The bishops of Oxford, Monmouth and Chelmsford, and the former Bishop of Dover, are aiming to highlight the environmental issues connected with livestock cultivation.
The Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard (pictured above), called meat “a spiritual issue” and said people needed to have more meat free days.
“Our consumption of meat is reaching dangerous levels, and as countries like China continue to develop fast, it is only set to continue,” he said.
Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Chelmsford, added: “What I find intolerable and unsupportable is the way we rob factory-farmed animals of anything resembling a normal life, in order to furnish ourselves with… cheap meat.”
ASWA is actively encouraging all its members to go meat-free for Lent, and the involvement of such high-profile churchmen will underline the importance of the campaign.
The organisation’s chairman Richard Llewellin, formerly Bishop of Dover, joined with the other bishops to confirm that he would be reducing the amount of meat he ate when Lent comes to an end on 7 April.
“I am increasingly aware of compelling ‘eat less meat’ arguments from so many directions,” he said “Environment, health, world food-shortage, animal suffering.”