What's the godly way to treat animals?

[mgc1961]

What comes to mind when I say moral blind spots? Abortion if you're a conservative? Gay rights if you're a liberal? But how can anything be "blind" if half the country is talking about it?

Mahatma Gandhi— viewed by many (including Martin Luther King Jr.) as one of the greatest moral leaders of the 20th century — opined that the moral fiber of a society is best gauged by how we treat our animals. So as a Baptist preacher who is interested in the morality of my country, I decided to check us out. What I found has alarmed me. Worse still is the fact that so few of us are talking about it. Eureka. A moral blind spot.

Let's start with the animals we profess to love: our pets. Many of us cherish our dogs, cats or other critters and consider them part of the family. We spare no expense when caring for them. Others of us just skirt by, particularly once the novelty of owning a pet wears off. Owner complacency becomes indifference; indifference becomes neglect. One of the saddest outcomes is a dog that is chained and left in the backyard. A tethered dog lives in utter misery without physical or mental stimulation. Owner neglect on a much larger scale results in 3 million to 4 million dogs and cats being euthanized each year. That's about 10,000 per day. Much of this results from pet owners simply failing to spay or neuter their animals. With free and discounted spay/neuter opportunities galore, that's inexcusable.


There's more at http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-06-14-column14_ST_N.htm

[saltpoint]

1. Grew up with dogs and still love 'em.

U.S. citizens could do a lot better with our relationship with pets and with animals in general.

And with other living things, too.

One of the good-citizen stories to come from the days following Katrina's striking the Gulf coast was from Arizona, where a group of Buddhists drove to New Orleans to rescue dogs and cats who had been marooned by the storm. I thought it was a clear and compassionate response to circumstances and the animals (at least from the photographs) certainly required comforting and reassurance, not to mention food. As many as there was room for were taken back to Arizona and placed for adoption.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I really don't think it's just a 'moral blind spot'. I truly believe that churches have changed

their dogma over the last half century. We have a large percent of American churches more interested in 'self' and 'prosperity' than in morals. They have preached a theory that being self-centered is 'good' and that one is 'awarded with riches' which makes god happy. They no longer preach about taking care of those less fortunate than ourselves, so animals aren't even considered.

[Angry Dragon]

3. I know little or nothing about the Babtist religion

So I do not know if this applies to your religion.

It seems to me that for the larger organized religions the emphasis is that man is the only animal with a soul and the things within the whole universe are set aside for his use. I feel this is wrong. Everything in the universe is inter-connected and therefore every act has an affect on everything else.

I believe animals have as much soul as humans. If a person expresses a belief in a god then they should respect everything their god has created. That includes all animals. Man has set himself above everything except god and only one level below god.
Until man respects everything the world will be filled with disrespect.

[Jim__]

4. Based on what Gandhi said, ours is a society with little moral fiber.

We hide unpleasant facts, like factory farms, from view; and then pretend they don't exist. We best hope there is no ultimate justice.

[mgc1961]

5. Expanding on what Mr. Thomas says about Genesis:

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require reckoning for the life of man.

Genesis 9:1-5 ESV

This says that all of us, animals included, should make some amends for eating flesh although what the mending entails is not spelled out.

The next verses touch on something I think the likes of Pat Robertson and his ilk should be reminded of whenever they claim flood waters (tsunamis, hurricanes, etc...) are God's wrath upon the wicked:

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the bird, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark: it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.

Genesis 9:8-17 ESV

That passage clearly states that when the waters rise hereafter, it won't be God's doing. It should also make clear to the biblically minded that destroying the atmosphere which in turn will cause a disastrous rise in sea levels will be man's own undoing.

[dmallind]

6. Whaddya know - looks like the utilitarian way to me. NT

[Iggo]

7. Sacrifice them...

...to show god and others just how bitchen we think he is.

[Kablooie]

8. Damn straight! God loves it when you destroy his creations to impress him!

[Laura902]

9. how about the fact that because of us, different species go extinct everyday

[Hekate]

10. Godly? Well, if you are a kosher butcher, there are commandments involving extremely sharp knives...

... so that animals will not suffer in the moment of death before becoming food.

It all depends on your tradition and the nature of the question.

Hekate

[mothergooseminute]

11. Treating animals

Buy them ice cream and treat them with the same love you would
give your kids!

[Cleobulus]

12. Well, some animals get indigestion from ice cream, probably best to get them treats...

they will like. :)