"Vivisection"

1.    What laws can be enforced to stop animal testing?

2.    If an animal doesn’t have a voice to defend itself against slaughter and “have no souls”, does that make it acceptable to maim and kill it then?

3.    What kind of message is the bible giving when it states: “We are ‘worth more than sparrows’”? Is it saying that man is truly better than other living things?

I don’t know one person that approves of vivisection. Maybe I hang out with a bunch of liberal, free-spirited, modern-hippie type people; but they despise it as much as I abhor it. One friend in particular (names won’t be mentioned out of respect), attends a local church religiously. We don’t have a lot in common with our values and beliefs as she is a Republican full-time mom who attends church on a regular basis. She preaches about God and all his glories a great deal, and even donates to local animal shelters and is a strict vegan! But if she is such a devout Christian, wouldn’t she know that when it bluntly says in the Bible, we are “worth more than sparrows”, that it’s basically saying animals are beneath us and we can do with them as we please? It seems kind of backwards to me and a little hypocritical to practice a faith that condones animal vivisection. That is why I’d like to discuss question number three.

If the Christian faith, and the people that worship it, are such devout followers of the Bible and its message; then wouldn’t they be apt to actively support animal testing? It only makes sense to me. And in my friend’s defense, I really think she missed the “worth more than sparrows” thing. She is an amazing Christian and a great person. But it still seems kind of funny to me that she is such an animal activist and devout Christian at the same time.

The main point of this piece of reading “Vivisection” by C.S. Lewis was to get the reader to understand that promoting or boycotting animal cruelty and testing is a choice. Whether one chooses that man is more important than another living creature is purely based on ones morals. I don’t judge my friend based on her decisions, I may not believe in the same religion as her or even eat vegetarian like she does! But it just seemed a tad odd that she is a strict vegan and hard-core Christian at the same time.

This quote from the reading kind of put things into perspective for me about my main question, “The only rational line for the Christian vivisectionist to take is to say that the superiority of man over beast is a real objective fact, guaranteed by Revelation, and that the propriety of sacrificing beast to man is a logical consequence.” Is it really logical for them to kill animals for our own good? I certainly don’t think so, but who am I to judge anyways. I eat meat and buy leather. I don’t sponsor animal rights programs or anything, but I do think vivisection is wrong. I’m a somewhat non-practicing Buddhist (I believe in what he was trying to say and the whole mind-body-connection-thing) and believe that there is life in all things. Maybe my friend should give Buddha a try. It might match her vegan lifestyle a little better.