In regards to eating meat

[Shemaya]

Trying to convince people to become vegetarian is not the best use of energy needed to make the changes, imo.

I don't go around trying to convince people to become vegetarians. That would be a colossal waste of time.

I agree. But there is pretty extensive debate here in this thread, so it appears otherwise.

He writes about Polyface farm in VA...really great ideas come out of that farm.
Polyface Farm

From the link you posted:

Salatin is quoted in the book The Omnivore's Dilemma (p.331) as justifying the killing of non-human animals because "people have a soul, animals don't."

I see this mentality as part of the problem.

Yes, from what I read he is a Christian. Coming from a Christian background, the belief is that God put everything on earth for Man to have dominion over. That's probably the mindset Salatin comes from. Christians also believe that God desires us to be good stewards of the earth. That is probably what motivates him to farm sustainably as he does.

Someone who is awakened and freed themselves from Christian doctrine would have a different perspective. My personal perspective, and trust me it has taken me years to break out of that belief system....(I started out catholic and became a "born-again" Christian )...my personal perspective is that we are all part of this planetary sphere, our bodies are part of her body.

As far as souls of animals, I really don't know. I have heard that animals have more of a group soul rather than individual, but i really don't know.

I would agree also that the patriarchal Christian religion is part of the problem, because some of the ideas and beliefs have been detrimental not only to animals, but to women, indigenous cultures, and the entire continent of Africa to name a few.