Wow, great thoughts coming from this subject. As a farmer i was always interested in 'cruelty to animals.' I had to deal with those 'animal-rights' crowd and once ended up in a university debating the subject with that lot. Now I think we all understand what can be classed as human cruelty to animals. Nobody should tolerate that and if intentional could be classed as sinful as a priest told me at school. Now it is most difficult to debate the 'rights' of animals without bringing in the creation as designed by God. God gave humans the rights over animals. He ordered the killing of lambs; a right that farmers have used since the Fall of Adam to house, rear and kill sheep, cows, pigs, chickens, and whatever other creatures used for man's needs. But as human beings we know the difference between proper farming and cruelty and that is the difference between a human and an animal.
The lecture hall was packed with students and I have no doubt most were with that PETA lot that deemed caging animals, be it in fields, kennels, cages or whatever, was cruelty to animals.
At that stage I brought in nature itself. How many I asked were appalled with videos of lions dragging down any wild beast they can get their claws into and begin to eat while the animal id dying? the same can be said of snakes, sharks and crocodiles. Doesn't nature make PETA look foolish, I asked.
All this animal rights, I told them, started when Walt Disney gave a mouse a human intellect. PETA and the likes now go around campaigning to those who think animals understand the world like humans. They do not as any lion would tell you if they spoke human language. So a horse, cow or sheep in a field, or a pig in a sty, or a chicken in a coop or cage, does not think they are imprisoned, they simply look for food and water as their nature needs. A good farmer, I said, like me, makes sure their environment is clean and as comfortable for that animal as possible, feeds and provides water for them, and they are as 'happy' as their nature allows. Yes, there are animals like dogs that nature has given a better relationship with humans than others, but they too have limits.
An animal runs from a lion, that is in its nature, but when caught does not think like a human caught by a lion would think. Animals react to killing and suffering but they do not understand their killing and suffering like a human would or does. That is the difference between an animal and a human. As a theist, one could ask would God create creatures to control their numbers on Earth and call it 'good,' if they understood life and death like we do?
Surprisingly, I won that debate.
Topic: The theology of animals (Read 3738 times)