It
seems to me that one's beliefs have nothing to do with actual behavior toward all beings. The gap between one behaving humanely
toward other humans and behaving humanely toward the other animals appears to be insurmountable.
The
holy books that influence the beliefs and laws of the Middle Eastern and
Western world, are primarily the Bible, Tanakh, and Koran. According to popular interpretations of the texts, the Creator does not address the mistreatment of non-human animals to be a sin with severe after life consequences. Therefore, a vast majority of world populations believe there is no religious reason to treat the animals
as we do ourselves. Not worthy of discussion.
In other parts of the world, the early Vedic writings of Hinduism and Buddhist
texts clearly discuss the spiritual
partnership between humans and animals. HOWEVER compassion toward all creatures as taught in the Hindu and
Buddhist belief systems is not usually practiced by their followers in real life. The
food animals, working animals and street animals are grossly mistreated in the
countries where these two “religions” dominate the beliefs of the
populations.
Religions
notwithstanding, human beings have ambivalent beliefs about humane treatment of
non-human animals for all kinds of reasons. What happened? Why is there no room for the other animals in the majority of people’s ethical and
moral lives -- let alone in systems of protective laws?
Thank goodness certain unique historical figures and countless people living today choose to keep the network of life healthy because they believe they should morally and ethically. They inspired the book.
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