COMPASSION CONSORTIUM: JAINISM AND MISS LIBERTY FILM

The Compassion Consortium Service on Sunday, March 17, 2024 Spiritual Guest for the Compassion Consortium will be Saurabh Dalal, [www.compassionconsortium.org.](www.comp)

Saurabh (DC and NYC areas) is an engineering consultant and physicist who is passionate in promoting a vegan lifestyle and Ahinsa (non-violence) as compelling solutions to many global issues. He comes from the Jain faith, an Indian religion with ahimsa at its center. Saurabh is a lifelong vegetarian and ethical vegan since 1991. He volunteers for numerous groups, is a board member or board advisor for numerous like-minded organizations, has been active in the Jain community internationally, and has been an ethical investor for decades. He explores ways of integrating sound science into related areas of his activism.

Jainism is one of the three most ancient religions of India, with roots that go back to at least the mid-first century B.C.E. Today, it is still an integral part of Indian culture. Jainism teaches that the path to enlightenment is through nonviolence and reducing harm to living things (including plants and animals) as much as possible.

Jains believe plants, animals, and even some nonliving things (like air and water) have souls, just as humans do. The principle of nonviolence includes doing no harm to humans, plants, animals, and nature. For that reason, Jains are strict vegetarians—so strict, in fact, that eating root vegetables is not allowed because removing the root would kill the plant. However, Jains can eat vegetables that grow above the ground, because they can be picked while leaving the rest of the plant intact in complete dedication to nonviolence,

Our Compassion in Action segment on March 17 will feature a presentation of our feature film Miss Liberty.

Victoria Moran and Rev. William on March 17 will introduce their feature film Miss Liberty See our description and summary below:

Bob Sanders, a computer tech is owed money by the owner of a slaughterhouse in their small Midwestern town. When a used up dairy cow manages to escape the packing plant and take refuge in his backyard, he keeps her as collateral, resulting in human drama, legal intrigue, a hint of romance, and you-didn't-see-this-one-coming ending.

That, capsulized, is Miss Liberty, the family feature film currently in development and co-written by our own Rev. William Melton and Victoria Moran. It's a way to get the message of farmed animal rights, workers' rights, and veganism out to a large audience of people who would never voluntarily watch a "vegan movie," but would love a darned good movie that happens to be about a cow and have a vegan as its female lead. She's Patricia Levinson, aka Cow Patty," the animal rights attorney who comes from NYC, to attempt to save the cow, named "Miss Liberty".

In a change of pace for Compassion Consortium services, the screenwriters will temporarily move from their regular 3rd Sunday assignments and be interviewed by Elaine Hutchison as our Compassion in Action guests. Victoria Moran, vegan for 40 years and an animal advocate and vegetarian for over 50, is the author of 13 books, with a 14th, Age Like a Yogi, coming in early 2025. She was also lead producer for Thomas Jackson's 2019 documentary, A Prayer for Compassion, about food choices and spirituality.

In their CiA segment, William and Victoria will discuss with Elaine why the time has come for Miss Liberty and how you can be part of it. The Compassion Consortium is Miss Liberty's nonprofit partner, so all donations to the project are both tax-deductible and matched dollar for dollar, bringing us that much closer to "a theater near you." Please visit the website, [misslibertythefilm.com ](www.misslibertythefilm.com)and follow the project on X (Twitter), @MissLibertyFilm.