Chrisitianity - a call to tend and serve creation (including the animals)

Jason Clark has this awesome post on: Is Christianity Irredeemably Speciesist? Basically how man exploits animals and justifies that exploitation - and whether christianity has been co-opted to that exlpoitation...

Next to the rise of the feminist movement I think the single other biggest movement to have arisen over the last few decades has been the animal rights one - both movements have valuable things to teach the church, not least in the areas of mercy, justice and humility.

I wrote here how I feel as christians we are called/comissioned to tend and serve creation not just exploit it for our own ends.  That tending and service includes how humanely we treat the animals as well as the atmosphere etc.  Whilst I still see a place for eating animals or having them help us in our labours I think we need to be concerned about factory farming conditions as christians in the 19th century were concerned about factory conditions for workers...  No treat animals as things is to exploit says much about ourselves and our own appertites, whilst to restrain ourselves, to pay a higher price for healthier, safer conditions that we raise animals is recognise that role of tending rather than just consuming.

I therefore heartedly commed the Meatrix site as a clevel culturaly relevant way of finding out more about the impact exploiting animals for our own consumption and have put the Meatrix clips below for you to view...

Meatrix

Meatrix 2

Meatrix 2  1/2

Comments

[sushil_yadav]

The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.

The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.

Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.

Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.

Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.

If there are no gaps there is no emotion.

Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.

When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.

There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.

People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.

Emotion ends.

Man becomes machine.

A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.

A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.

A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.

FAST VISUALS /WORDS MAKE SLOW EMOTIONS EXTINCT.

SCIENTIFIC /INDUSTRIAL /FINANCIAL THINKING DESTROYS EMOTIONAL CIRCUITS.

A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY CANNOT FEEL PAIN / REMORSE / EMPATHY.

A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY WILL ALWAYS BE CRUEL TO ANIMALS/ TREES/ AIR/ WATER/ LAND AND TO ITSELF.

To read the complete article please follow either of these links :

http://www.planetsave.com/ps_mambo/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=75&func=view&id=68&catid=6

http://www.earthnewswire.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=89&page=viewtopic&t=11

sushil_yadav

[Paul]

thanks sushil - i agree that we could do with thinking more in terms of seasons and rythms to our lives - certainly trying to create margin to have that emotional space is so vital...

[Ben DeVries]

Paul,
my father just recently pointed me to your post. Thank you for addressing the issue of animal welfare from a faithfully Christian perspective. It's so rare that happens.
I just graduated from Trinity Ev. Div. School and did my capstone project on a Christian approach to animal welfare, and have been getting progressively more involved in that area with an effort called Not One Sparrow (notonesparrow.com).
blessings to you, and thanks again for your post.
Ben DeVries

[Paul]

Thanks Ben, great to hook up with you and looking forward to the guest piece in july :)