Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
Cricket, I think that the major difference in conclusions is dependent (at least for high IQ people) on whether or not they adopt beliefs as follows:

a) all creatures which are sentient possess something which could be termed a "soul"

b) creatures with souls (see a) should be granted more-or-less equivalent rights

c) all creatures which are sentient are "animals"

d) human beings are/are not somehow different from animals

There's also the issue of animals killed during the farming process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_of_eating_meat#Debate_over_animals_killed_in_crop_harvesting

If you don't value human life over the lives of field mice, I'm afraid it's going to be very difficult to continue your existence. Vegetarians and vegans still have animal blood on their hands.