Gandhi's Jesus

What separates the heroic activist from the heinous fanatic? Much less than you might think. At first glance, even Gandhi and Hitler shared common traits. Both claimed to have been heavily influenced by vegetarianism and the teachings of Jesus. Both men rallied for a cultural revolution, and won the support of the masses to the veracity of their causes. Each man's ultimate legacy however, was determined by his subjective capacity to endure the very "evils" (real and imagined) he sought to eliminate. Gandhi ascribed his initial awakening to fellow vegetarian, Leo Tolstoy, whom believed that the key to understanding Jesus' seemingly cryptic sayings and ultimate sacrifice could be found in Matthew 5:38 & 39: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." There is little question as to the effectiveness of Gandhi's "passive resistance" strategy. Among the many influential human rights activists which have been influenced by him are: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Steve Biko, Aung San Suu Kyi, James Bevel and James Lawson. But the question remains: Would Jesus sanction standing idly by, even in protest, as one entity inflicts harm upon another?"If you want to know where you would have stood on slavery before the Civil War, don't look at where you stand on slavery today. Look at where you stand on animal rights." - CAPT. Paul Watson Sea Shepherd Conservation Society In a "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King, Jr., (1963) wrote, "We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." Each generation of the of this pivotal Age has faced its share of civil rights movements, from the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, gay rights, and the independence movements in India, South Africa, Egypt and Rwanda. The people of our generation have been presented with one of two choices: either idly observe from a position of safety, the continuous massacre of the innocent or make a radical stand. Robin Webb, of the British ALF has called animal liberation the "final frontier" of the ultimate freedom movement. The world needs a wake-up call to action, but not a blind battle cry. We must foster not only the grit to lay down our very lives but also the will to resist being consumed by the fiery indifference we seek to extinguish. This book is meant to nudge the reader from a position of animal advocate to radical activist. It will help you find personal purpose through the most paradigm shattering yet widely avoided teachings attributed to Jesus.