The Ethics of Eating Meat

My ethics class has finally gotten to a topic I had been dreading: animals. I eat animals. I (indirectly) pay people to kill animals so I can eat them. I (again, indirectly) cause pain and suffering and death to creatures, when that pain and suffering and death didn't need to happen. Yes, those animals were just going to die anyway, and, when they don't need their bodies anymore, we might as well eat them, but we put animals through a lot that they just don't need to go through, and I can't really justify that.

Or can I? There are many justifications for why it's okay to eat animals, most of which are at least somewhat weak. Some say that it's natural. Many animals eat other animals, even when some of them could get by on other foods, so we should be allowed to eat animals, too, right? But animals don't seem to be quite as intelligent as we are. I'm not sure if ethical considerations even cross their minds. Besides, they're not the ones being tested here; we are.

Some people take the "lesser intelligence" argument and use that to justify eating animals. Some even go so far as to say that animals don't really feel pain or negative emotions the way we do, so it's okay to harm them because we're not really causing any harm, which is frankly bogus. Spend enough time with an animal, and you'll begin to see that they have feelings much like ours. That may take longer with animals like fish or insects, which are harder to read than mammals, but when it comes to cows, pigs, and chicken, it will soon become clear that their feelings are just as valid as ours.

The one justification I can use because I can't refute it is also another justification I can't use because I can't understand it. For whatever reasons, God said that eating animals is okay. Now, God must have had His reasons for allowing this. Maybe animals' lives aren't really valid because God didn't give them souls, but I'm pretty sure He actually did. Maybe killing animals is okay because, in the eternal perspective, any suffering we put them through is relatively short-lived, but then why would it be so important for us not to hurt each other? Besides, it's still preventable. Pinching someone who doesn't want you to pinch them is still wrong, even if the pain is brief and minor. So, maybe eating meat isn't terrible, but it's still kind of bad.

Even if eating meat is forgivable, God essentially told us to keep it to a minimum. In D&D Section 89, God advises us to eat meat sparingly, and mostly only in seasons of want:

12 Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;

13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.

We're not stuck in situations like that. At least, not anymore. Several generations ago, sure, people would starve between harvests if they didn't eat animals during the winter, but we can get fresh(ish) spring and summer fruits and vegetables any time of year. Yes, we still experience winters, and it sometimes gets cold, but I think we all know that that's not the kind of situation God was talking about. We don't need to eat meat to get us through the winter anymore. We can go vegan and still live a long and healthy life.

So why don't we? I mostly blame akrasia. Meat tastes good, so we eat it habitually, even if we know we shouldn't. Ultimately, I think we're going to overcome this habit as individuals, if not as a society, in the next life, if not this one. I don't think they'll serve meat in Heaven, if they even serve food there at all.

Anyhow, I don't think it's a really high priority. Some sins are worse than others, and I think that most of us are guilty of worse sins than eating meat. We have bigger fish to fry. But still, we should eventually get around to frying that fish. The actions of the meat industry are unconscionable, and we shouldn't be financially supporting them, assuming that we are both physically and financially capable of doing otherwise. If we can afford to cut meat out of our diets, we should, and I believe that we will... eventually.