Michael Vick vs. "what's on your plate?"
I waited too long to provide a link for it, but I was impressed by Abby Pollard's letter to the editor of the C-J on animal rights and (somewhat) selective outrage against Michael Vick for his dog-fighting antics.
She opens with the question: "What's on your plate?" before "moving in for the (over)kill"...
If you're enjoying meat, you're paying people to torture and kill helpless animals for you....Many people's defense...is that dogs are special....What narcissism-- just because you personally have never formed a close bond with a cow, pig, or chicken (though some folks certainly have) means their suffering is less significant?...If Vick infuriates you, and McDonald's doesn't, your self-proclaimed love of animals rings hollow.
She overstates her case in that not nearly all animals are mistreated. But she's spot on in skewering many of the (selective) arguments against Vick. One option is to ignore Vick and Pollard's complaint, but this is not tenable-- at least in a Christian worldview. Another viable option is to respect all animal life and avoid both. Is there a middle ground?
posted by Eric Schansberg @ 7:31 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
I used to think this issue was a bunch of nonsense.
Biblically speaking, we are to be in charge of and take care of animals. The New Testament also gives us permission to eat them.
But, I have come to see it much differently.
Here is the crux of the matter: what kind of life are the animals allowed to have and how do they die?
For example:
Mother sows should be allowed to follow their instinct to nurse and care for their babies - not end up practically scraping their snouts off trying to escape from a pen (in which they cannot even turn around) to find the piglets which have just been taken away from them.
Adult chickens should not be hung on an upside down assembly line and have their heads pulled off at the neck as the method of killing.
God meant for these animals to live a LIFE and then, if they are to be killed for food, that it should be done quickly and HUMANELY.
Some families get their meat from local farm "coops" which adhere to certain principles in providing meat to the market.
"Biblically speaking, we are to be in charge of and take care of animals. The New Testament also gives us permission to eat them."
Just to clarify, I do see this as the correct view, interpreted as stated in previous comment
To JP's point, the Torah covers similar ethical ground and should not be ignored.
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