ANIMAL GOSPEL

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ANIMAL GOSPEL

• Christianity and animals

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Religion have a great influence on how we look at
the world. It has even greater influence on the
way our morality is constituted.
Unfortunately in Christian theology our
obligations towards animals were never really, as
most of us think, an important moral issue. Well,
most of us are wrong then.
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Here are some quotes from the most influential
Christians,saints and theologians, about animal
rights and vegetarianism.About how we should
treat our little brethren.
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"The steam of Meat meals darkens the Spirit. One
can hardly have virtue if one enjoys Meat meals
and feasts. In the Earthly Paradise, no one
Sacrificed Animals, and no one ate the Flesh of
Animal Meat."
Saint Basil the Great (329-379)Bishop of
Caesarea, one of the "three Cappadocians, Doctor
of the Church
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"Pain is pain, whether it is inflicted on man or
on beast and the creature that suffers it,
whether man or beast, being sensible of the
misery of it whilst it lasts, suffers Evil"
Rev. Humphrey Primatt (1736-1779)
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"Yet saddest of all fates, surely, is to have
lost that sense of the holiness of life
altogether that we commit the blasphemy of
bringing thousands of lives to a cruel and
terrifying death or of making those lives a
living death -- and feel nothing."
Rev. Dr. John Austin Baker Bishop of Salisbury
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Animals should have the moral right to live as
animals, and from this it is obvious that
de-beaking them, confining them in close
quarters, castrating them, cutting off their
tails and all the other forms of mutilation are
immoral.
Rev. Andrew Linzey
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The great discovery of the nineteenth century,
that we are of one blood with the lower animals,
has created new ethical obligations which have
not yet penetrated the public conscience. The
clerical profession has been lamentably remiss in
preaching this obvious duty.
Rev. William Ralph Inge (1860 - 1954)
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"It is far better to be happy than to have your
bodies act as graveyards for animals...The
unnatural eating of flesh meats is as polluting
as the heathen worship of devils, with its
sacrifices and its impure feasts, through
participation in it a man becomes a fellow eater
with devils...Those who use the most frugal fare
are the strongest, the healthiest and the
noblest...
Saint Clement of Alexandria (150-215)
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It is in the battery shed that we find the
parallel with Auschwitz....To shut your mind,
heart and imagination from the sufferings of
others is to begin slowly, but inexorably, to
die. Those Christians who close their minds and
hearts to the cause of animal welfare, and the
evils it seeks to combat, are ignoring the
Fundamental spiritual teachings of Christ
himself.
Rev. Dr. John Austin Baker Bishop of Salisbury
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Animals as part of Gods creation, have rights
which must be respected. It behoves us always to
be sensitive to their needs and to the reality of
pain.
Donald Coggan 1909-2000 Archbishop of
Canterbury
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And God said, gtgtBehold, I have given you every
plant yielding seed that is on the face of all
the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.
You shall have them for food.ltlt
Genesis 129
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These medical and economic consideration mean, I
believe, that the moral case for killing animals
in order to eat them is radically reduced to
situations on necessity. Once it is perceived
that satisfactory alternatives to animal protein
exist, and the sufficiency plenteous to cope with
the increased world demand for food, then
vegetarianism becomes a moral necessity.
Rev. Andrew Linzey
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The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf
and the young lion and the fatling together and
a little child shall lead them... They shall not
hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 116-9
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"The consumption of animal flesh was unknown up
to the big flood, but since then we have had the
fibers and stinking juices of animal flesh
stuffed into our mouths, just as they threw in
front of the grumbling sensual people in the
desert. Jesus Christ, who appeared when the time
had been fulfilled, has again joined the end with
the beginning, so that it is no longer allowed
for us to eat animal flesh."
Saint Jerome (345-420) translator of the Bible,
Doctor of the Church
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Blessed are the merciful, for they shall
receive mercy.
Matthew 57
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The automated, institutionalized, routine
destruction of billions of creatures every year,
for food, for profit, for science and for sport,
raises the question whether Christians have lost
their grasp for the reality of evil.
Rev. Andrew Linzey
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Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the
trees.
Revelation 73
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Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first
duty to them, but to stop there is not enough.
We have a higher mission - to be of service to
them wherever they require it.
Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
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Cruelty to animals is the degrading attitude of
paganism.
Cardinal Arthur Hinsley (1865-1943) Archbishop
of Westminster
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In my view, what we owe animals is more then
equal consideration, equal treatment, or equal
concern. The weak, the powerless, the
disadvantaged, the oppressed should not have
equal moral priority but grater moral priority.
Rev. Andrew Linzey
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The saints are exceedingly loving and gentle to
mankind, and even to brute beastsSurely we
ought to show them animals great kindness and
gentleness for many reasons, but, above all,
because they are of the same origin as ourselves.
Saint John Chrysostom (345-407) Greek patriarch,
archbishop of Constantinople
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The moral evils of a flesh diet are not less
marked than are the physical ills. Flesh food is
injurious to health, and whatever affects the
body has a corresponding effect on the mind and
the soul. Think of the cruelty to animals
meat-eating involves, and its effect on those who
inflict and those who behold it. How it destroys
the tenderness with which we should regard those
creatures of God!
Ellen White 1827-1915 founder of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church
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The righteous one regards the life of his animal
but the heart of the wicked is without mercy.
Proverbs 1210
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what rational grounds have we for supposing
that animal suffering is not as important for the
animals as human suffering is for humans?
Rev. Andrew Linzey
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The brute animals have all the same sensations
of pain as human beings, and consequently endure
as much pain when their body is hurt but in
their case the cruelty of torment is greater,
because they have no mind to bear them up against
their sufferings, and no hope to look forward to
when enduring the last extreme pain.
Rev. Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) Scottish
Presbyterian, Professor of Moral Philosophy St.
Andrews Univ., Professor of Theology Edinburgh
Univ., social reformer
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If you have men who will exclude any of God's
creatures from the shelter of compassion and
pity, you will have men who deal likewise with
their fellow men.
Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
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Cruelty to animals is as if man did not love
God. Now what is it moves our very heart and
sickens us so much as cruelty shown to poor
brutes? I suppose this first, that they have
done us no harm next, that they have no power
whatever of resistance it is the cowardice and
tyranny of which they are the victims which make
their sufferings so especially touching. There
is something so dreadful, so Satanic, in
tormenting those who have never harmed us, and
who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in
our power.
Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801 - 1890)
Anglican priest who converted to Roman
Catholicism, leader of the Anglican Oxford
Movement, Father of Vatican II
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Certainly, a sort of industrial use of
creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as
to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens
live so packed together that they become just
caricatures of birds, this degrading of living
creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to
contradict the relationship of mutuality that
comes across in the Bible.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
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"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof. Oh, God, enlarge within us the sense of
fellowship with all living things with our
brothers the animals to whom Thou gavest the
earth as their home in common with us.We
remember with shame that in the past we have
exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless
cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which
should have gone up to Thee in song, has been a
groan of travail.May we realize that they live
not for us alone, but for themselves, and for
Thee, and that they love the sweetness of life
even as we, and serve Thee in their place better
than we in ours."
Saint Basil the Great (329-379)Bishop of
Caesarea, one of the "three Cappadocians, Doctor
of the Church
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Creation was given and entrusted to humankind as
a duty, representing not a source of suffering
but the foundation of a creative existence in the
world.
Pope John Paul II
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"The Bible's emphasis is on the good treatment of
animals, and not just the forbidding of cruel
treatment."
Rev. Billy Grahamspiritual adviser to multiple
U.S. presidents and one of the most admired
people of the 20th century
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At any rate, we can see that they animals are
given into our care, that we cannot just do
whatever we want with them. Animals, too, are
God's creatures, and even if they do not have the
same direct relation to God that man has, they
are creatures of his will, creatures we must
respect as companions in creation and as
important elements in the creation.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
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Man must never hurt animals, must never
ill-treat them nor torture them physically
because they are sensitive creatures. If anyone
told me that to achieve my purpose it would be
sufficient to kill an ant, I would not do it.
Pope John XXIII
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Animals are God's creatures, not human property,
nor utilities, nor resources, nor commodities,
but precious beings in God's sight. ...Christians
whose eyes are fixed on the awfulness of
crucifixion are in a special position to
understand the awfulness of innocent suffering.
The Cross of Christ is God's absolute
identification with the weak, the powerless, and
the vulnerable, but most of all with unprotected,
undefended, innocent suffering.
Rev. Andrew Linzey
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Whatever you do unto the least of my brothers,
you do it unto me.
Matthew 2540
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Thats how it should be.
Thats how it really is!
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Can you call it mercy?
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Can you call it kindness?
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Can you call it compassion?
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Can you call it affirmation?
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Can you call it love?
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Can you call it stewardship?
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Can you call it Christ-like attitude?
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Can you call it peaceful coexistence?
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Yet all this happens hundreds of thousands of
times everyday just because of the simple fact
that most of us eat meat.
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You can reject this horrible reality, that
totally negates respect for Gods creation.
Creation wanted and loved by Him.
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PLEASE GO VEG!!!
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To find out more?Check

• The Christian Vegetarian Association
  http//www.all-creatures.org/cva/
• GoVeg www.goveg.com
• Wikipedia http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian
  ism
• Vegan Outreach http//www.veganoutreach.org/whyve
  gan/
• Animal Rights FAQ http//www.animal-rights.com/ar
  page.htm
• VeggieBoards http//www.veggieboards.com/boards/i
  ndex.php

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THE END
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