IN THEORY:
Some animal pragmatism

Published: Last Updated Friday, November 2, 2007 10:05 PM PDT

The Humane Society of the United States has reportedly unveiled a new initiative to better educate believers of various faiths on the mistreatment of farm animals such as hens, chickens and pigs. Underpinning the message to believers is a belief that the faithful are not receiving the message that animals are being subjected to harsh treatment, and that under the tenets of world faiths, God would not approve. Religion can play a role here, advocates say, to promote compassion for these animals as an obligation of faith. Do you think believers need to know more about what is happening to these animals, and that there is a moral imperative — a biblical mandate, as some theologians say — to protect these animals from the suffering they face in factories and cages? What role, if any, can the religious community play here?

While growing up in Glendale in the 1960s, I spent a good number of summers on my uncles’ farms in eastern Ohio.

Though predominantly dairy farms, my family also raised beef cattle, pigs and chickens. It was my general understanding that all farm animals were raised as humanely as those I witnessed freely roaming the spacious green pastures or meandering around the barnyard. Unfortunately, the small family farm is becoming history, and most Americans’ roots are far from their rural pasts.

Corporate, mega-sized farms are replacing small family farms, which at one time were the backbone of the nation. Most are geared toward high volume of product with low financial cost.

Large numbers of animals are crowded in small areas or confined in pens where movement is impossible. Chickens are routinely crammed into egg-laying factories under bright lights for their entire adult lives.

I personally know of no one who would reject the principle that animals be treated humanely.

And yet, for most of us, the closest contact we have with these creatures is under plastic wrap at the local market. Scripture does require that we be good stewards of all creation. Cruelty to animals in any form does not edify the human condition.

It is good if our own faith traditions can educate and help us appreciate the mystery of God’s love in all of creation, even the animal kingdom.

FATHER PAUL J. HRUBY

Pastor

Church of the Incarnation

Glendale

Religious values unequivocally mandate kindness toward all of God’s creatures. The Bible plainly states that causing unnecessary pain to animals is a cardinal sin. It is an ethical duty of every human being to be vigilant and protest all kinds of cruelty to any creature on Earth.

Hopefully the Humane Society will be thoughtful and tasteful in its campaign, so that this worthy message isn’t undermined or distorted.

The extremist agenda and scare tactics embraced by organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals almost ensures that their message won’t be considered by a thoughtful audience.

I recall how several years ago, mass-transit buses in New York carried PETA’s advertisements, titled “Holocaust on Your Plate” that equated chicken farms to the Auschwitz death camps, and compared butchering animals to the murder of 6 million Jews.

This ghastly stunt gave me insight into the true agenda of that organization: It became clear that they didn’t intend to simply eliminate animal cruelty, but to halt the consumption of meat staples altogether — and that they preferred shock value over thoughtful discourse.

The organization’s conclusion is based on a belief that humans and animals are spiritually and otherwise equal.

Most religious traditions reject this notion, stating instead that man is superior to all creatures and is endowed with a unique level of intelligence — which in turn compels him to safeguard and protect his environment.

If we take our role as stewards of the planet seriously and heed the needs of all creatures, then I’m convinced this world will be a far kinder and gentler place for all, human and animal alike.

RABBI SIMCHA BACKMAN

Chabad Jewish Center

Islam is by nature a holistic religion to be practiced as a way of life.

There are numerous passages in the Koran affirming the sanctity of animal rights and the responsibility of humankind as custodians of the Earth to treat animals with due respect and kindness.

One example is in Chapter 6 (Livestock), verse 38: “There is no animal that walks on earth and no bird that flies on its two wings, which is not God’s creature like yourselves: no single thing has God neglected in this Book.”

Moreover, the coupling of behavioral ethics and God-consciousness are related in the copious historical record of the Prophet Mohammed actions and sayings on the subject of animal rights.

For example, he was reported to have said to his followers, “Fear God with regard to animals, ride them when they are fit to be ridden and get off their backs when they are tired; surely, there are rewards for being kind and gentle to animals and for giving them water to drink.”

In another incident, the Prophet told his companions about a prostitute who earned God’s forgiveness for showing mercy to a dog that she had found panting and swallowing up dirt out of severe thirst. Because of her act of kindness toward an animal — going down to a well and filling her sock with water to give to the thirsty dog — the Prophet advised, God showed mercy to this woman and rewarded her with paradise.

Therefore, in agribusiness today, animal-rights groups would be remiss to exclude the American Muslim community from their education campaigns to raise awareness of mistreatment of farm animals.

Based on Islamic principles and teachings, the moral imperative is very clear for Muslims to actively promote the humane treatment of animals and to work with animal-rights groups to advocate for reforms that would restore compassion toward all God’s creatures on Earth.

LEVENT AKBARUT

Islamic Congregation of La Cañada Flintridge

Killing animals for fun, as though they are nothing more than moving targets, is to hold the value of life, generally, in low esteem, and is a peculiar enjoyment that I do not understand nor would I readily embrace.

This is not to disparage ethical hunting, however, which in my thinking is a more honest way to come by one’s meat than having it appear to us as if by magic in the cellophane-wrapped packages of our butcher departments.

There is a powerful sense of well-being in the process of a good hunt, and it brings men closer to the earth from which they were created. God gave us animals to kill and eat, saying “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you” (Genesis 9:3 New International Version). I like how the King James Version puts it: “shall be meat for you.”

I think that many Christians are put off by the likes of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other such animal-rights groups that aggressively push to eliminate meat-eating, fur-wearing, leather-crafting and anything else that uses animals for why I believe they were purposefully created, and so they often shrug and neglect to seek a biblical perspective on such matters.

Most of us will not track and bag our dinner, shoot it from the air or retrieve it from a net, so we rely on professionals.

I think the Humane Society does us a favor exposing industrial livestock cruelty, because these sickly creatures will likely make us also sick, and why should sensing animals be unduly tortured?

Christ Himself ate meat, but also said, “every animal of the forest . . . the cattle . . . every bird . . . and the creatures of the field are mine” (Psalm 50:10-11). If we believe that, it behooves us as His people to exercise an ethically divine stewardship regarding them.

THE REV. BRYAN GRIEM

Senior Pastor

MontroseCommunity Church.org

The answer is yes, believers do need to know about the sufferings of these animals, even though many of them will eventually be eaten by us.

Mankind may be the height of God’s creation, but that doesn’t give us the right to treat other living things in a cruel way. In fact, in Genesis 1:29 (Revised Standard Version) God says that he has given to mankind every plant and every tree for our food — but no mention is made of giving us animals for our food.

So an argument could be made that vegetarianism is biblical. I personally am not a vegan, but I think a biblical argument could me made for the concept.

In any case, I believe all religions, not only my own, call for being compassionate, not only for other human beings who may or may not look like us, but for all of God’s creation. Speaking of the creation, an argument for environmentalism can also be made from Genesis, this time from chapter one, verse 26, which talks about God giving mankind “dominion” over what God has created.

“Dominion” doesn’t mean the right to trash the Earth; it carries with it the idea of being a good steward over everything that God has given us — and being a good steward means seeing to it that the animals we live with don’t suffer unnecessarily.

Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” and to me the implication is that all things belong to God, not to short-lived, egocentric mankind, whose days are numbered. Isaiah 40:6-8 says that all flesh is grass, and the grass withers and the flower fades — “but the word of our God will stand forever.”

THE REV. C. L. “SKIP” LINDEMAN

Congregational Church of the Lighted Window

United Church of Christ

La Cañada Flintridge

I agree with Christine Gutleben, director of the Humane Society’s “Animals and Religion” program, when she said, “There has never been a successful social movement in history without religion.”

Addressing the issues of animal factory farming and puppy mills in the pulpits will certainly add another voice to public awareness.

Since the Creation story and time of the Ark, all animals have been a recognized part of the fabric of life on Earth. As the faith communities seek to find the balance between dominion and stewardship on this matter, we can all take on a role to end cruelty and inhumane treatment.

Scientologists follow L. Ron Hubbard’s quote, “Happiness is important. The ability to arrange life and the environment so that living can be better enjoyed, the ability to tolerate the foibles of one’s fellow humans, the ability to see the true factors in a situation and resolve problems of living with accuracy, the ability to accept and execute responsibility, these things are important.”

The stewardship for all living things and care for the environment is a responsibility we take on in order to have happy lives.

By purchasing organic, free-range-fed poultry and meats, each person can do his or her part to drive the raising of food in an ethical direction by consumerism.

Nature and all the animals depend on human stewardship to preserve the glories of God’s creation.

Let’s talk about it in church.

CATHERINE EMRANI

Volunteer Minister

Glendale Church of Scientology

Believers should know that God created the Earth and every creature on it, and as Creator He is their rightful and eternal owner. He gave Adam and Eve (and by right of descent, us) stewardship, or administrative authority over the Earth and the beasts.

Thus the believer’s imperative is to have regard for the treatment of our beasts, even if their fate is to be eaten by us.

Believers should know that this world is filled with a multitude of hurts, injustices and needs, but that our time and our energies are limited. So wisdom dictates that we prioritize our efforts as stewards. We must address the most important issues first, as Jesus our Lord did.

Jesus died to save people. He didn’t die to save the whales, or the chickens or the pigs. When we have learned to protect human life in the womb, then we can turn our greater attention to protecting chickens in cages.

When we have discipled the nations to receive eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, and thus avoid eternal destruction apart from Him, then let us turn our full attention to improving the fleeting lives of animals.

In short, it’s good to fight for animal rights. It’s better to fight for people’s souls.

PASTOR JON BARTA

Valley Baptist Church

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