planting one seed at a time

People’s ignorance saddens me.

 

Religious people want to include a fertilized egg in the protection against murder, yet they eat thousands of animals a year. How does this make sense?

 

The two answers I’ve received on this are:

1)      Because God said we’re superior to animals and for us to kill and eat them (it’s in the Bible)

2)      Because animals don’t have a soul (it’s also in the Bible)

 

Wow. Really?

 

 

 

One of the arguments I heard was “The Bible says humans are made in God’s image and therefore killing a human is killing something made in the image of God. It’s a direct rejection of him. The Bible also specifically tells us we can use animals for food. People are over and above animals since we are made in God’s image. Placing animals at the same level as mankind is unbiblical.”

He goes on to state “This is not about religion; it’s about obedience to our creator.”

 

Ok, first of all, can you please at least make religion sound less like a cult? (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cult) Second, you’re going to base humanities right to kill on your beliefs? It’s your belief. No one can prove that God wants us to murder & eat animals. But I CAN PROVE to you that animals have nerve ending like us, they feel pain like we do & feel fear, and they also have the ability to think & problem solve like we do (and even BETTER than us in some cases). I CAN PROVE all this to you.

 

Also, if God made animals to be inferior to us & for us to just eat, then why did he not make them without nerve endings so they won’t feel pain? Or without a functioning brain so they won’t feel fear? Why did he make some animals on the same intelligence level as humans? If they’re supposed to be inferior then why didn’t he create them as such? So much for being a kind & loving God….

 

This same guy then went on to argue “Per the Bible, which I believe to be God’s word, we have dominion over the animals. So yes, we are commanded by God in his word to rule over the animals. Simply enough, his word is good enough for me.”

 

His word is good enough for me. Something a book tells you is good enough? That’s valid enough to allow humans to torture & murder animals when it’s completely unnecessary? Humans don’t need to eat animal meat to live, and this isn’t the olden days we don’t need animal skins for our clothing, we’re past that.

 

If you will follow & obey every torture a book tells you to do, then you are blind & ignorant. That is not God’s word; it is a book. If the Bible told you to molest little boys would you do it? If the Bible told you to bomb a city would you do it? You need to be rational.

 

“If a religious book told me to do those things, I would question the God I’m serving” he answered.

 

Oh, so if the Bible tells you to do that, THEN you would question it… but let’s not question the killing of innocent animals?

 

 

The second argument I heard (from another guy) was “It’s ok to eat animals because they don’t have a soul.” (per the Bible… again)

 

How exactly does one know if you have a soul?? Gingers don’t have a soul; is it ok to kill & eat them?

 

All jokes aside, seriously how do you measure whether a living being has a soul or not? You can’t scientifically prove if anyone has a soul. So, because a book tells you that animals don’t have souls you are just going to believe that?

 

Think about it for a minute: animals are pretty close biologically to humans. Most of us all have the basic body orifices: eyes, mouth, pee hole, shitter. We all have nerve endings, we physically feel pain & pleasure, we emotionally feel fear & joy, we have a natural instinct to protect ourselves & our children, and we all have the capability to think & problem-solve (studies have shown that many animals are actually highly intelligent). Why would you ever think that one would have a soul versus another?

 

“Animals don’t have souls because they don’t have a religion” he just kept trying to convince me. So now having a religion constitutes whether you will have a soul or not? So because Atheists don’t believe in religion that means they don’t have a soul? We went back & forth on that for a bit, with no end in sight.

 

 

In the end it all boils down to one thing:

If you murder a living being based on a book then you’re not being realistic. This isn’t faith. This is SPECIESISM. There is a difference. People torture & murder animals for food & fashion because they think they are BETTER than the animals; that humans are more deserving & can impose their power on the weak (animals). This makes people no better than serial killers.

 

Definition of speciesism: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/speciesism

Explanation of speciesism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciesism

 

 

This brings us back to the original point: People who are religious, hold a fertilized egg (which technically isn’t even a being yet) at a higher concern that that of an actual living breathing fearful animal. Because their book tells them this is the way it should be. This is speciesism at its worst.

 

The path to changing the world is a long treacherous road.