I find this religion vs diet thread very interesting. I can see both
points of view.  On the one hand, the over all goal is happiness and
well being, but one can go about that in a strict, to-the-letter way, or
take an intuitive, flexible approach.  Both have merits, and I'm sure
each individual responds to each approach in their own way.

What I find most interesting  is the link between religion and diet in
the first place.  You would be hard pressed  to find a religion in any
culture that didn't have some tenet regarding food.  Christianity has
communion (the consumption of the flesh of your savior to attain eternal
life) Judaism has Kosher, Hinuism has vegetarianism, ...the list goes
on.  What we eat relates very fundamentally (or "viscerally" I should
say!) to what we believe.  There is evidence in the fossil remains of
Neandethal graves of food provided for the dead loved one.  Food and
faith interconnect very powefully in the human psyche.  I find this
interesting to our discussion.

Caroline