This can either mean spiritual as in one's inner feelings or spiritual as in religious. For me becoming vegetarian was spiritual in the former sense. Only much later did I realize that most religions promote compassion toward animals (not that you can tell by looking around at human behavior.)
For me the experience of deciding and then going vegetarian was one of the most exciting things I had ever done. Sounds crazy I'm sure, but those first nights I lay in bed looking up at the ceiling and just smiled and smiled, thinking, "I didn't eat any animals today." It was like being high. I felt a spiritual euphoria, a sense of oneness with the animals I wasn't eating, a heightened awareness of the importance and goodness of the food on my plate, a sense of moral accomplishment. Like Kafka, I could say, "Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you any more." Although it's been over 15 years I can sometimes still feel that rush of elation and struggle to control the goofy grin that fights to spread over my face.
So where do religions fall on the issue? For the sake of brevity I will limit my comments to the Baha'i Faith and Christianity. I know vegetarians and meat eaters in both groups, but both religions have writings that support not killing animals for food and speak of the humane treatment we humans should provide them. Let me write out a few of those.
J.R. Hyland, an ordained evangelical minister, wrote a book called, The Slaughter of Terrified Beasts. In it he provides a biblical basis for the humane treatment of animals and a vegetarian diet. In Genesis God created the perfect world, a vegetarian world where he gave man and animals alike "every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." (Gen. 1:29-30). (Remember that in bible translations "meat" does not mean flesh, it means food.) Then occurs "the fall" when man commits original sin. What follows is violence and degradation; people held slaves, waged war, ate animals and committed various other un-God-like acts. Hyland says we should return to God's intent of a peaceable kingdom, where the lion lays down with the lamb and humans eat a plant based diet.
Rev. Dr. Andrew Linzey, Anglican priest and member of the Faculty of Theology at Oxford wrote, "Animals are God's creatures, not human property, nor utilities, nor resources, nor commodities, but precious beings in God's sight. ... Christians whose eyes are fixed on the awfulness of crucifixion are in a special position to understand the awfulness of innocent suffering. The Cross of Christ is God's absolute identification with the weak, the powerless, and the vulnerable, but most of all with unprotected, undefended, innocent suffering." Wow. That's powerful.
Father John Dear has written a lovely little booklet explaining how he came to realize that harming and abusing animals for our own purposes falls directly against the teachings of Christ. He looks at vegetarianism as a way to end world hunger, as it complies with the biblical version of compassion and nonviolence, as a way to protect the earth, as a path to health and wholeness, and as a way to protect human rights. At the end he tackles a few hard questions like "But didn't Jesus eat meat?" and "But doesn't God condone animal sacrifice?" very nicely. I encourage you to read it.
I think Jesus, who promoted kindness, mercy, compassion, and love for all God's creation, would be appalled by the degree of suffering we inflict on animals to indulge our acquired taste for their flesh and our use of them as commodities.
The Baha'i writings also support and encourage the compassionate choice of a meat-free diet although it is not enforced.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá: "Truly, the killing of animals and the eating of their meat is somewhat contrary to pity and compassion, and if one can content oneself with cereals, fruit, oil and nuts, such as pistachios, almonds and so on, it would undoubtedly be better and more pleasing."
‘Abdu’l-Bahá: "As humanity progresses, meat will be used less and less...man's food is intended to be grain and not meat. When mankind is more fully developed the eating of meat will gradually cease."
‘Abdu’l-Bahá: "The food of the future will be fruit and grains. The time will come when meat will no longer be eaten. Medical science is only in its infancy, yet it has shown that our natural food is that which grows out of the ground."
‘Abdu’l-Bahá: "[I]t is not only their fellow human beings that the beloved of God must treat with mercy and compassion, rather must they show forth the utmost loving-kindness to every living creature. For in all physical respects, and where the animal spirit is concerned, the selfsame feelings are shared by animal and man. Man hath not grasped this truth, however, and he believeth that physical sensations are confined to human beings, wherefore is he unjust to the animals, and cruel. And yet in truth, what difference is there when it cometh to physical sensations? The feelings are one and the same, whether ye inflict pain on man or on beast. There is no difference here whatever. And indeed ye do worse to harm an animal, for man hath a language, he can lodge a complaint, he can cry out and moan; if injured he can have recourse to the authorities and these will protect him from his aggressor. But the hapless beast is mute, able neither to express its hurt nor take its case to the authorities ... Therefore it is essential that ye show forth the utmost consideration to the animal, and that ye be even kinder to him than to your fellow man. Train your children from their earliest days to be infinitely tender and loving to animals. If an animal be sick, let them try to heal it, if it be hungry, let them feed it, if thirsty, let them quench its thirst, if weary, let them see that it rests."
"In regard to the question as to whether people ought to kill animals for food or not, there is no explicit statement in the Baha'i Sacred Scriptures (as far as I know) in favour or against it. It is certain, however, that if man can live on a purely vegetarian diet and thus avoid killing animals, it would be much preferable." ~ From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi
Let me end with a quote by Lewis Regenstein that Father John Dear put in his booklet. It's worth posting:
“There are compelling moral, spiritual, and scriptural reasons to abstain from meat. The raising, transporting, and slaughtering of food animals entails enormous mistreatment and suffering of literally billions of creatures each year, in addition to the massive damage to the environment. Indeed, raising livestock is more destructive in depleting topsoil, groundwater, and energy resources than all other human activities combined, as well as causing enormous environmental damage such as clearing of forests, destruction of wildlife habitat, and pollution of rivers and lakes. And the consumption of meat and dairy products ... is linked to high rates of cancer, heart disease, strokes, and other potentially fatal health disorders. Therefore refraining from eating meat helps prevent cruelty to animals and promotes protection of the environment and the health of one’s body, the ‘Temple of the Lord.’ For all these reasons, a vegetarian diet is one good way of maintaining a lifestyle consistent with the humane and ecological spirit of the Scriptures.”
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