PETA’s Appeal to Archbishop Martin for a Vegan Good Friday
PETA’s Appeal to Archbishop Martin for a Vegan Good Friday
Armagh – After Pope Francis offered a message for Lent about a conversion, “a change in mindset, so that life’s truth and beauty may be found not so much in possessing as in giving,” PETA sent a letter to Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh, urging him to ask his followers to “embrace a change in mindset about who is on their plates by forgoing fish and embracing only vegan foods this Good Friday.”
As PETA Vice President Mimi Bekhechi writes, “Today, most of us don’t need to kill animals in order to survive. We have a plethora of healthy, humane choices at our fingertips. And a loving, merciful God would not want us to cause harm unnecessarily.”
She further explains that fish – who are often eaten by Catholics on Good Friday – are intelligent and sensitive beings who feel pain and don’t want to die. Fish pass down knowledge, have cultural traditions, and “talk” to one another using low-frequency sounds that human ears can’t hear. Some woo potential mates by singing to them or creating intricate works of art . Researchers have even found that fish can learn to drive cars on land.
“At Easter, we celebrate the fact that Jesus gave his life so that we might be absolved of our sins,” Bekhechi adds. “But it isn’t logical or righteous for us to pray for forgiveness then continue the sinful practice of hurting animals.”
PETA is making a similar appeal to Pope Francis, whom the group named its Person of the Year in 2015 in honour of his treatise, Laudato Si’, in which he stressed the importance of treating animals with kindness, writing, “Every act of cruelty towards any creature is ‘contrary to human dignity’.”
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview – offers a free vegan starter kit filled with tips, recipes, and more on its website.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]
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