The carnist claims some superiority on the basis of theology
Carnists will then turn around and claim it's OK because animals are selectively bred for human consumption. Which is it? Did God put the animals here in a form fit for consumption or did humans do that?
As Jeff Dee pointed out in coining that phrase, you can cherry-pick verses that go either way on a lot of things. Just simply look at any list of biblical contradictions. Not necessarily that they are all irrefutable contradictions, but rather that post-hoc rationalizations can be used to justify any position one way or the other. Sure, you can argue that one is saying X and the other Y, but can you argue in good faith that this is the only reasonable interpretation that could ever be possible for this combination of verses? Of course not. Hence, why slavers and abolitionists in the United States were both quoting from the same book. Other holy books are usually no better in this regard.
One can support - from Holy books - everything from human slavery to female genital mutilation. So unless we're willing to accept that any religiously motivated action is now by definition ethical, then this isn't a good argument. Particularly when one might get stoned to death upon a literal reading of this text, and the only argument that one would have is a faith-based argument that their faith-based argument is wrong.
There are many Christians and Jews who believe strongly in their religious conviction towards avoiding animal suffering. For instance, in the Garden of Eden, when things were good in Genesis 1:29, Isaiah 11:6-8 and so on. This isn't about a theological debate though, just recognize that if you search for the bible supporting veganism you'll get people making good arguments.
Perhaps if you're a Christian, you might be best convinced by simply by Romans 2:15. Ask yourself what you think the law on your heart is. Does that include imprisoning and torturing animals for your own entertainment? Does that include dog fighting or torturing animals? If not, then you are "without excuse".
The Catholic Church, the largest single body of the largest religion on earth, issued a list of nearly 100 apologies that were the result of religiously motivated action. Even if your sect claims a religious exemption for eating meat, can you assert that eating meat will never be on such a list that includes apologies for the slave trade and injustice towards women?