A Christian View of Animals
Rev. Peter A. Butler, Jr.
Peter Singer famously said, “A pig is a dog is a boy.” What Singer meant is, morally speaking, all animals, including humans, are completely equal with regards to what we do and do not do to and with them. The most extreme example, to draw the parallel, would be to say that since it is morally reprehensible to kill a child, it is also morally reprehensible to kill an animal.
While I have sympathy for what Singer is trying to accomplish, as a Christian, I cannot follow him all the way down the road that he takes. But what does Christianity teach about animals and our relationship to them?
First, one needs to consider what the Bible says about the status of animals and humans, and the answer is fairly straight forward: humans and animals are not completely equal in the realm of morality.
David wrote, “Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas” (Psalm 8:5-8, ESV)
There is a clear hierarchy with God at the top, then the heavenly beings, then humans, and then the other animals. One cannot conclude from the Bible that humans and animals are the same in the realm of morality.
What does the Bible teach about the human relationship to animals?
Just as in Psalm 8, Moses records that God created humans to have dominion over the animals: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’” (Genesis 1:26, ESV).
The question is answered by saying humans are to have dominion over the animals. Well, what does that mean? The Hebrew word “radah” which is translated “dominion” is used to describe God as the Sovereign over Creation in Psalm 49:14; 72:8; and 110:2. To use New Testament terminology, God is the Shepherd, and He has appointed humans to be His undershepherds. God has appointed humans to have dominion over the animals like God has dominion over all of the Creation. Thus, one can certainly say that those who claim that “dominion” means that one can abuse, destroy, neglect, and use animals in any and every way one can conceive of is not acting in accordance with what God has exemplified as One Who holds dominion. Humans ought to care for and steward the animals as God stewards and cares for the whole Creation.
Does that mean it is wrong for Christians to eat animals? No, while it is obvious that humans and all creatures were created to eat only plants (cf. Genesis 1:29-30), after the Fall – after Adam and Eve sinned – among all the other things that entered into the created order was the spilling of blood for food. And God allows it. One may choose not to eat animals – or to eat them as infrequently as possible – as I do – if one so chooses, but the justification cannot be a moral one. Mine is my understanding of body and health issues which lead me to conclude that it is more healthful not to eat animals.
However, in the raising and killing of animals for food, one must also consider how they are raised and how they are killed. This becomes a moral question when one finds that large segments of the animal population that are being raised for food are abused during their lives and put to death by horrific, rather than humane, means. If one chooses to eat animals, one ought to be aware of these abuses and choose to purchase only from places one is confident does not abuse the animals.
Is it wrong for Christians to kill animals for “sport”? While there is no direct prohibition for the mere “sport” of killing animals, in considering what it means to steward and care for the animal world, it would seem more prudent not to engage in it.
Is it wrong for Christians to practice and/or support animal experimentation or dissections? Here again, there is no direct prohibition of it, but it seems that such actions go against the intent of humans having dominion. Besides which, my research has led me to conclude that there is no test that needs to be done on an animal that could not be done better and more accurately performed on human volunteers and/or technological devices of one sort or another. Animal experimentation and dissection are unnecessary and, therefore, cruelty and abuse. That is why I support an anti-vivisection society (a group that fights against animal experimentation).
Some might ask, “What’s the big deal? Animals don’t have souls. They’re just going to die anyway. You already said that God allows humans to eat animals, so shouldn’t we focus on bigger problems than how humans treat animals?”
It is true, there is no indication that animals have souls. Yet there is a fascinating passage in one of Paul’s letters: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:18-22, ESV).
What does Paul say? The Creation – including the animals – did not sin and fall into futility, as humans did, but the Creation was subjected – punished – for Adam and Eve’s sin. Now, the Creation – including the animals – is waiting – groaning – longing – for the day when God brings the elect into glory, because when He does, the Creation – including the animals - will be restored and brought into glory as well. The animals will be in the Kingdom of God.
But, aren’t there bigger problems? Yes, biblically – morally, it is much worse for someone to kill a baby in her mother’s womb than it is for the neighborhood bully to beat your dog with a bat. It is much worse for someone to rape a child than it is to skin an animal and wear it. However, that does not negate the fact that one can find a Christian view of animals in the Bible.
The principle for human and animal relationships, according to the Bible, is that humans are to care for and steward animals in a way that reflects the way that God cares for humans. There is flexibility in what that means: Since God allows animals to be eaten, one may eat animals or choose not to. One may debate the merits of animal experimentation and dissection. Etc.
What cannot be denied is that humans have generally not cared for animals in the way that God cares for humans. For those who adopt a Christian view of animals, that must change.
[This article is being published in Dnyndharama Issue #4, 2010 (Pune, India).]
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