Veganism, Morality & Suffering (w/ Patrick Walsh of Atheists, Agnostics and Apostates of Raleigh)

I’ve never thought much about what vegan advocates are calling a “social justice movement,” but when Patrick Walsh reached out and asked me if I’d be willing to host a debate about veganism, my wheels got turning.

Do I inherently have an issue with people not eating meat? No...but red flags typically go up for me when the world is getting behind a social justice movement. That’s when I start getting very skeptical about motivations and agendas. My skepticism is a bit ironic, because my guest, Patrick Walsh is a skeptic himself, but different. Patrick leads Vegan for the Animals (VFTA) and the Atheists, Agnostics and Apostates group of Raleigh. So while I’m skeptical of vegan movements, Patrick is skeptical of God, which leads me to my next question:

Are there spiritual motivations and/or implications to the vegan social justice movement?

If you’re vegan because you oppose animal suffering, I can see that, that’s Patrick’s motivation. In fact, it’s anti-suffering that brings the subject of morality into the discussion. I didn’t want to bring a farmer on Miracles & Atheists, to debate the topic, I thought it would be best to instead bring on a Christian omnivore to represent a semi-opposing position…and that would be your host of The Miracles & Atheists podcast, Nick Snapp.

I have a lot of questions and I’m sure you do too.

So come on out to the parking lot of the Wash House Laundromat at 4207 Fayetteville Rd, in Garner, NC for our public “debate” on veganism and morality! We’ll have some fun with live music, good times and interesting convos. If you can’t make it in person we’ll be livestreaming the whole thing! I’m looking forward to this one…