ANIMALS ARE PEOPLE, TOO

“Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ . . . The angel of the Lord said to [Balaam], “Why have you struck your donkey these three times?”

                                                        ~ Numbers 22:28, 32

“Animals are people, too.”  I used to say this with some regularly years ago – before I ever dreamed of becoming an animal advocate and when I was blissfully unaware of philosophical controversies over what makes a “person” – because it seemed self-evident to me that animals were unique individuals with their own viewpoints on the world and were therefore “people.”  Fast forward several years to when I was writing my proposal for my master’s thesis at Wesley Seminary. I included some language (I don’t remember what it was) potentially attributing “personhood” to animals.  My advisor warned, “Don’t go there.  You don’t need to, and you’ll only get yourself into trouble.”   

It was good advice, but I am going to “go there” today because I want to talk about justice. 

ASK THE ANIMALS AND THEY WILL TELL YOU:

A LOOK AT ANIMAL SENTIENCE, PART TWO

ANIMALS, EMOTIONS, AND AWARENESS

After a year Louis Leakey arranged for me to go to Cambridge University to work toward a PhD in ethology.  There I was criticized for my lack of scientific method, for naming the chimpanzees rather than assigning each a number, for ‘giving’ them personalities, and for maintaining they had emotions.  For these, I was told sternly, were attributes reserved for the human animal.  I was even reprimanded for referring to a male chimpanzee as ‘he’ and a female as ‘she’:  Didn’t I know that ‘it’ was the correct way to refer to an animal?

                                   ~ Jane Goodall[1]

            In Part One of this series on animal sentience, we saw what most of us already know, but what science has been slow to acknowledge: that animals – including even fish, crabs, and insects -- feel and are aware of physical pain.  We also saw that some of the things humans do to animals, like branding and tail docking, are known to cause real and lasting pain, but continue unabated.  In this Part Two, we will look at animal emotions.

            Animal ethologist Marc Bekoff writes, “Humans and animals share neural pathways when it comes to suffering,” and that includes the emotional element of suffering.[2]  The case against animal emotions is “bad biology,” Bekoff continues, “Scientific research in evolutionary biology, cognitive ethology, and social neuroscience supports the view that numerous and diverse animals have rich and deep emotional lives. . . . Emotions, empathy, and knowing right from wrong are keys to survival, without which animals – both human and nonhuman – would perish.  That’s how important they are.”[3] 

Happy, tail-wagging black lab

“Recognizing that animals have emotions is important,” he says, “because animal feelings matter. 

ASK THE ANINMALS AND THEY WILL TELL YOU:

A LOOK AT ANIMAL SENTIENCE, PART ONE

ANIMALS AND PHYSICAL PAIN

“But ask the animals and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and fish of the sea will declare to you.  Who among all these does not know that hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.

                                                                                              ~ Job 12: 7-10

            In this blog, I have argued that our creation in the image of God is inextricably intertwined withour relationships with animals and that we are tasked at the creation with the job of reflecting God’s character to the animals.   I have also argued that how well we carry this out is fundamental to our very character as human beings, that Scripture’s teachings on the use of power are just as applicable to our use of power over animals as they are to our use of power over vulnerable human beings, and that our value as humans comes not from our creation in God’s image but from the fact that we are loved by God, which has implications for the value of other creatures, as well.  In later posts, I will address specific passages of Scripture to see what they may have to say about how we treat animals and look at more recent theological thinking about our relationships with animals and the creation care movement in general.  But first, I want to pause to take a brief look at some of the things science is learning now about animal sentience.  Understanding how animals understand and relate to the world is key to understanding our obligations toward them. 

"Knockout mice" at NIH

The New York Times Joins The Conversation

On Friday the New York Times published a wonderful article on the question of Christian perspectives on animal welfare.  We have a long way to go in making this a common issue of theological and ethical concern in faith communities, but this is evidence that we are clearly making strides in the right direction.  It's important to celebrate victories like these along the way!

REFLECTIONS ON THANKSGIVING

“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

                                                                              ~ Numbers 11:18-20

            One of my seminary professors, after one of my end-of-semester presentations on why what we’d spent the semester studying was relevant to animals, commented to me, “You are always so apologetic when you talk about this.  You don’t need to be.” With that encouragement in mind, I offer the following thoughts.  It is not my desire to ruin anyone’s Thanksgiving.  My family is as hide-bound as the next when it comes to holiday menus – and turkeys figure largely at both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Allowances are made for my eccentricities.  But, as Matthew Scully has pointed out, we don’t answer to tradition, we answer to a God of mercy.  So, as we recover from one feast and speed headlong to the next (hopefully taking some time out for Advent reflection), I offer these thoughts.  

            Thanksgiving is a time of mixed emotions for me, as it is for many vegans.  I have so very much in my life to be thankful for, and I enjoy the opportunity to gather with friends and family, or to get away from it all and reflect – and I enjoy a wonderful meal.  But because this holiday, like no other, centers on eating meat, it is in many ways a painful time, as well.