THE EFFA STATEMENT OF BELIEFS:

1. All animals should be treated with respect. Treating other animals with respect means not hurting them, not abusing them, not using them for our games or amusement, and not eating them. How we treat other animals is a test of how civilized and compassionate we can be. It is a test of our ethics. When we cause them harm, or kill them, whether it be for sport, food, or anything else, we fail the test.

2. Treating animals badly, hurting/killing animals, and eating animals all have negative consequences. Much of the state of the world today, many of the problems we face, both individually and a society, are due to the mass killing and abuse of animals. We believe in cause and effect, and, subsequently, that nothing happens in the world without having some kind of residual effect. We believe that actions such as killing animals, making them suffer, eating meat, and abandoning pets will all have negative consequences. We feel it is naive to assume that the vast amounts of animal suffering that happens every day just "vanishes into thin air".

3. Helping animals has positive consequences. One should act daily to help animals. Helping animals is very important. Animals are innocent beings, and when one helps an innocent being, this noble act creates positive energy. The more positive energy one creates, the better place the world will be for everyone. When helping animals, one should, however, try to avoid overly negative (violent, bitter, etc.) thoughts and/or actions (usually directed towards the people causing these animals harm), since this will cancel out much of the positive energy you create.

4. One should strive to attain the Animal Compassion Mindframe. The best type of compassion is the type that resides deep inside you, that guides you through all the decisions you make regarding animals. This is an enlightenment of sorts - a realization of the suffering of animals, and the desire to do all one can to help build a better relationship between humans and other animals. This is what we refer to as the "Animal Compassion Mindframe". Not everyone feels this compassion, and not everyone comes to this realization. We believe that with the right guidance, and with the right choices, most people can connect to their ACM.

5. Once you come to the realization of the importance of improving our interaction with other animals, act on it. People who truly care about other animals should do what they can to help animals. Most people still haven't understood the reality of our relationship with other animals, so if you have, you should act to improve the current situation.

6. One should incorporate the three "Resolutions of EFFA" into one's life. The Resolutions of EFFA are: 1) To cut down on or (preferably) stop eating meat. 2) To investigate and to contemplate (to become conscious about) the way animals are treated and mistreated. 3) To do all one can to help animals, in any way one can. Committing to these resolutions and implementing them in your own life is a positive step. These are noble actions that will help in fostering the type of compassion that will help you to eventually connect to your Animal Compassion Mindframe.

7. One should adopt a vegetarian or, better yet, a vegan diet. We believe that even though humans can eat meat, we shouldn't. This goes back to our belief that how we treat animals is a test of our compassion and ethics. Killing animals for food is the opposite of treating them well. All animals are living beings. Although not advanced as humans, the animals that we eat often feel pain, fear, loneliness, and depression just like humans do. The meat industry is based on the killing of these animals, often causing them to suffer in terrible conditions before beling killed. By eating meat, we are saying that all this doesn't bother us, when in fact it should. We should do what we can to spread the word about how harmful our whole meat-centric culture is. Here are some specific beliefs about not eating meat:
a) It is very healthy to be a vegetarian/vegan. Whatever you eat, a balanced diet is key. All of the basic nutritional elements that your body needs can be found outside of meat. We do not believe that one needs to eat meat to be healthy. In fact, if you look at some of the diseases attributed to a meat-centric diet, one could argue that meat is quite harmful to one's health.
b) We've been conditioned to believe that it's natural to eat meat. We believe that most people have been conditioned to love the taste of meat, since most societies are meat-centric. The majority of people in the world today eat meat, so many people interpret this as "the correct way to live". We believe that just because "everyone is doing something" does not make it right. In most societies, it is much easier to eat meat than to not eat meat. Still, we should always make the correct choice, not the easy choice.
c) We don't believe in the food-chain argument. The "food chain" argument is a justification of bad choices. "Other animals kill each other all the time for food, so why shouldn't we?" Unlike other animals, we were given the ability to think, the ability to make a choice. Animals don't have that luxury, they just go on instinct. As a "higher" life form, we shouldn't lower ourselves to the realm of instincts, as if we didn't have a choice, but should, instead, use our power of choice to choose a more moral, compassionate way of life.
d) Eating a vegetable and eating the meat of an animal is not the same. Plants and vegetables are also living things, but they don't have a central nervous system, therefore they are unable to feel pain or other emotions like humans and other animals do. Even though plants sometimes appear to feel "pain", since they have no nerve-endings, brains, or hormones, it would be incorrect to compare this physical reaction to the pain felt by humans and other animals. In fact, it would be a dangerous comparison to draw, as it undermines the predicament of the animals we kill for food.
e) There are times when meat has to be eaten. We are referring to extreme situations when one will starve to death if one does not eat meat. Some societies, due to geographic limitations are very meat-centric. But all this does not apply to about 95% of the world, so unless you belong to that 5%, you are making a conscious decision to eat meat.

8. Hurting, abusing, or killing animals in the name of religion, culture, or sport is unacceptable. Sports in which animals suffer should be outlawed.

9. Any step in the right direction is a good step. Most addictions are hard to break, so we don't expect an "all or nothing", "overnight" solution. If one eats meat 3 times a week and then, after reading this, only eats it once a week, this is a step in the right direction. Eventually, however, we encourage everyone to try to incorporate the "Three Resolutions of EFFA", as outlined in Belief # 6, into their lives.