God Lovers Are All Vegan – Interview with the Reverend Father John Ryder (vegan), Part 2 of 2

“I think if people were aware of the suffering in meat production, the majority would not eat meat. They deliberately do not want to know. When you tell them, they say, “Don't tell me, I don't want to know.” I think that is being duplicitous, hypocritical, to think that I want to enjoy myself because I don't want to know what suffering I cause. It's totally irresponsible. You should try to know what you cause, what effect you're having on the world.”

“And in so many ways, animals are as intelligent, but it's also obvious they can feel pain in the same way, they can feel fear in the same way. And this is one of the extra reasons why factory farming is so unhealthy because of the fear and pain that the animals feel.”

“The greatest thing any individual can do to help the environment, to stop or slow down climate change, is to stop having meat and dairy. There are other things, perhaps larger things which the governments can do. But what an individual can do, the most important thing is to become a vegan or move in that direction as fast as they possibly can.”

“To stop climate change in general and all these destructive effects, is to stop eating meat, because the production of meat is what drives all these horrible things. It uses so much more water as well, so much more land. We just don't have the land. If everybody in the world tried to eat what the average Western person eats in meat, half the world would starve because there wouldn't be enough food, and there wouldn't be enough space to grow that food. So, there's got to be a change from that point of view as well. If you're concerned about humans, you will not eat meat.”

“The Church’s attitude towards this (treating animal-people) is improving, far too slowly, but it is improving. I would say in the last ten years, the more positive statements coming from both the Church of England and the Church of Rome in dealing with animals, has improved vastly over their attitude before. That sentience is being acknowledged; animal sentience is being acknowledged. That the wholesale carnivorous diet is being seen as a problem. So, I think things are improving.”