Aside from the gross injustice of those who've lost their freedom fighting for nonhuman animals and the Earth, consider the fact that there is a strong component of spirituality to veganism which receives no recognition or protection. The atheists and agnostics who practice vegan ethics notwithstanding (and with no disrespect to them), many vegans revere and respect other animals and Mother Earth to an extent that there is a high degree of awe and even worship, indications that veganism is spiritual. Vegans also make significant sacrifices in striving to eliminate animal-derived products and sources of entertainment from their lives and face a high degree of marginalization and hostility for their extension of compassion and basic rights to nonhuman animals. Sacrifice is yet another component of spirituality. Alternatively, being a mainstream Christian in the US requires nearly no sacrifice and hollow lip service to the principles of their faith is the order of the day for many who "practice" Christianity.
Yet there is nearly no end to the rights afforded "Christians" in the US.
As a relatively small group facing a great deal of hostility and numerous structural barriers to practicing our spiritual beliefs, vegans need (and are entitled to) the same Constitutional protections granted other spiritual and religious groups in the US. Yet vegans aren't even guaranteed something as basic as a vegan diet if they become political prisoners of a penal system that is allegedly premised on the Constitution. Public schools are not required to provide vegan alternatives in their cafeterias or curricula. Vegans are not protected from discrimination or hate crimes. Why does one have to check one's rights at the door when one chooses to hold a reverence for nonhuman animals?
With the advent of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, even those Animal Rights activists who engage in legal, above-ground activism face the chilling possibility of federal "terrorism" charges if they are found to have done $10,000.00 or more worth of damage to a business engaged in an "animal enterprise." Vaguely written by the animal exploitation industry itself and rubber-stamped by a Congress that is complicit in the murder of billions of nonhuman animals for human pleasure and convenience, the AETA has yet to gain traction as law enforcement officials search for the opportunity to apply it in such a way that they attain a conviction, thus opening the flood-gates for widespread implementation of this grossly Unconstitutional abomination. Targeting one group (AR activists) and affording special protection to one industry (animal exploiters--who under the AETA could technically claim $10,000.00 worth of economic damage was caused by protesting, petitions, counter-propaganda campaigns, and other forms of Constitutionally- protected activity) are clearly an obscene violations of the Constitution and are further evidence of America's downward spiral into corporate fascism.
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