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On
Religion & Animals
Dean
William Ralph Inge, 1860-1954
We have enclosed the rest of the animal creation, and have
treated our distant cousins in fur and feather so badly that
beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion,
they would depict the devil in human form. [TOP]
Meher
Baba, 1894-1969
The Theme of Creation and Its Purposes
If we suffer in the sufferings of others and feel happy in
the happiness of others, we are loving God. [TOP]
Dr.
E.D. Buckner, 1843-1907
The Immortality of Animals
Animals are every day perishing under the hands of barbarity,
without notice, without mercy, famished as if hunger was
no evil, mauled as if they had no sense of pain, and hurried
about incessantly from day to day, as if excessive toil was
no plague, or extreme weariness was no degree of suffering
... the obligation [to be kind and merciful to animals] remains
the same whether they have souls or not. Their status as
respects a future life does not annihilate suffering and
pain. Pain is pain; it makes no difference whether in an
animal, a man, or as endured by the Son of God. [TOP]
Rev
Professor Andrew Linzey, 1952-
Animals are God's creatures, not human property,
nor utilities, nor resources, nor commodities, but precious beings in God's sight....
Christians whose eyes are fixed on the awfulness of crucifixion are in a special
position to understand the awfulness of innocent suffering. The Cross of Christ
is God's absolute identification with the weak, the powerless, and the vulnerable,
but most of all with unprotected, undefended, innocent suffering. [TOP]
Cardinal
Hinsley, 1865-1943
from a sermon
Cruelty to animals is the degrading attitude of paganism.
[TOP]
Fyodor
Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, 1821-1881
The Brothers Karamazov
Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought
and joy untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, do not harass
them, do not deprive them of their happiness, do not work
against God’s intent. Man, do not pride yourself on your
superiority to animals: they are without sin, and you, with
your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it,
and leave the traces of your foulness after you. ... Love
all God’s creatures, the animals, the plants. Love everything
to perceive the divine mystery in all. [TOP]
Ralph
Hodgson, 1871-1962
The Bells of Heaven
’Twould ring the bells of Heaven
The wildest peals for years,
If parson lost his senses
And people came to theirs,
And he and they together
Knelt down with angry prayers
For tamed and shabby tigers,
And dancing dogs and bears,
And wretched, blind pit-ponies
And little hunted hares. [TOP]
Jainism
Harmlessness is the only religion. [TOP]
C.W.
Hume, 1886-1981
The Status of Animals
In neither the Old nor the New Testament ... is there to
be found that contemptuous attitude toward subhuman creatures
which went with the humanism of the Renaissance. If man’s
superior capacities confer on him a privileged position, privilege
does not exempt him from responsibility: “A righteous
man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender mercies
of the wicked are cruel” (Prov. 12:10). [TOP]
Dean
William Ralph Inge, 1860-1954
from a sermon
The great discovery of the 19th century, that we are of one
blood with the lower animals, has created new ethical obligations
which have not yet penetrated the public conscience. The
clerical profession has been lamentably remiss in preaching
this obvious duty. [TOP]
Pythagoras,
6th century b.c.
attributed (Ovid)
Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul. [TOP]
Henry
S. Salt, 1851-1939
Grace
To pray for animals, the Bishop vows,
Is not canonical. Who prays for cows?
But prey upon them—that’s the road to take.
Behold the Bishop blessing his beefsteak! [TOP]
Arthur
Schopenhauer, 1788-1860
On the Basis of Morality
The fact that Christian morality takes no thought for beasts
is a defect in the system which is better admitted than perpetuated.
... Boundless compassion for all living beings is the surest
and most certain guarantee of pure moral conduct. [TOP]
Dr.
Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965
from a letter
Religion and philosophy have not insisted as much as they
should on the fact that our kindness should include all living
creatures. [TOP]
from
a letter
Any religion or philosophy which is not based on a respect
for life is not a true religion or philosophy. [TOP]
The
Anti-Trap League
’Tis strange how women kneel in church and pray to God
above;
Confess small sins and chant a praise and sing that He is
love
While coats of softly furred things upon their shoulders lie,
Of timid things, of tortured things, who take so long to die.
’Tis strange to hear the organ peal, “Have mercy
on us, Lord,”
The benediction “peace to all” they bow with one
accord
While lights from stained-glassed windows fall on shoulders
softly warm
Of timid things, of little things, who died in cold and storm.
[TOP]
Ralph
Waldo Trine, 1866-1958
Every Living Creature
The Golden Rule must be applied in our relations with the
animal world, just as it must be applied in our relations
with our fellow men, and no one can be a Christian until
this finds embodiment in his or her life. [TOP]
Rev.
John Chandler White, 1867-1956
Voice of the Voiceless
It is time, fully time, that all Christian people awake to
the necessity of taking an active part in the fight against
what I dare to call the Crime of Animal Cruelty. Everyone
who loves God and animals should help bear the burden of
the fight against this insidious evil. [TOP]
Lynn
White, 1907-
Science
By destroying pagan animism, Christianity made it possible
to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feeling
of natural objects. [TOP]
Ella
Wheeler Wilcox, 1850-1919
So Many Gods
So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs. [TOP]
The
Lord Bishop of Manchester
My Lords, I once heard it said—and the saying has haunted
me ever since—that if animals believed in the devil
he would look remarkably like a human being. [TOP]
John
Woolman, 1720-1772
quoted in John Woolman, Quaker Saint by Elizabeth Gray
Vining
I was early convinced that true religion consisted in an
inward life wherein the heart doth love and reverence God
the creator and learn to exercise true justice and goodness
not only toward men but also toward the brute creation ...
To say we love God as unseen and at the same time exercise
cruelty toward the least creature moving by His life or by
life derived from Him, was a contradiction in itself. [TOP]
John
Woolman’s Journal
Our Gracious Creator cares and provides for all His creatures.
His tender mercies are over all His works; and so far as
His love influences our minds, so far we become interested
in His workmanship, and feel a desire to take hold of every
opportunity to lessen the distresses of the afflicted and
increase the happiness of the Creation. Here we have a prospect
of one common interest, from which our own is inseparable,
that to turn all the treasures we possess into the channel
of Universal Love is the business of our lives. [TOP]
On
the Right Use of the Lord’s Outward Gifts
Be careful that the love of gain draw us not into any
business which may weaken our love of our Heavenly Father,
or bring unnecessary trouble to any of his creatures.
[TOP]
continued
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