The Spirituality of Veganism

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Religious Education for children and youth will experience and explore on summer Sundays at East Shore in June, July, and August. We take a break from our classroom activities and dive into creativity; you’ll explore the arts and outdoor activities designed just for kids. Learn more here!

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In person services are followed by coffee hour.

Children’s Story

Sermon Audio

Sermon Text

I’m Amanda Strombom, I use she/her pronouns, I’m a member of this church and I’m a vegan.  That’s not a person from the planet Vega but a person who chooses not to eat any food products from animals. I’ll be talking more about that later on.

As humans, we all struggle with many dilemmas about how to live our lives, how to make choices, and how to find a path through all of the complexities and difficulties that the world presents us.

And as humans, we also all experience moments of grace, awe and wonder at what a beautiful world we are blessed to inhabit.

I’m here to talk with you about veganism and the human spirit… about the spiritual life of being a vegan.  What I need to explain first is that there’s not one spiritual path that is set aside for vegans.  Each of us is on our own spiritual path, so there are billions of ways to be.

Today, my main goal is to just share some aspects of how veganism might help your own uniquely wonderful spiritual path.  How can being vegan reduce some of the dilemmas you face?  How can being vegan complement your ways of finding comfort, grace and wonder.  As I talk about these possibilities, I will also share my own experiences, and those of my husband, Doug, and how veganism has helped us.

REFLECTION EXERCISE 1: Before I begin, let’s take a few moments to reflect on your own life.  Make yourself comfortable and close your eyes if you wish.  

… What is bringing you joy lately?

5 secs

… What are your deepest concerns these days?

5 secs

… How are you feeling about the current state of your health?

PAUSE for 5 secs

I just want you to be grounded in your own experiences, because that is all that really matters.  If what I have to offer will help bring you a little more joy, help with some concerns that you have, or help address any health problems, then that’s all I hope to achieve.

Before we delve in, it’s important to consider the natural human tendency toward defensiveness.  We all have a tendency to protect what we do and love, and to affirm what we are habituated to.  The food we put in our bodies is one of the most personal, maybe even sacred, aspects of our lives.  We associate it with so many pleasant memories from our lives and especially our childhood, and the idea of moving away from foods we love can be very scary. 

I just want you to know that I’m not judging anything about how you live or what you eat.  It’s up to you to make your own choices.  So the things I share here today are just for your consideration.  Please take them as an offering, not a demand.  And if you find yourself feeling defensive about your current food choices, then that’s OK. Just notice those feelings and consider where they may be coming from.  They might block out any room you may have to hear or consider something new.  So my recommendation is if you feel yourself becoming defensive, just put them into a mental parking lot for later consideration.

Personal Journey to Veganism

Health, both my own, my family’s and the health of others in the community,  has always been a strong core value for me.  We first went vegetarian when we were living in Malaysia 28 years ago.  We found we kept getting sick from eating meat at market stalls where it had sat out unrefrigerated in 90’ heat, so we thought that by avoiding the meat, we would get sick less often. I’d also read a book called “Fit for Life” and was taken with the idea that a vegan diet could help prevent future health issues. The year round warm climate and the abundance of fresh fruit made it easy for us to focus on eating healthy wholesome food. Our children were young enough not to object and several of our friends there were vegetarian as well, so it was an easy and practical choice which enabled me to feel good about the health of our family.

A year later, we moved to Washington State, and I started volunteering for a vegetarian organization. I began to see that in addition to the personal health benefits, this decision we had taken might have wider implications, and that we might want to take it further and become vegan.

I’d like to pause here to clarify, a vegetarian doesn’t eat the flesh of an animal, whereas a vegan aims to avoid animal products altogether, including the consumption of dairy, eggs, and maybe honey.  Another term you may hear is Whole Food Plant-Based, which usually means avoiding animal products and highly processed food, because French fries and twinkies are vegan foods. In today’s world, it’s hard to be perfect, since animal ingredients are used in so many products, but we try to do the best we can.

Around 2012, when our children had left home and we were no longer constrained by their food likes and dislikes, we decided to go fully vegan.  Fortunately, my husband Doug was very supportive, and he has become quite the creative cook. We are fortunate to have an abundance of choices in our local grocery stores, and we get all the nutrients we need from the fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, nuts and seeds available to us, although we do add a vitamin B12 tablet (which isn’t adequately available in plants) and vitamin D, because living here in the northwest we don’t get enough sun exposure.

While we were much younger when we first switched our diet, and we didn’t notice any immediate health benefits, we certainly feel like our dietary choices are paying off for us now.  We rarely get sick, and have almost no chronic health conditions.  When we finally went vegan, my facial rosacea cleared up, and when Doug recently had a coronary artery scan to help his doctor decide whether he needed to take statins, his score, on a range from 0 to 400 was only 5.  He credits our diet with keeping his arteries clear.

For me, the wider implication that most moved me was that helping people change their diets was a way to help heal many chronic health conditions, alleviating much suffering and potentially saving hugely on expensive medical bills.  From an even wider perspective, I saw that a societal change of diet could benefit the nation’s health and save billions of healthcare dollars. 

As this had been an easy transition for us, I figured I’d be able to inspire and convince many others to make the switch, so I got involved in providing advocacy and support to those transitioning and I’ve run the non-profit, Vegetarians of Washington, for the past 23 years. What I didn’t realize was how hard it would be to help society change its diet. I have to confess that it’s taken me a long time to figure out how best to approach this issue with people. Societal change is so gradual, but I feel that finally after 20 years, people are starting to become more open to the idea.

Love of Animals

Now there are other values which are also supported by a vegan diet – a love of animals and care for the Earth, our home.

Does everyone know what cognitive dissonance means?  It’s that uncomfortable feeling you might sometimes experience when you choose to do something that you know deep down goes against your core values or beliefs. Reducing cognitive dissonance is an aspect of our spiritual journey, and for some values important to many UUs, making vegan food choices can reduce your cognitive dissonance and make your life a little better, more comfortable, and happier in addition to healthier.

The first example of this I’d like to share is really my husband Doug’s story, but he’s given me permission to share it.  About 30 years ago, we were hiking in Wales in the Spring when our son, Matthew was very young.  As we hiked across the moors, we saw sheep on the hillside, and many gamboling lambs enjoying life.  A little later we passed a young man carrying a lamb over his shoulders heading into the village.  We returned to the pub where we were staying, and you can guess what was on the menu that evening…. Doug felt the cognitive dissonance hit him as he considered choosing a delicious meal of roast lamb for dinner, when he had seen the lambs experiencing such joy at being alive. It went against his value of respecting all life.

For myself, a similar realization hit later here in the US, when we had dogs and cats, and even a couple of rats as pets. I hadn’t had any pets as a child, and so forming deep relationships with these animals was eye opening for me.  I saw how they demonstrated their love for us, how they experienced joy when we played with them or took them for walks, and I saw how they experienced pain and sadness on occasion. There was no doubt in my mind that animals have feelings just like we do, that they each have unique personalities, or souls if you will.  I realized that this applies to all animals, and as I learned about how farm animals are typically treated on factory farms and then at the slaughterhouse, or how commercial fishing harms so many fish and sea mammals that are not wanted commercially and are thrown back into the ocean dead or dying, I was grateful that we had decided to go vegetarian a few years earlier.  I felt that this decision freed me up to be able to fully enjoy and celebrate all animals.

Care for the Earth is a strong value of mine.

These days, many of us worry about climate change and the impact that humans are having on the earth.  We wonder what kind of planet we’re going to leave for our children and grandchildren. We worry that there’s little we can do as individuals to make a difference. 

What you may not realize is that cutting out animal products from your diet has far more impact than changing the car you drive. You’ve probably heard that farm animals are one of the biggest sources of methane – there are 56 billion farm animals being raised in the world today, and many of those animals produce burps of methane all day every day. Methane is a greenhouse gas 21 times as impactful as carbon dioxide. In addition, growing the corn and soy needed to feed those animals is a huge unnecessary burden on our land, and multiplies the energy and transportation needed.  And the fact that rainforests are being decimated to clear land on which to raise cattle, is rarely mentioned, although we all know how devastating that is for climate change, and biodiversity loss.

So for me and many others, as we worry about the kind of world we want to leave for future generations, choosing to eat lower on the food chain, to get our protein from beans and grains instead of feeding them to animals, helps us feel that we’re doing all we can to reduce our personal impact on the planet.  What we choose to eat really makes a difference!

One more value that you may want to consider is that veganism also helps to confront systems of exploitation and oppression. It invites us to consider how our daily choices can either contribute to or alleviate suffering. This awareness has expanded beyond animals to encompass social justice issues, such as workers’ rights and food accessibility. Did you know that one of the most dangerous jobs in America is working in a slaughterhouse?  There’s a reason this job is mostly done by immigrants, many of them undocumented.  Few Americans want to do this heartbreaking and dangerous work, so it falls to those who have no other options.  Similarly in Asia, fishing boat operators often trick people into working for them with false promises, and once out at sea, they are trapped in slave labor situations for months or even years on end.  Veganism, in this light, has for us become not just a diet but a form of activism, a commitment to creating a more just and equitable world.

So embracing a plant-based diet has encouraged us to slow down and reflect on what we consume, to choose foods in their natural whole form where possible, just as nature intended.  This helps us be healthier, it reduces the harm we humans do to animals, it fosters a deeper connection to the Earth which provides the nourishment that sustains us, and it reduces the necessity for humans to do dangerous, soul-destroying work. It’s a form of mindfulness that extends to other areas of our lives, helping us to live more intentionally and harmoniously.

I have to admit that it’s not always easy, and we are not perfect vegans.  If someone offers me a brownie, I sometimes choose not to ask whether it has eggs or dairy in it, because I do love chocolate and I feel torn between my love of chocolate and my values. When we travel, we have to be flexible, since we don’t want to be rude to our hosts, or to starve ourselves for the sake of our principles. Our philosophy is to do the best we can, and we hope that in doing so, we inspire others to do the same.

It is heartening to find such a supportive community here at East Shore, to see that efforts are made to make everyone feel welcome whatever their chosen diets. And as a result, many more people are putting their toes in the water and exploring the benefits of a vegan diet.

I encourage you to consider which aspects of veganism speak loudest to you. Reflect on how it aligns with your values and how it might contribute to your spiritual practice. Engage in conversations, try new foods, and consider the impact of your food choices. You can start by joining me in Spring Hall, over in the Education Building, after this service for a cooking demonstration and to get your questions answered. We also have lots of vegan treats for you to enjoy. In exploring veganism, you may find that your spiritual journey is enriched in unexpected and profound ways.

Thank you!