Atheism + Veganism = Rationalism

[SILVERBOLT1985]

Hello Everyone , came here to find more like minded people who lack belief in the supernatural, are open minded, skeptical and don't treat Veganism as a trend or diet. To me it is much more profound, a paradigm shift, a new way of analyzing the world using science and philosophy to determine our actions on this planet for our very short lives. People can be so hard headed and uncivil on the internet when it comes to addressing either Veganism or Atheism as i'm sure many of you are well aware, so cheers to everyone and i hope you'll allow me to become a member of this great online family!

[AtheistVegan]

Hello fellow Vegan Atheist! Veganism is not a religion, diet, trend or fad. It is a philosophy, a way of life, a moral code. Real true vegans do for ethics not health.

[brimstoneSalad]

Welcome Silverbolt! We're happy to have you join our community. I'm glad you found us.

I hope you like it here.

Have you always been vegan/atheist, or what's your story? (if you don't mind sharing)

[SILVERBOLT1985]

Thank you for the warm welcome, I don't mind sharing at all. I grew up a devote Jehovahs Witness and it wasn't until the death of my cat whom was also my best friend (and really only friend since JW's live very reclusive anti-social lives) at the age of 14 that really thrust me into non-belief, i prayed for her recovery day and night and watched in agony as she slowly slipped away from Feline Leukemia, it was a terrible experience and sent me off the deep end. After that experience and thanks to the internet my non belief was assured, so i've been an ardent Atheist for about 16 years. I first went Vegetarian 4 years ago, i have always had a love for animals if that isn't evident from my relationship with my cat, but never really made a connection to eating meat and dairy or even animal rights, i spent most of my time just partying and drinking myself away due to depression from my abusive upbringing, so my blinders were on pretty tight. It wasn't until i started drinking less and actually caring about myself that i began to devote my time more to learning, so one day i was browsing documentaries on YouTube and came across this lecture by Dr Michael Klaper, it really hit a chord with me and i wanted to learn more, i watched Forks Over Knives and that did it for me, i became vegetarian. After about 6 months of learning more and more i made the next gradual step to Vegan, and after i went Vegan i became somewhat obsessed, i began reading every article and book i could get, watched every documentary i could find and compared all the arguments for and against, all the scientific literature on both sides and finally came to the conclusion that there is no rational argument for the exploitation and consumption of animals, from Ethics, Environment, Health and Economics i have yet to hear one logical stance for the exploitation of animals that cannot be easily refuted. In the same way i see no evidence to support the existence of any supernatural being, that is why i say Atheism+Veganism = Rationalism, they go so well together hand in hand.

[miniboes]

Welcome ti the forums!

Hello fellow Vegan Atheist! Veganism is not a religion, diet, trend or fad. It is a philosophy, a way of life, a moral code. Real true vegans do for ethics not health.

Disclaimer: this might be a bit of a rant, excuse me.

I think this attitude is very unhelpful. A very powerful thing about veganism is that there are so many valid reasons to go vegan, of which at least one appeals to most people. If you're only promoting one aspect, you miss out one a lot of persuasive ability. Don't care about ethics? How about the environment? World hunger? Avoiding heart disease, diabetes, cancer and alzheimer's? Anyone cares about at least one of those things.

Since I saw my grandfather wither away due to alzheimer's, that very last reason is what drew me into veganism; i wanted nobody to suffer that fate. Thus, I consuming milk, dairy and eggs and was thereby 95% vegan. Was I at that point a real vegan? Perhaps not, but I was helping the animals just as much as any non-activist vegan. Had there not been people like Neal Barnard and Michael Greger out there, promoting the health benefits of veganism, I might have never become vegan.

Sure, a non-ethical vegan might be more likely to 'cheat', but that 1 hotdog month is a huge improvement from wherever one started. And if you're already avoiding the addictive animal foods, it is so much easier to open up to the ethics and eliminate that last 4% animal products.

So what do we tell the guy that had cancer twice and decides to try and avoid it with a vegan diet? Do we tell him he's not a real vegan until he does it for ethics, or do we tell him it's great that he's doing this, tell him about the B12 and such, and then carefully introduce him to the ethics?

[TheVeganAtheist]

Hi Silverbolt1985,
welcome to the forum. Thanks for sharing your story.

[AtheistVegan]

Welcome ti the forums!

Hello fellow Vegan Atheist! Veganism is not a religion, diet, trend or fad. It is a philosophy, a way of life, a moral code. Real true vegans do for ethics not health.

Disclaimer: this might be a bit of a rant, excuse me.

I think this attitude is very unhelpful. A very powerful thing about veganism is that there are so many valid reasons to go vegan, of which at least one appeals to most people. If you're only promoting one aspect, you miss out one a lot of persuasive ability. Don't care about ethics? How about the environment? World hunger? Avoiding heart disease, diabetes, cancer and alzheimer's? Anyone cares about at least one of those things.

Since I saw my grandfather wither away due to alzheimer's, that very last reason is what drew me into veganism; i wanted nobody to suffer that fate. Thus, I consuming milk, dairy and eggs and was thereby 95% vegan. Was I at that point a real vegan? Perhaps not, but I was helping the animals just as much as any non-activist vegan. Had there not been people like Neal Barnard and Michael Greger out there, promoting the health benefits of veganism, I might have never become vegan.

Sure, a non-ethical vegan might be more likely to 'cheat', but that 1 hotdog month is a huge improvement from wherever one started. And if you're already avoiding the addictive animal foods, it is so much easier to open up to the ethics and eliminate that last 4% animal products.

So what do we tell the guy that had cancer twice and decides to try and avoid it with a vegan diet? Do we tell him he's not a real vegan until he does it for ethics, or do we tell him it's great that he's doing this, tell him about the B12 and such, and then carefully introduce him to the ethics?

You're so right miniboes, There are so many reasons to go vegan; health, environment, world hunger, pollution, or the animals. I was just trying to say that if you go vegan for ethics, the animals, you are more likely to stick to it and not cheat as if you were doing it for health. Going vegan for health does not make you any less vegan, the reasons don't matter as long as you are not consuming animal products. the end results are the same. I started out as a "pescatarian" for health reasons and eventually transitioned to veganism for the ethics. Sorry about your grandfather, I also lost someone to disease and don't want myself or anyone to suffer that same fate. I also hate seeing animals in pain and don't think its necessary for them to suffer when we have alternative foods that are healthier. You are right, I won't say that only ethical vegans are true vegans because different reasons appeal to different peoples and I don't want to hinder the vegan message. Thank you miniboes

[SkepticalGorilla1985]

To me it is much more profound, a paradigm shift, a new way of analyzing the world using science and philosophy to determine our actions on this planet for our very short lives.

Agreed, there's a lot in our world that needs a paradigm shift...

[garrethdsouza]

Hi silverbolt Welcome to the forum.

Atheism + veganism is not itself sufficiently equal to rationalism.
There are many other issues that one may be irrational about. Like gun control, abortion, GMOs, affirmative action, human rights, etc being a vegan atheist doesn't make one automatically rational on other issues.