Vol. 12, No. 2 Fall 2004 “The resemblances between many animals and humans, not least in their dependency of food and air, has given to animals a special status in all religions.” This is the first sentence from the entry on animals in The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1997). Yet species of wild animals are being driven to extinction at accelerating rates. Farm animals are being increasingly manipulated through factory farms and genetic engineering to enhance production. What do the religions of the world tell us of the purpose of nonhuman animals in the natural order and humans’ moral responsibility to them? This issue presents excerpts from a few chapters in a forthcoming book focused on animals in religion. It also features some paper presentations and describes the activities of the Animals and Religion Consultation of the American Academy of Religion. “others,” human and nonhuman, in our Animals and Religion lives. Throughout A Communion of Sub- by Paul Waldau and Kimberly Patton jects, we see how as living beings, animals have often been “objectified” in some ho are the animals and what do they mean to us? forms of religion, science, ethics–things of aesthetic “value” or conversely, ex- The radical intimacy between human beings and the pendable and abusable. We also see how Wmultiple animal worlds that surround and penetrate in realms as diverse as mythology, the le- our own, an intimacy suggested by Thomas Berry, is both gal sphere, and cognitive zoology, animals have emerged not as passive objects but catalyst and center of meaning for this ate ourselves, our families, and our human, as actors or “subjects” in their own right– wide-ranging volume. Berry’s challenge animal, and ecological communities. “Reli- that is, as autonomous entities with to see the world as a “communion of sub- gion and animals,” then, arises directly from consciousness, agency, or rights, as well jects” rather than as a “collection of deep, daily concerns about who we are, who as moral, emotional, or even devotional ca- objects” moves the ground for our rela- our companions are, the places in which we pabilities. We asked the authors to reflect tionship to animals away from use, away live, and the choices we make about the (continued on page 3) from commodification, and even away from sentimentality. If animals are, in their own right, the subjects of experience, be- A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion and Ethics, Paul Waldau ings with consciousness, emotional and and Kimberley Patton, eds. Columbia University Press, forthcoming. moral range, ontological status, theolog- ical value, or pain comparable to our own, This book arises from an extraordinary event that took place in May 1999 at the rather than the objects of human percep- Harvard-Yenching Institute, where scholars from all over the world converged to tion or usage, then we must approach the discuss the many different ways—good and bad—in which religious traditions and topic of animals with new lenses and new their believers have engaged the nonhuman lives in and around our human questions. communities. As the product of a vision and the financial generosity of the Center for Religious traditions have, in fact, im- Respect of Life and Environment and the Forum in Religion and Ecology, the conference pacted in countless ways how each created a new academic and religious field that now goes by the name “religion and human being now engages the worlds animals.” This volume of edited essays reflects the many ideas discussed at this about us and which we live amidst. And conference, though the papers delivered at the conference have been revised animals, both human and nonhuman, are significantly by each author to reflect all that was learned from the profound exchanges rich worlds unto themselves. The realm that took place among the participating religious believers, scientists, and scholars. of “Religion and Animals,” whether as a The title has been taken from the insight of the “geologian” Thomas Berry that the personal inquiry or as an academic field, world “is not a collection of objects, but a communion of subjects.” The volume has seeks the intersection of these worlds. been further enriched by articles and interviews with additional important voices, Such attempts to engage the surround- such as Jane Goodall and Peter Singer, whose work with nonhuman animals is part of ing world are both ancient and new, contemporary science and ethics. –P.W. reflecting humans’ constant urge to situ- 2 Fall 2004 TABLE OF CONTENTS Religion and Animals by Paul Waldau and Kimberly Patton...................................................................1 Earth Ethics examines the basic assumptions, at- titudes and beliefs that underlie our relationship with Hierarchy, Kinship, and Responsibility: The Jewish Relationship to the Animal the natural world and suggests directions for our evolution towards a humane sustainable society. World Publisher & Editor by Roberta Kalechofsky............................................................................................6 Richard M. Clugston, Director Center for Respect of Life and Environment The Case of the Animals versus Man: Towards an Ecology of Being Managing Editor by Zayn Kassam.........................................................................................................8 Laina G. Clugston The Tradition of Animal Protection in Jaina Religion Publication Designer Tara Miller by Christopher Key Chapple.................................................................................11 Copy Editor The Subjective Lives of Animals Ellen Truong by Marc Bekoff.........................................................................................................13 Center for Respect of Life and Environment Board of Directors All Animals Matter: Marc Bekoff’s Contribution to Constructive Christian President, Andrew N. Rowan Theology The Humane Society of the United States by Jay McDaniel......................................................................................................16 Vice President, Patricia A. Forkan The Humane Society of the United States Ecumenical Ethics for Earth Community Secretary, John A. Hoyt by Dieter Hessel.......................................................................................................22 The Humane Society of the United States Treasurer, G. Thomas Waite III Animals Re-Enter the Christian (and Interfaith) Sanctuary: Blessings of the The Humane Society of the United States Animals in the U.S. Chair, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Bucknell University by Laura Hobgood-Oster.......................................................................................26 Donald W. Cashen Professional Services Associates Religion and Animals Anita W. Coupe, Morgan, Lewis and Bockius by Richard M. Clugston and Heather Tallent....................................................26 John Grim, Bucknell University Animals, Religion and the Environment: The Bible’s Teachings on Protecting Jan A. Hartke, EarthVoice Animals and Nature Dieter T. Hessel by Lewis Regenstein................................................................................................35 Program on Ecology, Justice and Faith Stephanie Kaza, University of Vermont Frederick Kirschenmann Kirschenmann Family Farms Randall Lockwood The Humane Society of the United States Jay McDaniel, Hendrix College David Orr, Oberlin College Lewis Regenstein The Interfaith Council for the Protection of Animals and Nature Victoria Stack International Communication Initiatives Correspondence should be directed to Earth Eth- ics, Center for Respect of Life and Environment, 2100 L Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20037. Con- tributions should be made payable to CRLE. The viewpoints expressed in Earth Ethics are the viewpoints of the authors and should not be attrib- uted to the Center for Respect of Life and Environment, its officers, or directors. Fall 2004 3 (continued from page 1) have the ability to understand their lived beings, which abound in religious art, writ- upon the word “communion,” with its over- experience well, if at all. Ignorance of these ing, and oral traditions, have been important tones of profound, even sacred differences has often led, both within and in myriad ways for religious believers. An- interrelationship and participation between without religion, to crass oversimplifica- imals are not marginalia in the great animals, between human beings, and be- tions. Indeed, many of our most familiar illuminated manuscripts of religion; they tween these multiple worlds. We asked ways of talking about the nonhuman living lurk not only in the woods beyond the fire, them all, religionists, scientists, and ethi- beings upon the earth turn out to be, upon but at its very burning heart. As so many cists alike, to reflect on the issue of the careful examination, coarse caricatures and essays in this volume suggest, one cannot “constructed” (or “projected”) nature of profoundly inaccurate descriptions: “pro- explore religious traditions adequately, nor animals versus their lived and living reali- jections” that may go well beyond the usual really understand them well, without com- ties. Finally, we asked them to bear in mind charge of anthropomorphizing. Indeed, a ing to terms with the diverse roles played number of our scientific authors demon- out in their ideas about animals. Yet, while strate that the resistance of research some of these ideas are connected in one “In fact, religion has often methodologies to so-called “anthropomor-