Christmas Card (1966)

Produced by the World League Against Vivisection and featured in No.144 of their journal The Animals' Champion

'Mercy Mild' by M. Dudley Ward

'Years ago I once saw a farm girl surreptitiously brush a tear from her eyes as she put a finishing touch to her careful grooming and said "Goodbye, old thing" to her charge - a beautiful young white heifer who nuzzled her face and gazed at her wonderingly. That girl's emotion was a tiny spark of heaven in prevailing hell. The whisper of Love momentarily asserting itself over the raucous yell of Money. Why should Peace and Goodwill to men be offset by this colossal carnage - this spate of savagery against poor creatures - descendants of those who offered their humble hospitality to a desperate Family when the door of every human inn was slammed against them?' From an essay published in The Vegetarian News (Winter 1952 edition)

'Paradise Food' by A.M. Curtis

From The Vegetarian News (Winter 1948)

'Love God and Love your Neighbour' by Marion Reid

A critique of Lord Baden-Powell's relationship with sentient beings whilst leader of the international Boy Scout/Girl Guide movements. From The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (August 1937)

Quotation (1854)

'Vegetarians argue that what was best at the beginning is best now; by distinguishing between appointment and permission harmonize God with His attributes, and with His several approvals of abstinence from flesh and his warnings to avoid it; the evidently greater reconcilement of mercy and peace with such practice than now exists, and the further assurance of prophecy that a time will come when "they shall not hurt or destroy".' From an anonymous letter published in The Vegetarian Messenger (January 1854)

'Jesus and Vegetarianism: A Foolish Fancy' (1933 debate)

A correspondence between Henry S. Salt and religious critics which was published in the Vegetarian Society journal between September and November 1933. Salt's original letter and response appear here and here . I am indebted to an anonymous contributor for sharing some notable insight into the intellectual life of the Rev. D. Martin Dakin. See also: 'The Vegetarian Society and the Bible'

The Rev. Walter Walsh, D.D.

From the 'Vegetarian Portrait Gallery' series which featured in The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (February 1930 edition)

'Humane Education' By The Rev. A.M. Mitchell, M.A. (1906)

Excerpts from a booklet which was written during parliamentary amendments to the Education Act of 1902. The author sought to expand public debate beyond general religious and financial considerations in his capacity as a local education official and member of the Order of the Golden Age.

'A Vegetarian Missionary'

From The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (May 1946)

'Missions in China'

From The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (January 1915) See: 'The Chinese Vegetarian Vow'

Quotation: Ronald Lightowler (1951)

"It is no use just praying for an ideal state of society to appear on earth unless we are prepared to bring the pattern of our own lives into harmony with it." From 'The Vegetarian Testimony'- an article published in The Vegetarian News (Autumn 1951 edition) See also: 'Christians and Vegetarianism'

'Religious Indifference'

An early warning of mass-starvation overseas from the London Vegetarian Society. Published in The Vegetarian News (Summer 1951 edition)

'The Chinese Vegetarian Vow'

A theological dispute between the Vegetarian Society and Christian missionaries, as presented in The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (December 1914 & February 1915 editions) See: 'Missions in China'

'Eating and Drinking to the Glory of God' (1902)

An essay reprinted from a Salvation Army journal in The Herald of the Golden Age (February 1902) See: Food Reformers and the Salvation Army

Arnold Hills letter to the Daily Mail (1913)

Published in the January 17th edition of the newspaper and reprinted in The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (February 1913) See: Obituary

Quotation: The Rev. Dr. William Hamilton Drummond (1838)

"While we "eat the fat and drink the sweet," we never, for an instant reflect on the animal sufferings which precede the banquet;—the barbed hook, the lacerating shot, the shrieks, the groans, and the dying agony. Such reflections would embitter the taste; therefore they are excluded as enemies of our peace; and cruelties continue to be perpetrated not because we approve of them, but because we allow ourselves to become even unconscious of their existence."

From The rights of animals and man's obligation to treat them with humanity by William H. Drummond, D.D., M.R.I.A. (John Mardon publishers, 1838, p.122)At least 3 editions of the work have been re-published in recent years and the original text has been made available by Google books.

'The Pope's Everyday Life' (1902)

From The Vegetarian dated December 20, 1902

'The Gift' by J.D. Beresford and Esme Wynne Tyson

Reviewed in The Vegetarian News (Winter 1947) See also: 'Christianity and Vegetarianism'

'Catholics and Natural Living'

From The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (October 1946 edition). The cited author, Rev. Aloysius Roche, wrote a major treatise on animal welfare: These Animals of Ours (Burnes, Oates & Washbourne Ltd., 1939) See: Quotation

'A Better Way' by Phyllis McCoy

From an intense debate among Catholic animal welfarists which led to their society becoming increasingly vegetarian. See the Catholic Concern for Animals website and 'Reason, Religion and the Animals.' Published in The Ark no 58, August 1956. Eventually, the editor wrote God's Animals, an important study of Catholic teaching, proclamation and sensitivity towards animals which is no longer available (Review).

Quotation: Professor F.W. Newman (1873)

"Law cannot forbid cruelties in detail, if it allow indiscriminate slaughter. Hearts are hardened by custom, and thus the evil spreads." From an article entitled 'Rights of Animals' which was published in The Index (December 11, 1873 edition). The Francis William Newman Research Center have reproduced the entire article in pdf format: http://www.fwnewman.org/Library/Works/SPE/Index_12-11-73.pdf See also: photograph

'The First Step' by Count Leo Tolstoy (Chapter IX)

From The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (August 1950) Pages 6-8 here See also 'Leo Tolstoy: Food Reformer'

First five pages