Just an emotional connection is not enough for everything we do. Many people in the world are vegetarian because they adhere to tradition, faith, and culture. Therefore, if the recommended food options in every religion are updated with time, then it will be a great change for everyone. You can imagine, a judgemental attitude will be somehow reduced in our society.
The regressive rituals under the pretext of religious freedom must be stopped. Slitting an animal's throat or supporting it indirectly or giving an excuse for your eating habits or religion for not stopping killing happen makes a person more cruel than the neighbour who buys animal flesh from the butcher shop. The results of this cruelty impact fellow human beings in many other ways.
Most young people are using the Internet and some of them have personally chosen to become vegan, their internet-based learning made them so and they distanced themselves from traditional food choices. So you may wonder if we can also make equal efforts to change our traditions and religious practices, which should be updated with time. But the question comes to your mind if you speak against your religion to stop animal cruelty (or to discontinue any regressive practices), you will be in trouble. No, you will not be in trouble for voicing yourself to protect the animals, you are not just one person doing so, you are part of the global movement against animal cruelty, usually termed as Veganism. There should be no excuse or fear for this. If you want to progressively change something, go ahead fearlessly.
P.S. This article is first published in BT Newspaper - August 2023.
Prof. Sudesh Kumar
- Founder,
