The January issue of The Peaceable Table is now online.
In this first issue of 2009:
* Our Guest Editorial, "Rambo the Sheep: My Greatest Teacher" is by
the founder and director of Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS), Kathy
Stevens. Because Rambo, an abused sheep rescued by CAS, was so
aggressive, a sheep breeder urged Stevens to have him euthanized. But
Stevens wanted to "try what love can do." Rambo was to give her the
biggest and most wonderful surprise of her life.
* Our Gem for this month, from the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are
the peace makers . . . ." implies more than we may have thought.
* Is soy a health food or is it dangerous for us? One of the
NewsNotes steers us to helpful information about this sometimes
confusing issue.
* One of the Letters, from Gerald Niles, suggests that we take
advantage of the new year's fresh potential, which is like that of
vegetarianism.
* One of the two Book Reviews deals with the planet-friendly, amusing
children's book Winston of Churchill.
* The Recipe for Chocolate Cream Pie by Angela Suarez is great for
welcoming in the new year.
* The Pilgrimage story is by history professor Barbara Booth, who
with her husband shares a house with eight tangible cats and--
apparently--a ghost cat.
* January's Pioneer is novelist Brigid Brophy, sometimes called a
"literary shrew," who shows a remarkably caring side.
* How much do you love animals? Would you rescue a tarantula? The
narrator of our Poetry selection "Tarantulas on the Lifebuoy" has a
recommendation.
We welcome Pilgrimage articles, letters, and suggestions for future
issues.
Gracia Fay Ellwood
Editor
"Let us take the adventure that is sent us." -Thomas Malory
Links to other valuable web sites
Following are links to other web sites concerned with the wellbeing of animals.
www.careforcows.org is the site of an Indian orgainzation
www.vegetarianhome.com Vegetarian Web Directory. A good place to start your search for all things vegetarian on the Web.
HIPPO, Help International Plant Protein Organization, aids third-world peoples to help themselves by developing plant-based agriculture. See www.ivu.org/articles/net/hippo.html
quaker-animals.org.uk Quaker Concern for Animals, an association of
British Friends, first titled Friends Anti-Vivisection Association, was
founded in 1891. It continues to be active today seeking justice for
animals in several areas of life.
www.equuseditorial.com/index.html Connie, founding editor of EquusEditorial, an online collaboration inspired by the horse!
www.christianveg.com The Christian Vegetarian Association is a rapidly growing network of Christians, largely Protestant and evangelical, who advocate a plant-based diet as beneficial for human health, the environment, the world's poor and hungry, and animals.
www.farmsanctuary.org Farm Sanctuary is the largest farm animal rescue and protection organization in the United States.
www.circleofcompassion.org Circle of Compassion is a prayer network with particular focus on compassion for animals.
www.cok.net Compassion over Killing is a non-profit animal-advocacy organization, working to end animal abuse in agriculture and promoting a vegetarian diet as a way to build a kinder world for both humans and non-humans.
www.theoservice.org The Theosophical Order of Service is a network of individuals demonstrating practical and humanitarian actions in a theosophical spirit.
www.animalsvoice.com The Animals Voice is the premiere online resource network for animal activists.
jewishveg.com/schwartz More than one hundred vegetarian essays with environmental emphasis, by leading Jewish activist Richard Schwartz.
www.peta.org People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is the largest organization dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights for all animals on factory farms, in labroratories, in the fur trade, and in entertainmant.
www.pcrm.org Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is an organization of physicians and supporters conducting diet-linked health research, working to phase out animal experimentation, and promoting a plant-based diet.
www.farmusa.org Farm Animal Reform Movement is an educational organization advocating a plant-based diet and abolition of human enslavement of farmed animals.
www.veganoutreach.org Vegan Outreach promotes a plant-based diet chiefly by distributing literature to young people.
Links to informative essays
"Is There Gospel Good News For The Animals?" Read the survey of some of the literature concerning Christianity and animals, by Elizabeth Farians, Ph.D., pioneer woman theologian. See
www.allcreatures.org/articles/ar-gospel.html
To read about C.S. Lewis's theology of animals in an essay Andrew Linzey from the Anglican Theological Review, visit
www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3818/is_199801/ai_n8802633
Tom Regan, philosopher, ethicist and animal rights activist, is convinced that those Christians who are concerned with the exploitation and mistreatment of animals, are faced with a choice: to continue supporting the hypocrisy or to actively participate in correcting the wrongs and the religious institutions which support them. To read the full essay visit
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2326
In an essay series subsequently published in book form, Dr. Stephen Kaufman of the Christian Vegetarian Association applies the concepts of cultural anthropologist Rene Girard to Christianity and animals. Girard has argued that rivalries lead to scapegoating violence. A main theme of the Bible is that God cares about all creation and does not want victimization. See www.all-creatures.org/living/cphv.html
In a narrative essay that reads like a Tolstoy story, John Robbins tells what he learned about the depths of the human heart from his encounter with a hard and even frightening pig farmer.
Click here for a report on the findings of Bristol University scientists regarding the complex friendships, anxieties, grudges and enthusiasms of farmed animals.
For a short essay on the spiritual effects of violence against animals, and the changes resulting from a shift to ahimsa in diet, click here.
