1. Activist Feedback
There are no current Christian events to leaflet, but there are more events
to report from earlier this year. Rick Hershey, who leafleted with Chip at
Winter Jam at BOK Center in Tulsa, writes:
Chip and I handed out 1050 CVA booklets. Security kept us off the grounds,
and attendees had relatively a low take rate. We heard from one vegan.
2. The Roots of Speciesism
Just as selfish economic motivations contribute significantly to racism,
selfish desires encourage speciesism. It is much easier to justify eating,
experimenting on, wearing, and otherwise harmfully abusing nonhumans if they
are considered unsympathetic. However, just as racism in America has helped
whites deny ownership of attributes they consider undesirable, speciesism
promotes the misconception that being human imbues an individual with
distinctive, admirable qualities.
Humans find that they benefit from this view in several ways. Perhaps most
importantly, it helps promote the view that human souls will survive the
death of the body. Nonhumans seem to live, struggle, and die, and many
people find it difficult to believe that nonhumans will enjoy some kind of
afterlife. To the degree that we see ourselves as “merely animals,” fears
that death is the absolute end of our existence are more inclined to haunt
us.
Second, we like to think of ourselves as the captain of our ship, making
decisions of our own free will unencumbered by instinct or unconscious
desires. Acknowledging our common ancestry with nonhumans raises doubts
about our free will. (It should be noted that there is good reason to think
that, if humans have free will, many nonhumans might also have this
attribute.) The fear that we lack free will is particularly terrifying,
because we often find that our emotions or desires prompt us to do things
that we later regret. Rather than acknowledge that our minds have much in
common with many nonhumans, many people tenaciously hold onto the conviction
that our minds and those of nonhumans are fundamentally different.
Third, seeing nonhumans as fundamentally different creations from humans
simplifies that often complicated and messy goal of trying to live a
consistent, ethical life. Regarding human lives and well-being as infinitely
more important than those of nonhumans eliminates the need for any kind of
moral calculations when evaluating situations in which human and nonhuman
interests conflict.
Speciesism seems to benefit humans in many ways, but there are grave dangers
and hidden costs. I will discuss this next week.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
3. All-Creatures.org Ministry