Are vegetarians heretics?

They used to be!

Are Vegetarians Heretics? by Sebastian Moll, Theological Faculty of the University of Mainz, Germany

There is something true and beautiful in the Christian concept of thankfulness.  For thankfulness has a fascinating double effect: it promotes self-confidence and humility at the same time – self-confidence, because I feel valued by the gift; humility, because I feel the dependence on somebody else.  Thus, thankfulness is by far not the worst basis for modern food ethics.

It is the tragedy of life that our food consists of annihilated life, no matter if you are a meat eater, vegetarian, or vegan.  This very tragedy, this brokenness of human existence, the condition between paradise and damnation – this is the great topic of the book of books.  Man lives in this tragedy like any other creature on this planet, but he is the only one aware of it.  That is the burden which he once took from the tree of knowledge and which he has been carrying until this very day.

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