The April Peaceable Table is now online.
* In the Guest Editorial, Pam Ahern of Victoria, Australia tells of two animal handlers she encountered who "looked into the heart of an enemy and found there love and understanding."
* The NewsNote describes a rescue of two whales by a smart and compassionate dolphin.
* One of the Gems, by ancient Pharaoh Akhenaten, praises compassion.
* A Film Review describes The Spiderwick Chronicles, one of whose protagonists is an animal-loving vegetarian.
* The Vegan Oat Cakes featured in one of the Recipes will give cooks and diners a fresh and delicious experience.
* The Pilgrimage this month is not, as it usually is, a journey into nonviolent eating but a story of mutual healing by a raptor and a human being.
* The April Pioneer is ancient philosopher Proclus, a compassionate pagan who espoused vegetarianism.
* In the Poetry feature, "Martins: September" by Walter de la Mare, the narrator reflects on the birds' eagerness and freedom compared with his own earthbound state.
Readers are invited to respond with letters, comments, and submissions or suggestions for future issues.
May compassion embrace the earth.
Gracia Fay Ellwood
Editor
Links to other valuable web sites
Following are links to other web sites concerned with the wellbeing of animals.
www.vegetarianhome.com Vegetarian Web Directory. A good place to start your search for all things vegetarian on the Web.
HIPPO, Help International Plant Protein Organization, aids third-world peoples to help themselves by developing plant-based agriculture. See www.ivu.org/articles/net/hippo.html
quaker-animals.org.uk Quaker Concern for Animals, an association of
British Friends, first titled Friends Anti-Vivisection Association, was
founded in 1891. It continues to be active today seeking justice for
animals in several areas of life.
www.equuseditorial.com/index.html Connie, founding editor of EquusEditorial, an online collaboration inspired by the horse!
www.christianveg.com The Christian Vegetarian Association is a rapidly growing network of Christians, largely Protestant and evangelical, who advocate a plant-based diet as beneficial for human health, the environment, the world's poor and hungry, and animals.
www.farmsanctuary.org Farm Sanctuary is the largest farm animal rescue and protection organization in the United States.
www.circleofcompassion.org Circle of Compassion is a prayer network with particular focus on compassion for animals.
www.cok.net Compassion over Killing is a non-profit animal-advocacy organization, working to end animal abuse in agriculture and promoting a vegetarian diet as a way to build a kinder world for both humans and non-humans.
www.theoservice.org The Theosophical Order of Service is a network of individuals demonstrating practical and humanitarian actions in a theosophical spirit.
www.animalsvoice.com The Animals Voice is the premiere online resource network for animal activists.
jewishveg.com/schwartz More than one hundred vegetarian essays with environmental emphasis, by leading Jewish activist Richard Schwartz.
www.peta.org People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is the largest organization dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights for all animals on factory farms, in labroratories, in the fur trade, and in entertainmant.
www.pcrm.org Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is an organization of physicians and supporters conducting diet-linked health research and promoting a plant-based diet.
www.farmusa.org Farm Animal Reform Movement is an educational organization advocating a plant-based diet and humane treatment of farmed animals.
www.veganoutreach.org Vegan Outreach promotes a plant-based diet chiefly by distributing literature to young people.
Links to informative essays
"Is There Gospel Good News For The Animals?" Read the survey of some of the literature concerning Christianity and animals, by Elizabeth Farians, Ph.D., pioneer woman theologian. See
www.ape-connections.org/gospel_good_news.htm
To read about C.S. Lewis's theology of animals in an essay Andrew Linzey from the Anglican Theological Review, visit
www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3818/is_199801/ai_n8802633
Tom Regan, philosopher, ethicist and animal rights activist, is convinced that those Christians who are concerned with the exploitation and mistreatment of animals, are faced with a choice: to continue supporting the hypocrisy or to actively participate in correcting the wrongs and the religious institutions which support them. To read the full essay visit
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2326
In an ongoing essay series, Dr. Stephen Kaufman of the Christian Vegetarian Association applies the concepts of cultural anthropologist Rene Girard to Christianity and animals. Girard has argued that rivalries lead to scapegoating violence. A main theme of the Bible is that God cares about all creation and does not want victimization. See www.all-creatures.org/living/cphv.html
In a narrative essay that reads like a Tolstoy story, John Robbins tells what he learned about the depths of the human heart from his encounter with a hard and even frightening pig farmer.
Click here for a report on the findings of Bristol University scientists regarding the complex friendships, anxieties, grudges and enthusiasms of farmed animals.
For a short essay on the spiritual effects of violence against animals, and the changes resulting from a shift to ahimsa in diet, click here.
