I'm just going to put it out there: Veganism is my religion. By that I mean that being vegan holds a place of importance in my heart akin to religion. It's easy for me to say this with confidence because I have no other religion in my life. I do not believe in god, but I do believe in compassion. Religion gives us a moral code to live by, affects what we perceive to be the meaning of life, and (ideally) leaves us with a feeling of doing right by our heart or soul. Veganism does all of these things for me and holds a place as dear to me as religion does for most folks. I might even argue it holds an even dearer place than religion for many people. Plenty of religious people do not actively think about their beliefs perhaps more than once/day at most--I know when I was a Christian, I thought about Christianity maybe when I said a prayer at night or went to church or choir, or got into a discussion about religion, but that was about it. That's not to say there aren't also deeply devout people who do think about their religion more frequently, but I would argue that the average religious person maybe thinks about their religion about once per day on average. Veganism is something I think about every time I eat or drink something, which is at least 3 times per day, often more than that because I snack a lot :) Moreover, when I was a Christian, even when I thought about my religion it wasn't always because I was following it--sometimes I realized I did something other than "what Jesus would do," and I felt bad about it, or sometimes I knew full well I was about to do something that Jesus would not do, but I justified it and did it anyway. With veganism, it isn't like this--I don't even consider justifying eating a steak and then repenting later. I follow veganism truly and with sincere conviction.
I am not alone in viewing this lifestyle to be like a religion. Recently, a hospital employee in Cincinnati claimed religious discrimination in being fired over refusing a flu shot due to her vegan beliefs: http://www.law360.com/articles/405559/vegan-allowed-to-claim-religious-bias-in-flu-shot-firing
This is important legal stuff--that veganism can and should be given the same respect as a religious practice would. Which leads me to my point.
Since when would it be socially acceptable to suggest to a Catholic that they are forcing their lifestyle on their kids? Since when would it be socially acceptable to ask a Jewish person if they are going to let their child attend a Christian church service to see if they really want to be Jewish? Since when would it be socially acceptable to expect a Protestant to leave all religious decisions in their child's hands? And if a child did stray from the religion their parents raised them with, since when would it be socially acceptable to openly talk about how maybe it is for the better and that the parent should not be upset?
Let me be clear, I do want my kids to eventually make their own educated decisions on the matter of veganism and for them to follow their hearts. But when those decisions are not educated and are based only on not wanting to be made fun of, and when those decisions are made at a tender age, and when they are met with everyone else's blessing, and when zero attempt is made to at least choose more humane versions of nonvegan food (grass-fed organic milk or cage free eggs for example) to better keep with compassion towards animals, then no, I'm not ok with it. I'm understandably upset; I'm understandably angry at society for making us vegans out to be some freak show acts and having no problem teasing a child for a vegan lifestyle (again, if your child were making fun of someone for being Hindu, I think you'd have a problem with it, but many parents would just chuckle along with their kid if they talked about how silly their vegan classmate is and how they asked them, "don't you just want to eat a pizza?"). I'm understandably frustrated for all the ways that loved ones have undermined my lifestyle choices for my family. This is a parental and societal failure on my part, not a genuine coming-of-age-and-making-your-own-choices-and-expanding-your-horizons process. We're not talking about what outfits my tween wants to wear and me being too overprotective. We're talking about my tween going against my religious beliefs in to avoid being made fun of and to gain acceptance and convenience---were this any other "legitimate" religion, you'd at least empathize with the parent. So please let me at least mourn over this, what I feel to be a terrible decision with moral implications. Of course I love my child unconditionally and will always love her no matter what she chooses to eat. But that doesn't mean I agree that this is a wonderful change in her life. So let's not treat it so lightly, and please, if you are a loved one in our lives, respect my beliefs. You wouldn't, in front of his parents, offer a bible to a Jewish tween that had recently decided to start attending a Christian church against his parent's wishes, so don't offer my child pizza in front of me either, ok? If she asks for it, fine--but she is still a child after all. If you wouldn't let your 11 year old stop attending your church, then you should understand that my agreeing to her making her own decision to go against my cherished beliefs is already more allowance than you would give your 11 year old, so let's take this one small step at a time. Soon she'll be making all her decisions on her own, and she's already receiving plenty of messages from society that there is nothing wrong with using animals for food. In the meantime let's just agree to middle ground--if my child asks for nonvegan food it can be provided, but that doesn't mean it needs to be encouraged.
