Religion and the Environment

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Religion and the Environment
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Humans and Animals
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In the UK we are outnumbered by domestic animals.
60 million people
44 million sheep
9 million cats
12 million cattle
7 million dogs
8 million pigs
128 million chickens, ducks and geese
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And how do we treat these animals?

• Most of these animals are kept for food.
• Many pets are abandoned
• There are about 100,000 stray dogs in the UK
• Some animals are used in experimentation,
  including vivisection.

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Vivisection

• Vivisection literally means cutting up living
  creatures
• In the UK, 13,000 researchers work in more than
  300 establishments.
• In the UK, about 2.5 million animals are
  experimented on each year.
• In 63 of experiments, the animals are given no
  anaesthetic.

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The Benefits of Animal Experimentation

• The use of animals in experiments, including
  vivisection has led to the discovery of
• Insulin for diabetics
• Antibiotics
• Treatments for leukaemia
• Ventolin for asthma sufferers

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But do animals have rights?

• Some thinkers argue that only creatures which are
  self-conscious and are autonomous should have
  rights.
• Self-conscious means able to view oneself as a
  separate entity.
• Autonomous means being able to control the world
  about oneself and not just adapt to it.

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Self-consciousness Autonomy

• But children arent necessarily self-conscious
  and they certainly arent autonomous at a young
  age. Dont they have rights?
• There is evidence that chimpanzees and gorillas
  are self-conscious. Should they have more rights
  than other animals?

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What Christians believe

• Farmers should care for their livestock humanely.
• Animals for food should be slaughtered without
  pain.
• Animals should only be used to scientific
  experiments when it is absolutely necessary.

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They believe this because

• God created animals as well as humans.
• God gave humans the right to control animals.
• Humans have a duty to care for animals as part of
  their duty as stewards of Gods creation.
• Only humans can have a special relationship with
  God.
• Animals do not have souls.