07/22/98 - 1930

Jesus Was A Vegetarian

USA (VNN) - from PETA Online

PETA has enlisted "Jesus" as its newest Vegetarian Campaign spokesperson and hopes to make Christians the latest veggie converts. In a new ad titled, "Jesus Was a Vegetarian" (see following), which breaks tomorrow in The News & Advance, PETA asks Christians to "show respect for God's creatures" by going vegetarian.

The ad also announces a new PETA Web site: www.jesus-online.com. Visitors to the site can learn why PETA believes that Jesus was a vegetarian, get answers to popular questions about the campaign, find out where to read more about the topic, and even link to a site of essays on Judaism and vegetarianism.

Many Biblical scholars believe Jesus was a member of the Nazarene Essenes, a Jewish religious sect that followed a vegetarian diet and rejected animal sacrifices. Vegetarianism also is not without precedent in the Catholic faith: Many early church fathers were vegetarian, including St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Francis of Assisi.

"Animals are not excluded from Jesus' invocation, 'Be merciful, as God your father is merciful,'" says PETA's Vegetarian Campaign coordinator, Bruce Friedrich. "Today's factory farms and slaughterhouses are hardly the embodiment of compassion, mercy, and love. Christians should extend the message that 'God Is Love' by not eating his creation."