WHAT DO ANIMALS HAVE TO DO WITH CHARACTER?

“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their fellow men.”

                                                       ~   St. Francis of Assisi

     

      If it is true that our exercise of dominion over animals is intertwined with our creation in God’s image, then it is also true that how we relate to animals is reflective of who we are.  God tasked humans with, indeed in the NIV translation of Genesis 1:26, God created humans for the express purpose of, reflecting God’s character to the rest of the creatures through the exercise of dominion.  How we exercise that dominion, then, is reflective of what we were created to be and to do – and thus, of who we are. 

            This connection has been recognized in Scripture, in theology, in philosophy, and even in modern law enforcement.  How then is it that faith communities continue to ignore the impact of large-scale institutionalized animal cruelty on who we are and how we relate to God?

The connection between how we relate to animals and our central character is a theme that runs quietly through much of Scripture.  In Proverbs, for example, we learn that caring for one’s animals is a sign of righteousness (Prov. 12:10).   Moses found his bride and his father-in-law Jethro after helping Jethro’s daughters to water their sheep (Ex. 2:15-22).  He also discovered the burning bush while tending his father-in-law’s sheep (Ex. 3: 1-2).  The Midrash[1] explains “how Moses discovered the burning bush while he was carrying a stray sheep back to the flock.  It was not great strength that qualified him as a leader, nor a sharp mind, good looks or personal wealth. It was his great compassion for the smallest and weakest among his charges that made Moses fit to lead the nation.”[2] 

 Rabbinic tradition also tells us that Noah’s work in saving the animals and in caring for them for long months in the ark reveals what it means to be righteous.  The  Shamayim V’Aretz Institute explains that the Torah calls Noah “’a righteous man (tzaddik), because the term ‘righteous’ specifically refers to one who provides food for God’s creatures. . . .  Rav Achavah, son of Rav Ze’ira said, ‘[t]he sons of Noah were all righteous because they showed compassion toward both animal and human.’” [3] 

Similarly, Isaac’s wife Rabekah was chosen because she offered water not only to the servant of Abraham, but to his camels, as well (Gen. 24:10-21).

Throughout the Bible, it is the shepherd who cares diligently for his sheep, even at personal cost, who is held up as a model to follow.  For Christians, of course, this image comes to its perfection in the life, teaching,  death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.  

            In the Christian tradition, St. Francis, whose love for all of creation was one of his defining characteristics, saw this connection clearly.  Even Thomas Aquinas (about whom more in a later post), no lover of animals, acknowledged the connection between cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans.  He argued that those passages of Scripture that “seem to forbid us to be cruel to brute animals” do so because of the danger that in being cruel to animals, one may become cruel to human beings.[4]  The Favorite Quotes page of this blog includes similar perspectives from Immanuel Kant and the Rev. Dr. Albert Schweitzer, as well. 

            Even law enforcement has recognized the connection between cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans.  According to the ASPCA:

The Chicago Police Department's Domestic Violence Program took a look at the criminal histories of animal fighting/animal abuse arrestees for 2000-2001 and found that approximately 30 percent had domestic violence charges on their records. There is legitimate evidence that the individuals involved in violent acts against animals present a danger to the public that must be addressed. Intentional animal abuse is often seen in association with other serious crimes including drug offenses, gang activity, weapons violations, sexual assault and domestic violence—and can be one of the most visible parts of an entire history of aggressive or antisocial behavior.[5]

            Most of us do not think of ourselves as cruel to animals.  We are good to our pets, after all, and we are horrified when we learn of specific acts of cruelty. But we need to reflect on the ways we impact the lives of all animals – the squirrels in our attic, the deer who eat our gardens, the animals who will become food, the animals used as test subjects for our make-up, hair care products, or cleaning supplies, and the animals trained, manipulated, and caged to amuse us, to name just a few.  So long as we continue to put human interests first, regardless of the cost to animals, we fail to live compassionately.  So long as our first instinct is to kill animals who are inconvenient and to maximize profit from others, we distort the image of God.[6]  If we are going to live into the image in which we have been created, we need to learn to see - and care about - the animals behind our everyday decisions.  We need to learn how to expand our compassion to them, which means we must stop averting our eyes.  In the words of Matthew Scully:

I don't answer to inevitabilities, and neither do you. I don't answer to the economy. I don't answer to tradition and I don't answer to Everyone. For me, it comes down to a question of whether I am a man or just a consumer. Whether to reason or just to rationalize. Whether to heed my conscience or my every craving, to assert my free will or just my will. Whether to side with the powerful and comfortable or with the weak, afflicted, and forgotten. Whether, as an economic actor in a free market, I answer to the God of money or the God of mercy.[7]

And that speaks volumes about our character.  

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[1] The Midrash is ancient Jewish commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures.  See, e.g., Jewish Virtual Library for a fuller explanation.  http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0014_0_13846.html

[2] Rabbi Steve Burgh, “Bullying and the House of Horrors”, op-ed for Orthodox Union,  http://www.ou.org/ou/print_this/96636 (accessed January 13, 2013);  see also, Judaism 101, “Moses, Aaron, and Miriam,” http://www.jewfaq.org/moshe.htm (accessed January 13, 2013):  “A midrash tells that Moses was chosen to lead the Children of Israel because of his kindness to animals. When he was bringing the sheep to a river for water, one lamb did not come. Moses went to the little lamb and carried it to the water so it could drink. Like G-d, Moses cared about each individual in the group, and not just about the group as a whole. This showed that he was a worthy shepherd for G-d's flock.”

[3] The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute, “Noah, The Compassionate Feeder,” quoting Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 4,  http://shamayimvaretz.org/docs/jewish_curricula_sources/Noah%20the%20Compassionate%20Feeder.pdf (accessed January 13, 2013).  See also, Wirzba, Norman.  Food & Faith: A Theology of Eating (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 118, citing Jack P, Lewis, A Study of the Interpretation of Noah and the Flood in Jewish and Christian Literature (Leiden:Brill, 1978), 145. 

[4] Thomas Aquinas, ‘Summa Contra Gentiles’ in Anton C. Pegis (tr.) Basic Writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas (new York: Random House, 1945) vol. II, quoted in Linzey & Clarke, Animal Rights, 10.

[5] http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/report-animal-cruelty/domestic-violence-and-animal-cruelty .

[6] I’m not suggesting here that you have to live with squirrels in your attic or endlessly feed the deer your expensive plants in order to live compassionately.  But you do have to consider creative ways to solve human-animal conflicts and reach solutions that cause the minimum of suffering. 

[7] Scully, Matthew. Dominion: The Power of Man, The Suffering of Animals, and The Call to Mercy. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 2002.