Bible Christian Church (vegetarian)

The Bible Christian Church was a Christian vegetarian sect founded by William Cowherd in Salford, Greater Manchester, in 1809, as a spilt from the Swedenborgians. Members of the church were committed vegetarians and the church was foundational in the formation of the British and American vegetarian movements.

Salford and Manchester Bible Christians


William Cowherd founded the Bible Christian Church following a split from the Swedenborgians. Their first chapel was known as Christ Church and located in King Street, Salford, Greater Manchester. The church later moved to new premises in Cross Lane. Further chapels were also established in Hulme and Every Street, Ancoats.

To join the church, members had to sign a pledge that committed them to a vegetarian diet and abstention from alcohol. Followers of Cowherd's ideas were commonly known as Bible Christians or "Cowherdites". Members of the church including Joseph Brotherton and James Simpson were involved in the founding of the Vegetarian Society in 1847.

In 1816, Cowherd died and Joseph Brotherton was appointed his successor. Brotherton held the position for 40 years until his death in 1857. He was succeeded by James Clark (1830–1905) in 1858, who served as pastor for nearly 50 years.

By 1932, unable to attract enough vegetarian members, the English Bible Christians merged into the Pendleton Unitarians.

Philadelphia Bible Christians


The church's message was later preached in the United States, as about 40 members under the leadership of the Reverend William Metcalfe and the Reverend James Clark crossed the Atlantic in 1817 and formed the Philadelphia Bible Christian Church. These members subsequently provided a nucleus for the American vegetarian movement and, later, the American Vegetarian Society.

Beliefs
Bible Christians put great emphasis on independence of mind and freedom of belief, stating that they did not presume "to exercise any dominion over the faith or conscience of men." They believed in free will and had a Pelagian approach. They argued that religion when properly understood reveals the same truth to all men. There was no emphasis on original sin or conversion. Man was not saved by faith alone but by his actions and the value of his life as a whole. Vegetarianism formed part of this belief. Cowherd is said to have stated: "..If God had meant us to eat meat, then it would have come to us in edible form 'as is the ripened fruit'"