The religious roots of vegetarianism in America are deep. Thanks primarily to Christians of various denominations, vegetarianism had early champions. Their work during 19th and early 20th Centuries laid the foundation for the modern day vegetarian movement.

Christian communities such as the Ephrata community of Pennsylvania and the Dorrelites of Vermont practiced vegetarianism in 18th Century America, but the practice seems not to have been widely promulgated by any group or individual until 1817. That was the year when Reverend William Metcalfe and his tiny flock arrived in Philadelphia from England to establish the Bible-Christian church in America. A decade earlier Metcalfe's mentor, Rev. William Cowherd, a former Swedenborgian minister, founded the Church in England. Vegetarianism was a main tenet of the church along with pacifism, slavery abolitionism, and abstinence from alcohol.

This way of life, they believed, was in keeping with God's will as described in the Bible. Metcalfe and his followers believed Jesus Christ was a vegetarian, and that other Christians incorrectly interpreted particular passages in the Bible. Although a few of Metcalfe's flock took up meat-eating and fell away from the church soon after arriving in the US, those Bible Christians who stayed true to the church, especially Metcalfe and his wife Susanna, helped spread vegetarianism in the United States.

Metcalfe wrote articles and a book on the topic, and preached it from the pulpit of his humble church. Another way Bible Christians promulgated vegetarianism was through public dinners they organized and the cookbook they published.

Decades later, in 1850, Metcalfe with the two other foremost advocates of vegetarianism of the time, William Alcott, M.D. and Sylvester Graham, organized a convention in New York City to form The American Vegetarian Society (AVS). That year, then, was the official beginning of the Vegetarian Movement in America.

Dr. Alcott was a devout Episcopalian, and Rev. Graham was ordained in the Presbyterian church. Both men, like Metcalfe, believed vegetarianism a Christian duty. William Alcott published health magazines and he was the author of dozens of books and booklets, several of them on the subject of diet. Along with Graham, he founded the American Physiological Society, a vegetarian organization devoted to empowering people to take control of their health through diet.

Graham was the leading force in the advocacy of vegetarianism. In his book Science of Human Life , and in lectures delivered before thousands of eager audiences throughout the Northeast, Graham taught that God had designed human beings not to eat flesh but to dine on the fruits, nuts, and grains of the plant kingdom. The crusader influenced thousands, including Mary Gove Nichols, Reuben Mussey M.D. and others who went on to become outstanding vegetarian leaders. He enraged not a few who heartily disapproved of vegetarianism.

Dr. Alcott's cousin, New England Transcendentalist A. Bronson Alcott, advocated vegetarianism in the Conversations he gave from Massachusetts to Missouri. Although not associated with any particular church, Alcott spoke about Jesus as his role model and encouraged his audiences and students to live a Christ-like life.

In 1843 Alcott co-founded Fruitlands, a short-lived vegan community in Massachusetts. He later became a vice president of the American Vegetarian Society.

The 19th Century progressed and other Christian-vegetarians were keeping the torch burning. During mid-century, former slavery abolitionist crusader turned sanitarium founder James Caleb Jackson, M.D. often lectured on vegetarianism and health. He also lectured on why Christians reject the killing and eating of animals: not only was flesh-eating a sin against the body, the inherent cruelty in turning animals into dinner opposes Christian love and gentleness, taught the crusader. Dr. Jackson, a vice president of the AVS, lectured in New York at his "Our Home on the Hillside" otherwise known as the Dansville Sanitarium. He also wrote articles and a book about diet.

One of the visitors to Jackson's sanitarium, Ellen G. White, had visions in which God instructed human beings to reject meat . She later prophesized that the raising of animals for flesh would bring about environmental destruction and human disease. "Sister White" as she was known by her followers, founded the Seventh Day Adventist religion. Today the SDA church is worldwide and still a leading player in its advocacy. One member of Sister White's church was a young man named John Harvey Kellogg who would become the leading advocate of vegetarianism of the Twentieth Century.

Before that would happen, Rev. Henry S. Clubb of the Bible Christian Church led the vegetarian movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Clubb, also a journalist, wrote articles advocating vegetarianism, and he gave talks and preached it from his pulpit. The minister was active in Michigan state politics and renown for his work promoting fruit-based agriculture. He was a major force in the establishment of fruit orchards in Michigan.

Surgeon and scientist John Harvey Kellogg, M.D. also came to fame in Michigan, and his fame became worldwide. At his Battle Creek Sanitarium, Dr. Kellogg taught the rich and famous, as well as all the other thousands of patients and visitors to the hospital and health resort, about the benefits of a vegetarian diet. He also invented numerous convenient foods, such as Protose (a nut-based cutlet) to help people stay true to their fleshless diet once they had returned to their homes and daily lives. .

Although Kellogg eventually split from the SDA church, the church kept up its promotion of vegetarianism. For example, it published numerous books on the subject and established food companies, helping to keep vegetarianism alive in America, even in its darkest decades. World War I changed American life, and it seriously slowed the forward movement of vegetarianism.

It was a member of the SDA who helped vegetarianism to again be in the light. Mervyn Hardinge, M.D. contributed much to the credibility of the diet during the meat-and-potatoes era of the 1950s, Dr. Hardinge conducted a series of human dietary studies, which gave scientific muscle to vegetarianism.

During the Twentieth century individuals of other organized religions and beliefs, including Jews, Theosophists, Hindus, and Rosicrucian, also helped move vegetarianism forward.

The Bible Christian religion ceased to exist in the 1920s. The American Vegetarian Society, established in 1854, lasted for four years. However, today, new organizations that connect vegetarianism and Christianity have sprouted. One is the Christian Vegetarian Association. This recently established organization does not contend,, as did Metcalfe, that Jesus ate no fish, but it does hold that if he were in human form today, Christ would be a vegetarian.

Another organization that relates vegetarianism and Christianity is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). While not specifically a Christian organization, PETA promotes the belief that Jesus was a vegetarian.

Not incidentally, the animal rights movement in America is also rooted in religion. The very same individuals who promulgated vegetarianism did not neglect to consider the plight of the animals slaughtered for their flesh. A strong call for animal liberation can be found throughout the writings of vegetarian Christians of America's past.

Whether vegetarians of today are religious believers or atheists, the large and lasting contribution of Christian advocates of vegetarianism throughout the years should not be forgotten. Like other great social movements, including that for the abolition of slavery, and for the establishment of civil rights, vegetarianism has deep roots in Christianity.