For Love of Animals: Christian Ethics, Consistent Action - Book Review
For Love of Animals: Christian Ethics, Consistent Action offers
the reader an introduction to animal rights ethics within a Christian
framework alongside directly related sanctity-of-life issues, like the
rights of unborn children. The book's foreword is written by Mary Eberstadt,
senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, a
devout Catholic who identifies herself as "Pro-Animal, Pro-Life."
Author Charles Camosy responds to criticisms from academicians Peter Singer
and Lynn White, Jr., that the Christian misinterpretation of "human
dominion" (versus compassionate stewardship) is responsible for the current
ecological crisis.
Camosy indicates that Christianity cannot be blamed if
humans with their imperfections distort their own religious teachings, that
Christianity did not give rise to the industrial revolution, and that real
Christianity -- as it was meant to be practiced -- is at odds with
market-driven ethics and mass consumerism (a point made decades ago by
liberal Protestant theologian Dr. Harvey Cox).
Camosy discusses the the moral status of animals in the Bible from Genesis
to the Peaceable Kingdom in Isaiah 11:6-9, reconciling animal sacrifices and
Jesus' miracles like the multiplication of loaves and fishes with the
vegetarian view, and downplaying the apostle Paul's dim view of animals by
contrasting his words on animals with those of Jesus. Camosy discusses early
Christian saints and other great figures in the Christian tradition. Camosy
discusses current Christian teachings on animals, including animal-friendly
statements by recent Popes. Subsequent chapters discuss factory farming,
eating meat, research, hunting, and pets.
In 1992, my pro-life friends in Life Chain couldn't understand my bringing
up the issue of animal rights among pro-lifers, and trying to show that the
Bible and the Christian tradition support the vegetarian way of life. They
compared it to the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus in his own words, whereas
I, having researched the long history of animal advocacy and vegetarianism
within Christianity, saw it as reasonable and mainstream as someone from a
pro-life Christian denomination discussing sanctity-of-life issues with
someone from a pro-choice Christian denomination.
Charles Camosy writes: "About ten years ago I became convinced that, if I
wanted to be authentically and consistently pro-life, I should give up
eating meat." The International Network for Religion and Animals (INRA) was
founded in 1985, and since then dozens of books have been written on
Christianity and animal rights. There is enough of a long history of concern
for animals and vegetarianism in Christianity to provide the basis for
Christians to be "Pro-Animal, Pro-Life," but Camosy merely provides an
overview of animal rights and animal ethics within a Christian framework.
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