Inside D.C.

Evangelicals, HSUS and the Animals

The Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) this week held an event at the National Press Club to announce the “Every Living Thing” initiative, an effort spawned by a 2011 meeting between HSUS and evangelical Christian leaders to, as HSUS President Wayne Pacelle put it, “develop a consensus among Christians on the need for human responsibility towards animals.”

The goal is to inspire other evangelicals to sign a statement (http://www.everylivingthing.com) that says it’s alright to eat animals and acknowledges humans have greater worth than animals, but also “all living creatures, as our view of everything, must be thoroughly shaped, informed and tested against Scripture…We understand from Scripture that God has given us all animals into our hand and for food as part of our responsible rule; but as we live in a fallen world and are prone to sin, we also have the capacity and inclination to cause suffering instead of care for animals and to act cruelly to them.”

I’m not sure about a natural “inclination” to cause suffering and act cruelly, but we certainly have the capacity.  However, and with all respect to those who attended the 2011 birth of this effort, and to those who wrote the statement and cited nearly 75 biblical references to substantiate its correctness, it seems to me nearly every evangelical, moderate or liberal Christian, along with all variations of Jew, Muslim, Buddhist or adherent to one of the estimated 4,200 world religions, or whether agnostic or atheist, a version of the Golden Rule is generally central to all belief systems. By extension the, the absence of cruelty and suffering is also generally intrinsic.  Paraphrasing Pope Francis’ message to Congress a couple of weeks ago, “We need to come together and do the right thing.”

We’re then left with a healthy discussion of terms and parameters.  Is your definition of “cruel” the same as mine?  Is “suffering” universally recognized by all who witness it?  Where do animals fit on the priority list of aiding those among us who/which cannot help themselves?  I’m curious where the statement and the initiative will slot those who will violently disagree with its premise that “…He appointed humankind to rule over all living creatures, including animals…and gave them into our hand for food”?

The evangelical statement reads, in part, “We believe that after the flood, God caused all animals to fear humankind and gave them into our hand for food; that God included animals in the covenant He made after the flood and commands us to show the same respect and concern for the life and welfare of animals that He does.”

Orthodoxy notwithstanding, this premise is also universal, and is embraced by farmers and ranchers globally.  To truly know and understand animals, I believe you must live, care for and work for them.  Who among us, save for farmers and ranchers, spends 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year caring for the health and welfare of animals so that through maintenance of the animal’s wellbeing, a lifestyle is maintained, a living earned and the rest of us fed and clothed?

Scrape away the spiritual façade of this latest and perhaps most cynical HSUS political/public relations gambit – there is no mention in the statement, the press materials which accompany this week’s press event or any of the rhetoric surrounding the initiative of animals used in biomedical research, education, entertainment or other legitimate pursuits – and we’re at status quo when it comes to HSUS assaults on U.S. farming and ranching.  HSUS says farmers and ranchers are generally cruel and inhumane based on production practices and animal handling of which it does not approve; farmers and ranchers see the animal rights movement as a pack of naïve zealots who seek equal treatment and status of man and animals, the ultimate price of this “rebalancing” of the species to be paid by man.

HSUS would like us to believe the broad evangelical community is now on board with its agenda because a handful of Southern Baptist scholars signed the statement.  I think not. The statement also carries this message:  “…we need to work for the protection and preservation of all the kinds of animals God has created, while prioritizing human needs.”  Amen.

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