Submitted by Brian on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 12:09am
Posted in
Normal
0
false
false
false
MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
Many religious traditions have caused outright harm to animals or have otherwise been detrimental to the cause of animal welfare. Although there are religions that are mostly conducive to animal rights or animal welfare, such as Jainism and Buddhism, overall religion has reinforced speciesism and mistreatment of non-human animals.
Animal Sacrifice
Throughout history animal sacrifice has been practiced by many different religions, e.g. Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Santeria, certain ancient and modern pagan sects, various “cults”, ancient Greek and Roman religion, etc. Of all the world's religions the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have the most scriptural content relating to ritual animal sacrifice; for this reason I will be focusing on these religions in particular. The Old Testament is filled with hundreds of passages describing or commanding animal sacrifice. In the Old Testament animals are sacrificed to vicariously atone for sins, unclean acts, or for no reason other than to please or make peace with Yahweh, who, we are told, enjoys the smell of burning flesh. The blood of the animal sacrificed is usually to be sprinkled on god's altar and for a "burnt offering" the flesh and innards are to be separated and burnt accordingly "for a sweet savor unto the lord".
In Exodus each Jewish family is to slaughter a lamb and smear the blood on their door so their god will see the blood and "pass over" these homes without killing their firstborns along with the firstborn children of the Egyptians - which gives us the nominal origin of the holiday Passover. Some Jewish sects such as the Samaritans still observe the Passover slaughter of lambs and the bizarre ritual of smearing blood. For further examples of animal sacrifice in the Bible read any of the books of the Pentateuch, particularly Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. There are also a couple of passages in the Bible that directly deal with human sacrifice: Judges 11:29-40 (Here Jephthah sacrifices his daughter as a burnt offering), Genesis 22:9-18 (This is the almost-sacrifice of Isaac interrupted by god which can be described as nothing less than psychological torture).
Besides Jesus' parents sacrifice of two turtledoves in Luke 2:24, the New Testament is mostly void of animal sacrifice. This is largely due to its emphasis on the human sacrifice of Jesus (the sacrificial “lamb of god”). The New Testament teaches that Christians no longer must sacrifice animals to god because god has been sufficiently appeased by the sacrifice of his son and/or (depending on your interpretation of the trinity doctrine) the human embodiment of himself. Christians do not usually include animal sacrifice as part of their worship but there are a few contemporary Christian churches that practice animal sacrifice, such as the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Christian Church of God.
Hundreds of thousands of animals are sacrificed during Eid ul-Adha, a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims. This holiday is celebrated on the 3rd day of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim must make at least once in their lifetime, the fifth pillar of Islam. The sacrifice of an animal is performed to celebrate Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, to Allah and Allah's mercy as expressed by offering an animal to be sacrificed in the place of Ibrahim's son. At the same time these sacrifices are performed at the Hajj they are also carried out by other Muslims around the world. Traditionally the Hajj pilgrims would personally slaughter an animal by cutting the throat, but today many pilgrims purchase vouchers and have a butcher sacrifice the animal for them.
The Hindu festival, Gadhimai, is probably the world’s largest animal sacrifice. This festival takes place every 5 years in Nepal. In 2009 over 250,000 animals were sacrificed. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/24/hindu-sacrifice-gadhimai-festival-nepal]
Anachronistic Slaughtering Methods
Kashrut (Jewish dietary law) and Islamic dietary law require animals to be slaughtered according to the methods described in their sacred texts. These slaughter methods are known as shechita in Judaism and dhabiha or zabihah in Islam. Meat from animals slaughtered according to these methods is called kosher meat in Judaism and halal (acceptable) meat in Islam. In addition to forbidding meat from certain types of animals and prescribing other details about how the slaughter should be performed, both kashrut and Islamic dietary laws dictate that animals must be killed by exsanguination (death by blood loss) while fully conscious. Exsanguination in both shechita and dhabiha slaughter is achieved by severing the carotid arteries, jugular veins, trachea and esophagus with a non-serrated blade (the spinal cord is not to be severed because this could cause cardiac arrest and stop the flow of blood).
These methods of slaughter cause an agonizing death because the animal is not allowed to be anesthetized or stunned in any way, and due to the fact that the animal is not rendered unconscious immediately from the severing of the arteries and veins in the neck. After the throat is sliced the animal writhes about attempting to escape and attempts to vocalize; death may come in less than half a minute or take as long as several minutes depending on the cut made by the slaughterhouse worker. This method of slaughter is outdated and causes unnecessary pain. There are methods available today, such as the captive bolt-gun, which (when used correctly) renders the animal unconscious immediately. The reasoning behind the shechita and dhabiha exsanguination slaughter is that both religions believe consuming blood is a sin but what is unknown or ignored by most Jews and Muslims is that it is impossible to remove all the blood from an animal's body and the capillaries will invariably retain some blood that is, therefore, consumed when eating the meat. The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) has stated that "the method by which kosher and halal meat is produced causes severe suffering to animals and it should be banned immediately." According to the FAWC "it can take up to two minutes for cattle to bleed to death, thus amounting to animal abuse." [BBC: Should Kosher and Halal Meat be Banned?]
Teaching Human Supremacy
Most of the world's religions teach that humans are not animals, that they are superior beings and therefore more deserving of kind treatment and respect. Many religions believe non-human animals were put on Earth specifically to be used by humans and that some animals are unclean, disgusting or deserving of contempt. For example there is nothing worse to call a Muslim than a pig as it is the very epitome of that which is unclean or haram.
In Genesis 1:26 KJV, the Bible states: "And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." This passage teaches us that humans are made in the likeness of gods (or god and other lesser supernatural beings depending on your interpretation) and that we are given dominion or reign over other animals. This passage alone has helped many people justify their cruel treatment of animals whether it be vivisection, sport hunting, or inhumane farming and slaughter practices. Religious apologists will often argue that dominion does not mean we can treat animals poorly; they also claim that their holy books advocate kind stewardship of animals, but ritual sacrifice is not kind stewardship and neither is severing an animals throat so it can slowly bleed to death, especially when there are more humane alternatives available (not to mention the fact that meat consumption is not necessary for human survival – hundreds of thousands of people have adopted vegetarian and vegan diets and are just as healthy, if not more so, than their omnivorous counterparts).
Many religious persons believe in the concept of a human soul – a vague immaterial force that supposedly lingers after death – a concept that (according to traditional Christian religious dogma) does not apply to animals. This idea that humans possess souls while animals lack them is just another example of the belief in human superiority, and many religionists feel this lack of a soul justifies their lesser treatment of animals. One would think that the belief that animals are without souls, and this life is all they have would be even more reason to ensure they are able to enjoy their one and only life free from suffering but this does not seem to be the case.
The truth is that humans are animals and all sentient animals are deserving of kind treatment and respect. A naturalistic view makes this extremely clear while religion has mostly served to reinforce anthropocentrism and alienate us from the creatures with whom we share the planet.
To witness the horror of kosher slaughter go here: http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/GetVideo.asp?video=agri_short
WARNING VERY GRAPHIC
