I have been away from reddit here for a while, and to my surprise, there's an explicit ban now on Discussion about vegetarianism/veganism.

I wanted to open a meta discussion (not a discussion ABOUT vegetarianism/veganism), but a discussion about the Topic of banning vegetarianism/veganism posts here with the community.

This topic is deeply important to many many lineages and schools. And the FAQ is very much not an adequate source of information for anyone looking to learn more (whether from Buddhist perspectives, ethical perspectives, environmental perspectives, pragmatic concern perspectives, or otherwise).

By the numbers, in my understanding, most Buddhists fall in schools that generally make a very explicit effort to discuss vegetarianism/veganism for a number of reasons.

Not only is it something of relative importance to them on a personal level, but it's also often directly discussed in context of and relation to the precepts. It's something discussed explicitly in a number of sutras in the Mahayana Canon. There are likewise non-Mahayana Sanghans who have written on the topic explicitly and explored non-Mahayana texts on the topic as well. These are all discussions that are very relevant to our cultivation, and very relevant to the future of Buddhism.

From an ethics standpoint, it is very much one of the single greatest ethical dilemma of our time as it relates to living being suffering (directly, and indirectly through the environmental concerns).

In anticipation of responses suggesting such threads get "too aggressive and too hostile," I'd suggest then that moderation of such posts should be appropriate, including banning users who cannot maintain a respectful level of decency. Normal decency rules apply, as they do anywhere and in any thread. Simply banning a topic because some users might say rude/offensive things can be likened to prohibition laws that are ineffective at their stated goals of harm reduction. The mere fact that the topic is contentious itself is not justification for banning discussion of the topic and a topic being contentious (at least in this case), might also be related to just how important and society changing it is.

I very much doubt that if this subreddit was around in civil rights time that it would have advocated for banning discussion of civil rights or MLK Jr. (although the majority at the time found those things divisive, stressful, etc.). Animal agriculture is one of the greatest dilemmas of our time, and I think banning the topic is doing a great disservice to all of members and potential members who are looking for discussions on compassionate approaches to our daily life and world. All current and aspiring Buddhists should be comfortable knowing they can discuss such challenging aspects of their cultivation in a supporting, inclusive community here.

I look forward to hearing from you all in regard to this and learning from you.