In May of 2011, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales collectively agreed to restore the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays. Despite the Second Vatican Council’s official consensus to accept other forms of Friday penance in the early 1960’s, Catholics concerned about climate change have been rallying to revive the practice as a means of reducing carbon emissions worldwide. Animal rights activists jumped on the bandwagon and began pressuring Christians to reject the “immorality of animal exploitation” by misquoting Scripture to align with their campaigns. Abstaining from meat is not the best way that people of faith can mitigate the impacts of climate change, nor will it strengthen their relationship with God. Here are four reasons to keep meat on your plates on ordinary Fridays (which excludes Lent and other Catholic holidays):
1. Humans were granted divine permission to eat animals.
In Genesis 1:28, God commands His people: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on earth.” It is here that God explicitly gives His people permission to use His creation, including animals, for human good. Additionally, in Genesis 9:3, God explicitly states, “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” While this may grant humankind direct permission to eat meat, animal rights supporters argue that it does not address animal welfare or morality. According to the book “What Would Jesus Really Eat?,” humans are charged with the duty of earthly stewardship known as “responsible dominion.” This concept demands that we exercise our moral right to use the resources we have been given without being reckless. By engaging in activities that allow humans to use animals in a mindful and responsible way, we preserve those resources for future generations while allowing the present ones to prosper.
2. Eliminating meat from your diet will not solve climate change.
As a direct result of the farming and ranching communities’ unparalleled dedication to environmental stewardship, American dairy and beef production only contribute around 3.3% of total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Additionally, a 2017 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated that removing all animals from U.S. agriculture would only reduce U.S. GHG emissions by 3%. Even if meatless Fridays were to return as a recommendation to the Catholic faith worldwide, studies show only a small percentage of devoted followers may actually implement this practice into their homes. An investigation undertaken at the University of Cambridge found that only 28% of Catholics surveyed in the U.K. reported changing their dietary habits following the 2011 rule. While the intentions of the few are noble, abstaining from meat will not move the needle enough to be worth the nutritional deficits that this would cause on a global scale.
3. Meat is no longer eaten as a delicacy.
The history of avoiding meat as an act of religious observance dates back to the first century A.D. when meat was considered a luxury and was expensive and hard to come by. Because “flesh meat” was something to be saved for significant occasions, it was a moral obligation to abstain from it on Fridays as a weekly penance in recognition of human sin and Jesus’s gift of absolution. This weekly practice has now been replaced with this observance primarily on Fridays during Lent, the season leading to Easter that is dedicated to penance and modest living. Instead of meat, fish was eaten on Fridays as more of a commonplace and meager meal. In the twenty-first century, the roles of these proteins on our plates have seemingly reversed, with meats like beef, pork, and chicken becoming more affordable to the average consumer while seafood prices have risen. During the Lenten season this year, a humbler plate may now include chicken breast or ground beef rather than salmon or shrimp. If your family does traditionally keep this custom during Catholic holidays, supporting the fishing and aquaculture community by eating some cod or tilapia is equally sacred in the eyes of God!
4. What would Jesus eat in 2023?
There are ample examples in the Bible of Christ killing and eating animals. From eating the customary Passover lamb to his miracle multiplying fish to feed thousands of hungry people (Matthew 14:13-21), Jesus always fulfilled the needs and wellbeing of humans over the rest of creation. In his many parables, Jesus also spoke of celebratory feasts serving “oxen and fattened livestock” (Matthew 22:4) or butchering a “fattened calf” (Luke 15:23) to place at the center of the banquet table. In Acts 10:9-16, Peter has a vision that God deemed food from all animals to be clean, releasing the binding dietary requirements of the time that limited meals to “kosher” animals only. When Peter protested, God spoke again, commanding him: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” It is safe to assume that if Jesus were here in 2023, we can imagine He would support the time-honored tradition of enjoying meat, dairy, poultry, eggs, seafood, and honey with his bread!
Eating meat is a holy tradition proven time and time again in Scripture. We are called to the responsible dominion of His Creation as humble stewards with the moral right to feed our families. The pervasive biblical motif narrates that there will be no remission of sins without sacrificial blood spilt. This motif is upheld in every ritual animal sacrifice and feast in the Bible meant to express thanks and to worship God. As God declared, no food that He created is unclean, and thus all diets observed by cultures around the world are acceptable choices. To learn more about the biblical case for eating meat, including more scripture that references morality, human exceptionalism, and debunking counterarguments, check out “What Would Jesus Really Eat?”
All posts are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily represent the view of the Animal Ag Alliance.
