Throughout history, many Christians have observed Lent in a process of remembering the final weeks of Jesus’ life, which includes Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. This observance takes shape through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, atonement, and self-denial. Often, Christians give up luxuries and/or add spiritual disciplines in order to draw closer to Jesus and partake in His suffering. At its best, Lent is a season when unhealthy or unnecessary behaviors are shed in exchange for trust and dependency on God. Lent begins today, Feb. 10, and ends on March 26. Perhaps you have already decided to give up a luxury or add a spiritual discipline into your schedule during this time. If not, you should strongly consider giving up eating meat.

Because most Americans are used to eating meat with every meal, it may be difficult to contemplate going 40 days without eating it. However, doing so has the potential to benefit your spiritual life and reduce your involvement in cruelty and environmental destruction. Furthermore, in many traditional observances of Lent believers are encouraged to partake in the luxury they are abstaining from on Sundays. As such, you would still be able to eat meat one day per week.

The first compelling reason to abstain from meat during Lent is the opportunity it provides to enhance your spiritual life. Because God made the world and everything in it, He cares deeply for all of creation, including trees, rivers, dolphins, and pigs. The means by which animals are brutally slaughtered for food undoubtedly breaks God’s heart every day. In order to produce pork, for example, pigs are confined to extremely small gestation crates that subject them to sitting in their own feces and keep them from even turning around. These naturally curious and intelligent animals are impregnated at seven months of age and live out the rest of their lives continually being raped to produce offspring before being slaughtered after only a few years of life. Clearly, this was not God’s vision for the lives of His treasured creation. Abstaining from participation in this cruelty will provide an incredible opportunity for you to assess what it means to consume daily bread and what your place is in God’s holistic vision for creation.

Secondly, giving up meat for Lent will greatly reduce your negative impact on the earth and its valuable, depleting resources. In short, the meat and seafood industries are the largest contributors to climate change, droughts, deforestation, and species extinction. By following a vegetarian diet, one will produce 50 percent less CO2 and use 1/11th the amount of oil, 1/13th the amount of water, and 1/18th the amount of land a meat eater will. Once again, abstaining from meat provides an opportunity to partake in God’s original decree for humans to steward His creation.

Indeed, when God created the earth He filled the sky with extravagant birds, the oceans with beautiful fish and mammals, and the ground with unique and powerful livestock. After doing so, He called it good (Genesis 1:20-25). God proceeded to give humans dominion over the land and the animals, not to abuse them out of selfish desires, but to care for them in an intimate relationship. Perhaps this is why Meister Eckhart, a 14th-century Catholic monk, scholar and mystic, eloquently asked: “Is this not a holy trinity: the firmament [sky], the earth, our bodies?”

Finally, Lent is a time of sacrifice. It is undeniable that giving up meat for the average American is a difficult undertaking. We find comfort in our food, enjoy sharing certain meals with friends, and often find identity in the plate before us at mealtimes. Sacrificing this comfort, enjoyment, and identity is not easy; however, Jesus’ final weeks of life were not easy. Being a part of His body means sharing in His suffering, and as Christians we must not become slaves to comfort. Let us take care of God’s creation, draw closer to His heart, and make real sacrifices for Jesus during this Lenten season!

Last month, Eastern’s campus was buzzing as students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and friends congregated on the Kea Guffin Hill for homecoming festivities. I couldn’t help but feel sick as I looked at the long line of patrons in front of Enactus’ table, eager for a Chick-fil-A sandwich. I felt a combination of sadness, confusion, and disgust as I contemplated why so many Christians were supporting the most hypocritical overtly Christian company in the world.

Why is Chick-fil-A so hypocritical? My stance actually has nothing to do with CEO Dan Cathy’s views on gay marriage. Rather, Chick-fil-A’s hypocrisy stems from its use of factory-farmed chicken. Factory farming is, in fact, the greatest destroyer of God’s creation in the history of the world. If this assessment of factory farming sounds a little extreme, that’s because the situation is extreme. The billions of animals subjected to factory farming throughout the world live and die in a brutal system of torture and abuse. These animals are crammed into small cages, fed unnatural food, pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones, and slaughtered in an excruciating manner.

This reality is painfully evident when looking at the average life of a chicken used for egg production. The chicken’s beak is seared off with a hot blade at a young age and immediately crammed into a battery cage where it will spend the rest of its life. These battery cages hold five to 10 birds who are given floor space equivalent to a sheet of paper, which prevents them from ever being able to turn around. The chicken is then artificially induced to yield high egg production and slaughtered after one to two years when egg production declines. This is in stark contrast to the reality that chickens can live as long as 20 years in a natural environment.

The stories of chickens used for meat production, cows used for milk production and all other factory-farmed animals is just as appalling. However, the brutal treatment of animals is simply the beginning of the destruction caused by factory farming. This method of food production is currently the leading contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, deforestation, ocean pollution, and waste throughout the world. Here are several statistics that illustrate just how bad the situation is:

• Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.

• 2,500 gallons of water are required to produce one pound of beef, 900 gallons of water are required to produce one pound of cheese, and 1,000 gallons of water are required to produce one gallon of milk.

•One to two acres of rainforest are cleared every second, primarily to erect factory farms and grow crops for livestock feed.

• Up to 137 plant, animal, and insect species are lost every day due to the aforementioned rainforest destruction.

This destruction of God’s creation is something that Christians everywhere should seek to change. Perhaps our response should be abstaining from meat and dairy on certain days or every day. Perhaps it should be purchasing meat and dairy from local farmers. However, it should definitely not be supporting a business whose slogan is “Eat More Chicken.” In light of the aforementioned information, this statement essentially advocates for sin. As such, Chick-fil-A is the most hypocritical company I am aware of. Hopefully next year clubs at homecoming will sell products that contribute to building God’s kingdom on earth, not tearing it down.

Sources: Worldwatch Institute, Animal Feed Science and Technology, The Independent, Environmental Working Group, Water Footprint Network, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Healthy Landscapes, Rainforest Relief, Save the Amazon.