Every Time
The apostle Paul claims the risen Jesus told him three times, "...my
grace is sufficient for thee..." and some Christians take these words as a
license to do as they please, ignoring the rest of the moral instructions
Paul gives throughout his epistles. But I've never heard them cite "three
times" to justify abortion nor same-sex relations.
From 1992 through 2003, James Dawson, raised Catholic and now a Buddhist,
published Live and Let Live, a pro-life / animal rights / libertarian 'zine.
I wrote to James pointing out that although the pro-life ethic sounds
egalitarian in terms of *human* rights...
...all human life is to be valued, regardless of age, developmental status,
gender, handicap, IQ, sexual orientation (?), etc...
demanding that a life be human to receive moral consideration is itself a
form of discrimination. *Every* ethical system imposes a "quality of life
standard." That is to say, ALL ethical systems or delineations of legal
personhood will, by their very nature, include some beings and exclude
others.
If membership in the white race is the criterion for personhood, blacks are
excluded.
If membership in the human race is the criterion for personhood, animals are excluded.
If sentience or the ability to feel pain is the criterion for personhood,
the unborn might be excluded.
Rather than seriously address the issue as to whether we are discriminating
against and excluding an entire class of beings from moral concern the way
previous generations discriminated against blacks, women, etc...
...the Christians have responded with "three times...", saying, "every,
every, every" or "all, all, all" !
I'd written earlier to a young Hindu-American, Vineet Chander, in an April
1995 letter which everybody loves, that I'm not trying to be a
"self-righteous vegetarian." I said my problem is with persons who think the
issue is "funny" and won't give it the same level of serious discussion we
now give to issues like racism and abortion.
Unless they're white supremacists, they would never say, "racism, racism,
racism."
Far from being a "self-righteous vegetarian" I approached the Christians
diplomatically, as a friend, saying I respected them for their piety, and
merely asked them to include the animals in their ethics, as social progress
for all mankind, as they've learned to do with blacks and the unborn.
The Glauberg Confession is a theological statement of faith made before a
God whose love extends to all His creatures. It reads as follows:
"We confess before God, the Creator of the Animals, and before our fellow
Men; We have failed as Christians, because we forgot the animals in our
faith..."
Reverend Marc Wessels of the International Network for Religion and Animals
says of The Glauberg Confession:
"It speaks simply but eloquently on behalf of those who have determined that
they will no longer support a theology of human dictatorship that is against
Godís other creatures...
"This brief statement was written during the spring of 1988 and was signed
by both Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy who participated in its
framing.
"It was signed by men and women of religious orders, as well as by laity.
Both academics and average church members have indicated their support for
the document by signing it.
"Growing numbers of people around the globe are also adding their own
personal declaration of support by forwarding their names to the covenors of
the confession."
I'm not being a "self-righteous vegetarian." The problem lies with the other
side.
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