Abortion opponents compare the denial of rights to the unborn to the
denial of rights to blacks under slavery all the time. Why are they
surprised when animal activists, likewise, compare the denial of rights to
animals to slavery? I've pointed out repeatedly that both movements compare
themselves to the abolitionists who sought to end slavery, and both see
themselves extending rights to an excluded class of beings.
In an op-ed piece from the late '90s, civil rights leader Dick Gregory
said, "When I think of circuses, I think of slavery." The animals are in
chains, in cages, being whipped and beaten into submission, etc.
The parallels between animal slavery and human slavery are more readily
apparent than the denial of rights to the unborn, in which an insentient
piece of tissue is removed from a woman's body.
I'm *not* justifying abortion. I'm merely saying you'd think the
unborn-right-to-lifers would immediately understand the
animal-right-to-lifers and not deride animal rights.
Abortion and war are the karma for killing animals. Reverend Andrew Linzey, the foremost theologian in the field of animal-human relations, and author of several books on Christianity and animal rights, points out that for 1800 years Christians upheld and defended human slavery on biblical grounds. Past generations of Christians quoted Paul again and again saying, "slaves be obedient to your masters..." and Christians today quote Paul again and again saying, "...so much garbage..." If Christians join PETA, they can not only end war and abortion, but they can prevent history from repeating itself with regard to animals!
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