Faith and Animal Reverence Ministry

MISSION STATEMENT: 100% Vegan owned and operated. F.A.A.R.M. supports and promotes abolitionary veganism, especially as it relates to religion/spirituality. F.A.A.R.M. educates people in not only showing how one can be religious or spiritual and be an abolitionist vegan as well, but also how both should not be separate, as the foundation in most--if not all--faiths is peace and nonviolence. FAITH IN ACTION IS A VEGAN LIFE: NON-ANIMAL EATING, WEARING, USING.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

National Vodou Day

Today is National Vodou Day. A holiday which takes place each year since 1996. Every year, thousands of adepts "vodounsi" gather in several locations. In Comè, a small town about a hundred kilometers west of Cotonou, hundreds of vodou adepts gathered to sing, dance and offer prayers and sacrifices to gods and ancestors. In the country of Benin, His Excellency Houngué Towakon Guédéhoungué II, president of the vodou in Benin, leads the ceremonies. Of Benin's seven million citizens, 65% believe in Vodou.

Followers acknowledge the existence of both a supreme being and many smaller gods which can intercede with the supreme being on behalf of humans. Vodou followers believe that all life is driven by spiritual forces of natural phenomena such as water, fire, earth and air and that these should be honoured through rituals like animal sacrifices.

But fortunately not all vodou practitioners believe in using animals in sacrifices.

In her book, Vodou Visions, Vodou mambo, Sallie Ann Glassman, discusses a cruelty-free alternative way of practicing this religion. Glassman, who is a vegan, does not believe in animal sacrifices. She explains in wonderful detail of how one is able to be a genuine practitioner of Vodou but still practice a cruelty-free life.

1 comment:

NoelleJanuary 18, 2013 at 6:49 PM
Vodou is a really interesting practice. I don't know a lot about it, but it fascinates me to an extent. It's good to know that it can be done without animal sacrifice.
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TO VEGANS: How to Really be a Vegan Activist

The vegan community tends to only preach to the converted in discussing veganism, which hurts the animals...Veganism is NOT a social club, so vegans should stop treating it like it is. The vegan community should stop having social gatherings like VegFests and Animal Rights Conferences, where only animal rights people are the audience; you are hurting animals in the world by spending most of your time talking to people who already are vegan/animal activists. You should not strive to be well known in the vegan community. You should strive to be well known in the non-vegan community. Start educating non-vegans!

Here are the very effective ways to educate non-vegans, in no particular order:

Schools

Be it grade schools or colleges, go to the teacher of the class and ask nicely if you can give a vegan presentation. Many places of education would allow you to come in and educate their students about a healthy life. You'll be reaching people (students) mostly under 30 years of age.

Churches

Churches, especially large ones with many programs and other things going on there throughout the week, would welcome someone coming in to talk to the congregation about veganism/healthier way of life. If you are a member or at least regularly attend worship services at the church, you have an even better chance of being allowed to present veganism there. If you are a member and your church has an area where members do tableing for social justice causes, ask the main organizer of the tables if you can do a vegan table with pamphlets and samples of delicious vegan food. Who mostly attend church? People who are over 30.

So with educating the schools and the churches, you will be informing all the ages and generations of people.

Twitter

Follow everyone who follows you, so as you Tweet, all the non-vegans, which will be most of your followers, will see your vegan tweets. I say follow everyone because if you don't, many (non-vegans) will stop following you. If you want to have a section at Twitter to just see fellow vegan tweets easily, simply make a Twitter List of all your vegans before following everyone else. You can make many Twitter Lists for any category you want.

Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is a marvelous way of spreading the vegan message! After you register there and get the deck, type in the word vegan in the search at the upper right corner. After you click for the search, you'll see only the tweets at that Tweeter column with the word "vegan" in it as mentioned. Go to the bottom of that search and click at Add Column. Now, when you see someone asking about the vegan life, you can tweet them back with information. Believe me, you'll see A LOT of people asking for help. Plus, you'll help many other non-vegans, as you'll have many non-vegan followers because you are following everyone who follows you, so they'll read your informative vegan tweets. This also can work in other social networks.

Outdoors

If you want to spread the vegan message in a more public way, do it openly outdoors! Most non-vegans will not go out their way to hear vegan/animal rights talk. By having vegan gatherings out in the parks, you'll be taking the message to where non-vegans normally are. Make sure it's very accessible to non-vegans and not in such a way where a person has to go through a gate to get there, as I said, non-vegans will not go out their way to hear the message, so have the entrance wide open, like in a public park.

Vote

Stay up-to-date with animal law news and don't forget to vote for the animals!

How to Tell if You're Being an Effective Vegan Activist

In your activism, whether it be in public in person, on your podcast, on your blog, your emails, etc. if the majority of people responding to you are praising you and agreeing with pretty much everything you say immediately without questioning you, then you are not being an effective vegan activist! You are simply just informing other vegans what they already know, and your vegan activism will be nothing but a vegan club for fellow vegans. Non-vegans (who most of your audience should be) will not quickly praise you; they will be asking a million questions, challenging you, debating you, mentioning their fears, their concerns, being skeptical....at first until you give them more information to their satisfaction as it pertains to them as an individual. Then they may express gratitude and praise toward you for being so informative.

Correct Definition of Vegan and Vegetarian

Both a philosophy and a way of life, veganism has its roots in the principles of nonviolence, sustainability and nonparticipation in exploitation of others. Practitioners of veganism resolve not to use and consume animal products for food, clothing, or any other purpose. To practice veganism is to become a conscientious objector to the violence and injustice done to billions of animals every day, all over the world. Veganism also embodies a commitment to decreasing the violence done to humans harmed by animal agriculture and consumption of animal products, as well as the violence done to our ecosystem by a system of exploitation that consumes vast amounts of water, land and other resources while contributing to deforestation, habitat destruction and a loss of biodiversity.

The term vegetarianism pertains more narrowly to dietary habits, and refers to the practice of eating a diet that includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and grains and is free from all animal products including dairy and eggs. This form of diet can also be described as a "plant-based" diet. Vegetarian is often mistakenly used as an adjective to describe those who do not eat flesh but do consume other animal products such as diary and eggs. Such a diet would be more accurately described by the term ovo-lacto vegetarian.

Albert Schweitzer

"Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind."

"A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives."

“We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.”

“By respect for life we become religious in a way that is elementary, profound and alive."

Faith and Animal Reverence Ministry

About Me

Life Counselor/F.A.A.R.M. Red Barn Fund

Thursday, January 10, 2013

National Vodou Day

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