Regardless of your religious beliefs, chances are you’ve uttered the phrase “What would Jesus do?” even if just once. Beyond the uses in popular culture and memetics, it is a question based on the ultimate role model of morality, be it Jesus, Moses, Mohammad, Krishna or Buddha. So, we must ask: how would they kill an animal? Is there an ethical, spiritual, or peaceful way to kill animals?
Exploring the ethics of eating animals across different religions, award-winning independent filmmaker Kip Andersen brings us Christpiracy, “a revealing documentary unearthing a 2000-year-old cover-up”. Is compassion truly a virtue paramount in all religions, and what does that mean when it comes to normalizing the exploitation of animals?
Andersen, who produced some of the most viral and acclaimed documentaries of the last decade, such as Cowspiracy, Seaspiracy, and What the Health, is joined by co-director Kameron Waters, a gospel musician, to tell a story they promise will “shake viewers to their core”. Six billion impressions during the first month of streaming on Netflix for Seaspiracy was incredibly impressive, but they hope to achieve even more with Christpiracy.
After a five year investigation that included four continents and interviews from renowned theologians, archeologists, Christian farmers and Indigenous shamans, the new documentary looks at the killing of animals through the lens of religion, spirituality, philosophy, sociology and psychology. In fact, just like Cowspiracy was “The Sustainability Secret”, bringing forward scientific evidence of the unimaginable damaging effects of animal agriculture to our environment, Christpiracy aims to uncover “The Spirituality Secret” and how different faiths have allowed animal exploitation throughout history.
Andersen said “… this is the final piece of the puzzle. Whereas our previous films focused on the environment and health, this one dives deep into the spiritual and ethical aspects of our relationship with animals in a way never seen before […] From Christians, to Muslims, Hindus, Yogis, and Buddhists, including the Dalai Lama, to looking for answers at ‘happy’ regenerative farms and ‘spiritual’ hunting clubs, to exploring the psychological, philosophical, and social justice impact of raising and killing the same amount of animals as ten times the entire human population every single year. Plus, the history of where this all started.”
To this, Waters added: “Along the journey of making this film, after speaking with spiritual leaders, theologians, archeologists, and translators of lost scrolls, and even whistleblowers, we discovered one of the biggest cover-ups in the last two thousand years that will transform the course of history and how we look at religion, spirituality, and animals forever; and spark a movement of unity and compassion around the world.”
In 2018, Christpiracy was initially contracted as a Netflix Originals film along with Seaspiracy but the co-creators took a slight turn: “It turned out they had a different vision than we did”, says Andersen, “this film is controversial and it is also courageous and compelling. It has to be told as is.” To which Waters added: “So we made the bold decision to buy our film back from Netflix and turn it into something more. It’s not just a movie, it’s a movement.”
A Kickstarter campaign was launched on November 1st 2023, which has already reached its goal of raising $300K in order to keep the film independent, transparent, and unapologetic. They’ve also introduced a “Pay-It-Forward” system to watch Christpiracy, which allows viewers to donate for their own viewing and “gift” a viewing to another person.
We’d like to join Andersen and Walters in encouraging everyone to make this film a success, just like we did with Seaspiracy and their other documentaries. You can watch the trailer for this groundbreaking upcoming documentary here, support the Kickstarter campaign here, and check out (and share!) their social media here, and website here.
