5 Ways in Which Veganism Is a Religion

Okay, fine, it's not a religion per se but you can't argue it's not sorta like one. I'll be the first one to admit that comparing any ideology or philosophical system to a religion is something of a cheap shot, or it's otherwise a bit of a boring cliché. But then again, I think some clichés are clichés for a good reason... In its most immediate sense a religion would be a set of beliefs we hold as more important than any other, and for that reason those beliefs ultimately permeate all aspects of our lives, both individually and collectively. This means that, loosely speaking, whatever you value most, whatever it is that you place as number one in that system is, for lack of a better word, your god. So because vegans defend veganism as an all-encompassing moral philosophy it then permeates all aspects of their lives, and thus they act accordingly with it, in all ways. And they can do all things through beans, which strengthen them... This is not to say that veganism in general holds to interpretations of the divine or the supernatural, at least not the divine as it is commonly understood by most religions, but it's simply the sense that, from the outside looking in, you can't quite see such a particular community as anything other than religious.

So then riding that train of thought you can find some aspects that kinda overlap, with varying degrees of room for interpretation, true, and I for one think I've come up with five of those ways, just five little details that, when I listen to a vegan speak, I can't help but feel I am being talked into a moral philosophy that, even in a fairly secular sense, sounds a whole lot like religion to me. So here they are, in no particular order, starting with,

5. Original Sin

All vegans have inherently benefited from animal exploitation in one form or another, whether directly, indirectly, or in-indirectly if that makes sense. In any case, the truth of the matter is that the vast majority of vegans are people who up until their late teens or early twenties were decidedly not vegan. That means they spent a huge chunk of their lives sinning left and right, and thus they have a whole lot of atonement to do... Will they ever attain true salvation? Will they ever cleanse twenty or so years of animal cruelty during the years of their lifespan that still remain? I dunno, it's not for me to decide either way. It's just seemingly clear that, for better or for worse, we are all on the same boat, or rather, the flood is coming for us all. It's just a question of confessing your sins and turning away from them, or wallowing in them and never being forgiven, I guess. Regardless, the point remains that according to veganism no one is righteous, there is no one who is under grace. This all sounds a whole lot like a certain fella who used to go by Saul, and it sounds nothing like a lady who usually goes by Mother Nature.

4. Temptation

Some vegans claim to feel complete and utter repulsion at the mere sight of animal products, going so far as to claim that they don't even see such things as food, even comparing them to plastic or other inedible materials. They are free to do so, of course, but not all vegans seem to agree. Some are willing to grant that animal products are very tasty but that we shouldn't consume them simply because taste pleasure ought not to outweigh the life of a sentient being. Well, I think the claim that taste is the sole factor in the consumption of animal products is a significant mistake one way or another but that's neither here nor there for now... Other vegans however, those who are perhaps less confrontational, will even openly admit to having strong cravings for certain animal products. Incidentally, I am if anything statistically inclined to entertain the possibility that a lot of self-proclaimed vegans are committing some culinary adultery on the regular... But anyway, just what in the goddamn is going on then? To me as an outsider this looks like most religions in that it's a moral philosophy that holds that the seemingly natural inclinations of human beings are wrong and thus need to be suppressed, often with prayer, meditation, or constant reminders of the holy cause you are striving for. You can have whatever urges you have, it's not a sin to have urges, you just can't act out on them... Watch Dominion and pray, that ye enter not into temptation, for the spirit is indeed willing, but the belly is weak.

3. Purity

Acknowledging and confessing your original sin and then striving towards redemption for it is only the beginning. After you walk that path you need to remain steadfast, you can never waver, you need to move closer and closer towards a state of absolute purity. Having been cleansed from your sins and subsequently reborn into the spirit of veganism, you now need to maintain a perpetual state of grace. In doing so, vegans often struggle to eliminate, not just the consumption of animal products themselves, but even the aforementioned desire to consume them. It's not enough to admit that you've sinned, it's not enough to promise to never sin again... You now have to go as far as to eliminate your will to sin, thereby achieving a higher state of consciousness or something or other, I dunno.

I suppose I do describe this with a hint of irony but I don't necessarily aim to imply that it is wrong or even bad to want some kind of spirituality in our lives, or we can even call it a superstitious but theoretically harmless desire to feel clean on the inside. Call it what you want, it don't matter for now. But I do however aim to imply that veganism appears to have a decidedly spiritual side to it. Again, not to all vegans, not all vegans, not all vegans... Few are the things that apply to all people of all categories at all times, but if you mean to tell me that there's no side to veganism that claims to have discovered a deeper spiritual connection to the land, and the sea, and the sky, and all principalities, and powers, and things present, and things to come, then you'd be simply incorrect. For all the talk of how it's “speciesist” to act like humans are superior it sure do seem like vegans, well... act like humans are indeed superior, not just morally but spiritually too.

2. Proselytizing

Go ye therefore, and make vegans of all nations... Indeed, vegans have a nasty reputation of being preachy, which I have to agree with. However, is being preachy such a bad thing? I say no. It's always funny to me how people of different and contradictory religions easily claim to be friends like it ain't no thing, and they boast of how even with their differences they can get along. That's nice, superficially nice, but isn't it the case that if one of them is correct, then the other will go to hell? It appears that way, and thus I don't get why such friends aren't having intense but respectful debates all the time, in constant attempts to save each other's eternal soul... All this to say that I don't blame vegans, or members of any other ideology for that matter, for going out there and making fishers of men. In fact it makes perfect sense, but when you think about it, especially when in line with the previous three points, it does become a religion in all but name, don't it? You have the rallies, what with the preacher at the pulpit speaking in remarkable rhetorical flare, you have the congregation, you have the social eating with the remembrance of what that means, you have the manifestations, the protests, the missions, or in a nutshell, the evangelizing.

The immediate rebuttal to this would obviously be to say that they are acting in line with what they believe to be a good cause, and that an ideology, a movement, isn't necessarily a religion, the similarities between them being overtly generalized traits. Naturally, I'm not trying to refute that, but likewise anyone who acts in the same manner in favor of any cause is also doing something they believe to be deeply moral, and deeply urgent, and deeply religious. Unless your definition of religion is all about fire magic or something or other, in which case, yeah, I guess my comparisons are off.

1. Apostasy

Proselytizing don't always work though. It is often said that bad priests make good atheists, but isn't it just as likely that bad atheists make good priests?... No matter where you are in the world, and no matter what you believe in, we all want a sense of community. Man is a social animal, and so within veganism this is no different. If you want to join it you'll be happy to find like-minded people with whom you can socialize and so on. As a new vegan you may be welcomed warmly enough, though perhaps not as warmly as other people from other belief systems would, but still, you're happy to have found a new little family. However, what happens should you wish to leave veganism? Not very nice things I'm afraid... It would seem quite a lot of vegans would turn against you, forsake you, and exile you from their community. They'd consider you a turncloak, a sinner, and should you ever wish to return again I doubt you'd be hailed as the prodigal son. And should you never again wish to return, then your apostasy will always be explained in one of the three classic ways – either you were never a true vegan to begin with, or you practiced an heretical version of veganism, or you just wanted to revert to a life of sin.

If that don't sound like a religion to you then I guess nothing does. And whether you agree or disagree it don't really matter. It's just a question of perspective. Surely when a christian or a muslim demand that you worship God you hear it as nonsense, you ask why is that such a good thing, why does God need worship?... Fine, believe that. But just know that when you demand that people go vegan they likewise understand it as a belief system that, practically speaking, replaces God with animals. And then there are the whack premises such as that we only see an egg as food because of our “carnist” mindset or whatever, instead of because of simple nature, then it does seem like a deeply religious premise that seeks to overrule nature, as is so common of religions. And when any given premise only makes sense within a complex system that permeates all aspects of your life, from the physical to the psychological to the social to the political to the spiritual, then maybe that's an indication that said moral system is, in fact, a religion.

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