. Fr. Keating’s most recent work is Manifesting God, in which he explores the tradition of Christian meditation. No matter the external expression of beliefs and rituals, the contemplative dimension is the heart and soul of every religion. Contemplation initiates movement into higher states of consciousness. Manifesting God is a primer of the technique of contemplative prayer that allows the seeker from any faith to enter into the inner chamber of their heart. Here one basks in communion with the Divine presence, relieving one’s heart of its hurts and burdens.

Even though the Atkins fad has faded, people still believe they can starve their bodies into submission.

In Carbophobia, Michael Greger, MD, presents decades of research to decisively debunk the purported "science" behind low-carb fad diets and documents just how ineffective these plans have been in producing sustainable weight loss.

Much of what makes weight loss work is having the right attitude: a feeling of joy in one's life and not the dread of deprivation. A case in point is Norris Chumley, author of The Joy of Weight Loss. He had been on virtually every diet, and they'd all failed. He tipped the scales at the 400 pounds time and time again. He felt hopeless, and, in rare glimpses of honesty, secretly admitted that he was slowly committing suicide. His book tells the dramatic story of how he turned his life around, discovered joy, happiness, and permanent freedom from obesity and offers a straightforward way for you to manage your weight.

Likewise Victoria Moran. As she recounts in The Love-Powered Diet, she yo-yo'd in weight, until she realized that she had to love the body she had to get to the body she wanted.

Another great book that promotes all round health is Senior Fitness by Ruth Heidrich. Senior Fitness shows people over fifty how they can maintain a healthy lifestyle, eating properly and exercising regularly, that will not only make them feel great but will automatically have them losing pounds and toning their muscles.

For more on Norris Chumley, click here. For more on Victoria Moran, click here.

The radical premise of Christianity, too often forgotten in our anthropocentric age, is that it is the the world, and not simply human kind, that is redeemed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This means that the eschatalogical hope expressed by Isaiah that the wolf will dwell with the lamb and that the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord is not an idle wish that we might be nice to animals and nature. It is that all creatures and the earth itself will be transformed by lovingkindness into lovingkindness. Such a radical promise should challenge Christians to question whether the Biblical mandate of humankind's dominion over the animals and the earth should continue to lead to cruelty, exploitation, and indifference.

One of the great spiritual mandates of Judaism is "tikkun olam," which means "to heal the world."

From God's first injunction, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for food," (Gen. 1:29) the Hebrew Bible offers countless examples of how God intends a compassionate and caring attitude toward animals, our health, and the well-being of the planet. In Judaism and Vegetarianism, professor emeritus in New York Richard Schwartz shows how respect for animals and the environment can revitalize one's Jewish faith, while in Judaism and Global Survival he argues that a rediscovery of basic Jewish teachings and mandates, such as to seek peace and justice, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to act as co-workers with God in protecting and preserving the earth, can build a better world.

For more on Judaism and vegetarianism, click here.

Why are so many boys and men so violent? And why do we tolerate this culture of violence?

These, as well as how to raise boys in a world of masculinist violence and macho posturing, are the subjects of Boys Will Be Boys. Philosopher and social theorist Miriam Miedzian argues that war toys, endless competition, tacitly approved bullying, violent films and music, brutal sports and bigotry all systematically teach boys how to be aggressive. She offers strategies to break the mystique of aggression and restore young men's rightful inheritance to their true masculine dignity.

For many young people, contemporary society is alienating and full of pressures and unrealistic expectations. To be bullied, excluded or labeled as different can leave a child full of rage and fear, isolated and potentially suicidal. The results, as Brooks Brown and Rob Merritt explain in gripping and terrible detail in No Easy Answers, can be deadly. Brooks was friends with Dylan Klebold, one of the Columbine High School murderers, and an acquaintance of the other shooter, Eric Harris. Brown and journalist Rob Merritt describe the warning signs that were missed or ignored, what life was like at Columbine High School before the shootings, and the evidence that was kept hidden from the public after the murders. Shocking as well as inspirational, No Easy Answers is an authentic wake-up call for all psychologists, authorities, parents, and anyone wanting to learn the unvarnished facts about growing up as an alienated teenager in America today.

Once a week or so, a friend contacts me and tells me that she or he has written a novel or a bunch of short stories and wonders if I have any advice for them on getting published. I've already written a blog about the novel, but thought I'd put down my thoughts on short stories here.

In a recent issue of Poets & Writers magazine, four editors of literary journals lamented the fact that very few of the many individuals who submit stories or poems to their periodicals were subscribers. What did it say, they wondered, that writers weren't apparently interested in reading what other writers produced and didn't support the very outlets in which they were so eager to be published? None of them had an answer to this discouraging phenomenon.

Centuries ago, literacy rates were so low that writers and readers were few and far between. If you could read and write, you were speaking from and to an elite, and you were likely to be noticed. The rise of the reading public in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries gave writers a much larger audience. Because there were few publishers, the relatively few writers reached quite substantial markets. These days, any fool can set up a publishing concern and write a book, and publish it on demand or electronically. However, the number of readers has not increased much in decades. The result is that lots of writers and outlets are chasing the same number of readers—which means that a book that might have sold 10,000 copies four decades ago now does well to reach 2,000 today.