Seethal, thank you for reading and for commenting. I’m grateful for your perspective. You’re absolutrly right; there are many reasons why Jainism has remained a relatively small religion and it’s not perfectly analogous to veganism.

To your point, “you don’t become a Jain if you don’t follow the rules” — you’re certainly not a vegan if you don’t follow the rules. In this way, and in its rules about not eating any animals or animal products under *any* circumstance, while not a religion, it’s a fundamentalist belief system.

I’m convinced humanity’s goal should be to reduce meat and dairy consumption. It’s vital to the biosphere, to future generations, and the suffering of billions of animals is unconscionable. But I think this path forward needs to account for the a variety of human circumstances, and allow for some exceptions. Fundamentalism is not the answer.

For the record, from what little I have learned about Jainism, it is a beautiful religion.

Best wishes to you!