Bonnie Erbe's Own Personal PETA-friendly Jesus

PBS "To the Contrary" host, staunch feminist, and Pope-basher Bonnie Erbe has now taken to preaching vegetarianism on the Thomas Jefferson Street blog at US News & World Report. Fortunately for everyone, Erbe wouldn't dream of joining vegan supermodels in skin-bearing protest. All the same, she threw out this ridiculous claim to Christian readers in a March 27 post:

Even if you believe in the Christian god, there is ample evidence that Jesus Christ was a vegetarian.

Of course, the Bible records that the resurrected Jesus not only ate but on one occasion personally prepared a tasty breakfast of broiled fish for his disciples. Perhaps that's why Erbe hedged her bets by adding:

There's also evidence in the Bible that he was not, but it can at least be said that early Christians entertained a lively debate about vegetarianism.

Of course, the source Erbe linked to is the Web page of Keith Akers, a liberal vegan who wrote a book arguing that Jesus really didn't set out to "create a new religion" but rather promote "simple living and nonviolence." Indeed, Akers self-righteously gloats about his adherence to same, sounding more like an doomsaying prophet of secularist environmentalism than orthodox Christianity:

My wife and I are both vegans and have chosen not to have children. I have always minimized my use of cars (I did not own a car until I was 38 years old); I have made it a practice to take public transportation or bicycle to work over 95% of the time.

[...]

For me, though I can’t shed my attraction to Jesus, most of the Christian churches have became largely useless. The central moral issues of our time — consumerism, human violence, massive violence towards animals, destruction of the planet and the environment — go almost completely untouched by the world of religion. I’ve met many others over the years who feel similarly disillusioned with Christianity.

No wonder the areligious Erbe is a fan.