Introduction
Generally, animal rights can simply mean the types of considerations that animals require for their wellbeing; this is, what works in their best interests regardless of how useful they are to human beings or if they come from an endangered species. Understandably, this means that every animal has equal rights to how they are treated by human beings. Evidently, Christians view animal rights as a way to show their stewardship on every creation made by God and care for all living things including all animals. They understand that they were given a right by God to use different animals for their survival but they are supposed to do it in a humane way meaning they have to ensure that the way they consume animals is sustainable. Ideally, animals are a subject of a life, which means that they have an inherent value which one tries to understand them, they will observe that they do not have any connection with their value with regards to the economy and animals also have interests that are important to them the same way they appear to be important to human beings.
Significantly, animal rights supporters across the globe believe that it is wrong for humans to use and exploit animals in ways that are not recommended hence causing harm to a given animal. This can easily be seen when human beings start to kill or hurt wild animals for their horns, teeth, and skin. For example; when poachers hunt for elephants to get their tusks or hunting rhinos to get their horns so as to sell them in the black market. This might lead to the death of these animals which will not only hurt the wildlife as a whole but hurt a given country where these animals are from, mostly in terms of the tourism sector. The country suffers a lot because the animals might become instinct making it hard for tourists to view them when they visit hence lowering the economic growth of the country especially when it depends on tourism as a source of revenue for its citizens.
Moreover, it is important to observe animal rights because it helps prevent humans from using animals for their own benefits, for instance, many people think that animals can feel pain and experience stress as they are living creatures.Through making such considerations, humans will understand that it is important to try and stop keeping animals in cages as they might undergo stress when they are in there. Additionally, this will help reduce the number of individuals who purchase wild animals to keep them as exotic pets. By keeping exotic pets, it affects the animal psychologically making it hard for them to live freely and interact with others, hence performing their activities in the ecosystem, for example, hunting and feeding on various prey.
When understanding animal rights, it is also significant to consider that humans were the best creation from God meaning, animal rights supporters need to understand that animals need to be used by human beings for the benefit of mankind. For instance, being the role of humans to safeguard and protect themselves for their survival, scientists need to make certain drugs from animals and test them on animals to prevent harming human beings.An excellent example for this is when there is an eruption of a dangerous disease for example Ebola and the Corona Virus, for the healing of humans, they need to come up with a drug or vaccine then inject it on a test subject, which is supposed to be an animal as the drug or vaccine has not yet been proved. Therefore, testing it on animals, for example, a monkey is important as it will help identify the progress of the drug and analyze if it is safe for human consumption. Doing this is vital because the test subjects will be plenty in number. Turning to the second example, it is important to consume animals because when animals are not slaughtered, they might increase in population making the planet full of animals than humans, which is generally not good for the ecosystem.
Additionally, animal rights are very important as compared to their interests because when one observes different rights, they usually impose a burden on them such that, they have to accept and follow these rights due to the pressure that they are given for choosing to follow animal rights.Francione suggests that “humans have no moral justification for the use of nonhumans or animals and further argues that because animals are human properties or commodities for the economy, any activities that might require treatment of humans and animals in a humane way might fail to ensure that there is a meaningful protection of a given city, state or locality.” Understandably, this signifies that human beings need to consider how they treat animals for their own development. For example, it is important to provide enough protection to all animals so as to enable them to create revenue. To achieve this, people can create zoos and game parks in different places in the world which will attract more clients coming to observe different animals. Henceforth, it will create employment of different individuals including zookeepers, which will ensure the government collects a lot of revenue from different parts of the country. Garner supports this by focusing more on the elimination of animal suffering from all areas. To achieve this, he suggests that humans need to observe a protectionist approach which states that the traditional animal-welfare ethic might be wrong or flawed but its advantage is that it can contribute to the achievements of animal rights. Working together, Francione and Garner help in the establishment of an animal protection movement which can help in fighting for animal rights.
Significantly, people started observing animal rights after the rights movements for race and sexuality which created room for people to consider observing other areas that could be available at that time. For humans to consider animal rights, many people started being concerned about environmental pollution and the destruction of the environment. Looking at the two burning issues, people focused more on given animals that were most likely affected by the poor state of the environment and how they were treated by others.It was until the cultural space that people fully focused on animal rights leading to the emergence of different organizations joining in to help fight for animal rights as some people did not consider them valid because they believed that these animals did not know how to speak for themselves.
Through the change of the western culture, many people started being more open to the idea of animal rights as compared to before when western had not changed at all. The change in western culture enabled people to explore more on matters that concern the moral status of animals and how their mental lives progressed as they lived.Thusly, it has led to the emergence of animal activists who are always ready to fight for the rights of animals no matter what comes their way, as they are trained well enough to help them cope with any challenges that they might face during the process. Animal activists are present in the society to help raise different questions on how animals are treated by members of the society and to understand some of the issues that might be associated with animal rights. Through their presence and when they ensure everyone follows animal rights, they able to protect even the endangered species in the world.
Lastly, through considering different theories like utilitarianism, contractarianism, and Kantian; a well understood theoretical framework that explores the pro-animal rights through understanding how questions on animals can help to provide a better understanding of humans. In his book, Reagan tries to look at what are common, choices that people make every day that might be affected by having a belief in animal rights. Understandably, this shows that it is always important to consider animals when making various choices in life. For instance, people need to consider how they treat animals in their daily lives which will help reduce the cases of animals being mistreated by human beings.
Christian Criticism on Animals Rights and Alternative Solutions
Looking at the religion, Christians usually believe that humans are superior to animals making them think that they could treat animals in any way that they wish no matter if it is bad or good as they believed that people have less moral obligations.(Regan, 2001). Such thoughts were made by early Christians, today, modern Christians have managed to get a better understanding of animals through the availability of animal rights activists who keep fighting for the rights and privileges of animals. According to modern Christians, any mistreatment of animals can be a sinful act that is wrong morally hence an individual caught in the act should be punished.
Additionally, Thomas Aquinas believed that “animals were created to be used by human beings”.He states that all animals are present to be used by people to perform different activities for example; help human beings carry out their daily jobs like digging, carrying heavy materials, and to transport them. Moreover, he adds that human beings are entitled to feed on animals when they feel hungry or when they need food for different celebrations. Through these claims, it makes it easy for them to slaughter animals for food and to use their skin as pieces of clothing.
Significantly, Aquinas adds that when one kills an animal, they are supposed to be punished for destroying another person’s property and not for killing an animal.His claim means that human beings can hurt animals whenever they want as long as it is not another person’s property, putting wild animals at risk of being mistreated because they do not belong to anyone. To provide an alternative solution for this, people need to consider the fact that animals feel pain too, meaning it is very unnecessary to punish those who harm animals in a way that they have destroyed another person’s property but punishing them for hurting or killing animals aimlessly, which will help reduce the number of animal sufferings across the globe.
Alternatively, looking at Augustine’s theory on animal rights, he observes that, human beings being rational, gives them the power to rule irrational beings in the way they wish.Through considering his idea, humans are entitled to tame animals because animals do not know if they are even alive. Significantly, human beings need to rethink and understand that animals too suffer when they are mistreated. They might be irrational but it does not mean that they do not feel pain. Evidently, people can easily observe animals suffer when they are beaten up or when imposed on any type of pain, meaning it is time for human beings to stop mistreating them.
Lastly, Christians believe that it is their right to use animals when making different sacrifices, especially when trying to please God or asking for forgiveness. They add that after some animals have been sacrificed, it is important for them to perform meat-eating ceremonies where they also slaughter a lot of animals for their consumption. They believe this will help get the approval of God on every step they make in life. Significantly, it is important for Christians to understand that they can still get God’s approval through focusing more on their prayers and not sacrifices as they are practices performed from the old generation. To pass through other Christian passages like meat-eating ceremonies, they need to consider the slaughter of enough animals for a given population that will attend the ceremony and not killing excess animals leaving some food untouched hence destroying it.
