- Human Exceptionalism: Response to Bill Samuel
- Ucoming Activist Opportunities
- The Peaceable Table
- This
Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
1. Human Exceptionalism: Response to Bill Samuel
I fully
agree that “being pro-life on abortion” does NOT necessarily mean
embracing a human exceptionalism that puts down animals. In fact, I am
working on a book that, while addressing other issues in environmental
ethics, argues for expanding the pro-life vision to respect ALL lives,
not just human lives. However, the pro-life commentator I cited, the
late Chuck Colson, happened to be among those pro-life advocates who
DO, in effect, “put down animals.” The same is true of Dr. Wesley J.
Smith, who has taken on the role of Director of Human Exceptionalism
at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington. It is pro-life
advocates such as these to whom my essay is addressed—not those of us
who see the ‘pro-life’ message as applying broadly to the entire
creation. So, in brief, it is not the pro-life (anti-abortion) ethic
that ‘puts down animals’, but human exceptionalism that tends to
exclude or marginalize them.
Paul Hansen
2. Upcoming Activist Opportunities
7/28
OH Loveland TABLE Heaven
Fest
7/28 AZ Phoenix
Girls of Grace Teen Conference
7/29
OH Toledo
Exclaim! (free) Christian Music Fest
8/1-4
NH Gilford
HUGE - SoulFest
8/2-4
PA Hershey
(free) Joyce Meyers Conference
8/3-4
OH Columbus Women of Faith
Celebrate What Matters
8/3-4
TX Garland
Promise Keepers Men's Conference
8/4
PA Phoenixville TABLE
Green Earth Festival
8/10-11 OK Oklahoma City
Women of Faith Celebrate What Matters
8/11
MS Jackson
Girls of Grace Teen Conference
8/16-18 MI Detroit
Joyce Meyers Conference
8/17-18 DC Washington
Women Of Faith Celebrate What Matters
8/17-18 WA
Spokane
Women Of Faith Celebrate What Matters
8/17-18 OH
Cleveland Promise Keepers Men's
Conference
8/20
DE Harrington Casting Crowns @ Delaware
State Fair
8/30-9/2 CA Plymouth
Joshua Fest
8/31-9/2 SD Worthing
(free) LifeLight Music Festival
9/7-8
CA San Diego Promise Keepers Men's
Conference
9/9 PA Philadelphia
TABLE Green Fest Philly
9/21-23 NC Hickory
"Momentum" The Conference Newsboys
8/24-25 IA Des
Moines Women Of Faith Celebrate What
Matters
8/24-25 IN Indianapolis
Women Of Faith Celebrate What Matters Conf
8/24-9/3 MO
Branson
Silver Dollar City - Southern Gospel Picnic
8/24-8/28 UK
Lincolnshire One Event
Christian Conference
11/17
NY Albany
TABLE NY's Capital Region Vegetarian Expo
Contact Paris at
christian_vegetarian@yahoo.com if you can help. To find out about
all upcoming leafleting and tabling opportunities in your area, join
the CVA Calendar Group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christian_vegetarian/
3. The Peaceable Table
Contents of the current issue
include:
* The Editor's Corner Essay, "The Living and
the Deceased, Part II: Lay Aside Every Weight," deals with two kinds
of hindrances to be overcome in the life of meditation and
contemplative prayer, hindrances that tend to block us from being
clear channels of Divine healing to our human and animal neighbors in
this world or the next. Drawing upon two characters of Jane
Austen, I will characterize the first, Distractions, as "our inner
Mrs. Allen," and the second, Sin, as "our inner General Tilney."
* Margarethe Lachman, Quaker heroine of the Resistance during WW
II, speaks in the Unset Gem of the importance of having the courage to
speak truth,* and* to unite that truth with love.
* A NewsNote
presents the good news that Rhode Island has become the ninth state to
pass laws that will prohibit crates for (certain) farmed animals.
* In one of the Letters, Judy Carman cites two accounts of
persons who had life-saving visions of deceased animal companions; she
also suggests tools that can help us maintain our balance as we seek
openness to all beings, especially when new revelations of cruelty and
suffering seem about to make us fall apart.
* A sketch of the
life of Coretta Scott King, courageous heroine of the Civil Rights
Movement, is the Pilgrimage story for this issue. She became a
vegan, extending to our animal cousins her and her husband Martin's
commitment to nonviolent liberation for all humans.
* Robert
Ellwood reviews *Putting the Horse Before Descartes*, the witty and
irreverent biographical account of the adventures of doughty
philosopher Bernard Rollin as he defends animals in academia,
veterinary training, and public lectures.
* The Recipe section
is longer than usual. If you aren't used to bread fresh from the oven,
wait until you smell and taste this Provencal (potato) bread . . . .
* "*Der Panther," a powerful short poem by Rainer Maria Rilke with
a translation by Stephen Mitchell, captures the mind-destroying
experience of the great cat as he endlessly paces in his cage.
As always, we appreciate letters, suggestions, and contributions for
future issues.
To read this issue, go to
http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/issue89.html
Gracia Fay
Ellwood, Editor
4. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
Blessed are the Peacemakers