Animal+Rights


 * __Animal Rights__**

Podcast ,

All of the world religions seem to be in agreement on being kind to all animals and treating them humanely.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all base this stance off passages of the Torah in Judaism. In Genisis they say that man has dominion over all animals. jews christians and Muslims believe that with that command also comes the responsibility of treating them well and taking care of them.

they also support this stance by saying that Adam and Eve were both vegetarian in God's ideal world and on prophecies made by prophets predicting the world returning to a vegetarian lifestyle

many more christian dominated cultures make meat a very important part of their diet. lots of inhumane methods of slaughtering and producing this meat in western countries can make Christianity seem like it approves of the abuse of animals but this is where the culture splits from what the religions teach on how to rightfully treat them

Although all the religions promote treating animals with kindness, eastern religions take this to the extreme and strive to live an entirely vegetarian diet

aside from the health befits, eastern religions will not eat meat because they view themselves as being equal to animals because they are all connected in a way. to take life from them is to take life from themselves. while in western religions we are placed above them followers of hinduism and buddhism we have no such privileges

there is a legend in Hinduism where one of their gods Krishna, saves a cow herd. although this might seem like not a big deal to us, this is a very heroic story and he is worshiped for it

the Buddhist precept of "thou shou not kill living beings" is often compared to the commandment "thou shou not kill" but in Judaism this law was only applied to people and shows where the two ways if thinking split

Gandhi once said "the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judge on the way its animals are treated"

this is the way of thinking the eastern religions seem to have, how can they be pure and good while they cause suffering to animals?

so whatever religion you chose to follow its important for you to treat animals humanely.


 * prompt:** //Describe the main teachings of **Buddhism** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.//


 * Response:** The Buddhists are by far the biggest supporters of animal rights. They're the only religion that teaches that humans are "not" above animals but that all living beings are equals in the world. They have a strict vegetarian diet and never consume the meat of any living creature. they say that we should be vegetarian because there is much less life in a plant then meat and not even billions of grains of rice will equal up to a mouth full of meat. Buddhists think that animals are capable of more then we give them credit for. they believe they are capable of compassion and intelligence just as we are only at a smaller degree. Buddhist also teach against strongly apposing mistreatment of animals because it causes friction that compounds the feelings of hate and violence that cause the mistreatment


 * Sources:** __http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/BuddhismAnimalsVegetarian/Buddhism%20and%20Animal%20Rights.htm__


 * Prompt:** //Describe the main teachings of **Hinduism** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.//


 * Response:** Hinduism like the western religions shares the belief that animals should be treated kindly but Hindus take it a step further and go full blown vegetarian on us. Gandhi was a strong The Hindus feel that the slaughter of animals obstructs the way to heaven and impedes spiritual development. "Meat cannot be obtained without injury to animals, and the slaughter of animals obstructs the way to Heaven; let him therefore shun the use of meat. **The Laws of Manu V, 45 - 52** ". Gandhi had strong words to say about how one treats animals as well "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. ". The Hindu position is pretty strait forward. don't eat don't kill and don't hurt animals.

Sources: __http://www.serv-online.org/Hinduism-quotations.htm__


 * Prompt:** //Describe the main teachings of **Islam** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.//


 * Response:** Islam highly stresses the rightful treatment of animals. there are a few similarities and differences between Islam and Christian and Jewish thinking. they share the importance that humans have dominion over animals but must treat them respectfully and not cause them to suffer. but Islam seems to take this to a higher degree. Islam teaches that all creatures are part of the family of god and that they, like us , have a consciousness and a spirit. they teach that doing good to the family of creation is how you do good to god. Islam also tells us that we can learn from animals and that god uses them to teach us lessons "Be like a bee; anything he eats is clean , anything he drops is sweet and any branch he sits upon does not break". Islam teaches that the consequence for abusing animals is very apparent , the quran says that those you neglect that responsibly will be brought down in status as the "lowest of the low. and that about covers that.


 * Sources:** __//http://www.themodernreligion.com/misc/an/an1.htm//__


 * Prompt:** Are there different rules for different people/sects within **Christianity** regarding your ethical issue? What about differences in the way consequences are applied? //This week, concentrate on the similarities and differences between Catholics and Protestants on your topic.//


 * Response:** The views of Catholics and protestants on the treatment of animals are pretty much the same in everyday. i have come to this conclusion by the fact that after several different attempts to look up a web page pertaining to this several times. i tried putting in "the difference between Catholics and protestants on animal rights" and nothing came up on the subject. after that i decided to shorten it and i put "Catholics protestants animals" but again, nothing. i tried a few different combination but they also failed to bring up any web pages i could use. i guess i am just doing this to fit the 150 word limit because i quiet frankly they are the same on the subject. please don't fail me.

Sources: none

10-4-10


 * Prompt:** //Describe the main teachings of **Christianity** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters//


 * Response:** Christianity, like in most things , takes after Judaism in its ideal that animals should be treated with respect and cared for. However , In history Christians have been know to ignore and neglect the suffering of animals based off there beliefs that human beings are far superior then animals. They didn't think they had any moral obligation because god put them here for us to use any way we want. On the other hand if you look away from the general christian community and turn your attention to the saints , you will see they show a great deal of not only respect but compassion for animals and this i think is how the average christian should model themselves after. In modern times a increase in environmental awareness has led to a softening of Christians dominant view of animals. Another points is that Christians do not abide by Kosher laws , it is there belief that Saint Peter was told by god that the beast and fowl of the earth that were once "unclean" were now "clean" this is interpreted literally as that they may eat whatever they want. Many think this is wrong and it is talking indirectly about how the gospel must be spread to the gentiles off the fact that right after this message Peter went to the home of a gentile and told him of Christ. If that were true however then Christians would then once again be obligated by Old Testament Scriptures [which are the unquestionable word of God] to keep kosher.


 * Sources:** http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/christianethics/animals_1.shtml

http://www.hcna.us/columns/why_arent_christians_kosher.htm

Adam Rohrer 9-13-10


 * Prompt:** //Define and describe your topic as an ethical issue and identify the controversies and dilemmas within the issue. Seek to do general background reading to understand the main issues inherent in your topic.Identify at least two opposing positions often taken on your ethical issue, and explain two to three main arguments for each side.//


 * Response:** The term 'Animal Rights" is a broad term. It is basically the Idea that animals should be treated humane and not exploited. The problems arise when we try to decide how much rights they should have. The average member of Peta [people for the ethical treatment of animals] and a Farmer may both love animals but they will disagree at every turn on how animals should be treated. The Peta member would say a dairy cow should not be held captive and should be free, yet the farmer would say that its perfectly fine for him to milk and pen the cow as long as it is not suffering. The peta member may argue , if you believe as such , that we are all descended from animals and we all have a common ancestor so they should be respected as such and given equal rights. The other may then argue that even if we did have that common ancestor; animals don't contribute to society; therefore don't deserve to have rights. It comes down to two schools of thought. One that we are evolved complex animals but still animals so we should respect other creatures as we would each other. the second is that human beings are above animals and therefore have rights 'over' them.Depending on which school of thought you think in greatly effects the amount of rights you think animals should have. if you think we are equal then they should be given the same rights we have , but if you think you are above them then you would think it is okay for to use animals for your advantage. neither side has any hate for animals they just disagree on there place in the world. //[274words]//


 * Sources:** __http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=8__

9-20-10


 * Prompt:** //Describe the main teachings of **Judaism** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.//


 * Response:** if the laws of Judaism were followed to the book, thye would be the strongest animal rights activists we would know. The Torah states that it is not only good to , but its is our responsibility to protect and care for the animals and to not be cruel towards them. It also states says in the Torah that in order to be a truly righteous individual you must respect the animals. the Torah also says that god gave the animals some of the same rights he gave man , for ex the right to rest on the sabbath. there are also cases when god establishes a covenant with the animals as he did with man. In countless verses we find god referring to the animals in a caring and compassionate way and god expects his followers to treat them the same. although this is true in the Jewish tradition. it is not very strictly followed and the consequences and little to none other then some bad social stigma.there is however the contradiction of animal sacrifices happening in Jewish traditions. it is most likly because of the times when the Torah was written. it was very widely accepted practice to sacrifice animals to atone for sins and the Jews seem to have just been going with the times because in president day no sacrifices are made.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Conservative-Judaism-951/Animal-Sacrifice.htm
 * Sourcesp:** http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz/judaism_ar.html

___

9-27-10

//**Prompt:** Are there different rules for different people/sects within **Judaism** regarding your ethical issue? What about differences in the way consequences are applied?//


 * Response:** Regarding the way they should treat the animals they are pretty much agreed, to treat them responsibly and with care. where they split is when they eat the animals. The jews are famous for having strict Kosher Laws that must be followed all year round and even stricter laws during passover. The more observant jews stick to Kosher but in modern times some Jews find the laws to not be relevant with modern day. the laws are pretty simple you can only eat certain animals and the ones you cannot eat are listed in the Torah. You must also slaughter them in a specific way and drain the blood from the body. the meat can also not be eaten with dairy. People argue about the purpose of these laws. some say that the aniamls you cannot eat [for ex the camel and the pig] cannot be eaten because of practical reasons. the camel is of more use as livestock for carrying things , and the pigs consumes more food then its worth to raise and eat. some jews consder the laws to be "chukkim" which means "laws that have no reason. they are simply put there by god to show if you are willing to obey god and do what he says even if there is no reason.


 * Sources:** http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm