Group Asks for Space to Set Up Pro-Vegan Billboard
For Immediate Release:
December 23, 2011
Contact:
Wendy Wegner 202-483-7382
Santa Monica, Calif. -- After learning that Damon Vix and other atheists have obtained most of the spaces set aside for holiday displays in Palisades Park—and that many of these spaces remain empty—PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk, who is also an atheist, wrote to Vix asking for permission to set up a nonreligious, pro-vegan "Give Peas a Chance" billboard that espouses kindness as the greatest religion of all.
"From factory farms to holy wars, so many lives have been lost because of an inability to relate to others who are different from us in unimportant ways," says Newkirk. "Regardless of whether we believe in Jesus or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, we can promote peace on Earth by adopting a cruelty-free vegan diet."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to Damon Vix follows.
Dear Mr. Vix,
As an atheist, a friend of the late Madeleine Murray O'Hare, and a former speaker at the American Atheists convention in Florida long ago, may I ask for your help? Would you be so kind as to allow PETA to use one of the vacant spaces you have so cleverly obtained in the Santa Monica "nativity lottery" so that we can set up our "Give Peas a Chance" billboard? As you well know, many bloody wars, from the Crusades to Bosnia and more, have been sparked by religious disputes. This billboard shows people of various ethnicities breaking bread and encourages peace on Earth regardless of whether one is of any religion or none. The billboard asks that everyone give a thought to the more than 1 million animals per hour who are mutilated on factory farms, transported in all weather conditions, and slaughtered in deeply frightening places simply to celebrate holidays or to satisfy a fleeting taste—and all because they are “different” from us in unimportant ways. We would be happy to support your efforts and to point out that the tenet "Blessed are the merciful" should surely mean showing mercy to all, not just to those you agree with or relate to. Adopting an all-inclusive consideration for others does not require that anyone believe in Jesus or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but simply in kindness, the greatest virtue of all.
Please let me know right away and we’ll be there. Thank you.
Yours truly,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President