RELIGIOUS VIEWS ON ANIMAL SENTIENCE

Recognition of animal sentience may be a new legal concept in the west, but philosophers and societies throughout the world have displayed concern for animals throughout recorded history. At the same time, there have always been some for whom animals are merely instruments to be exploited for human benefit.

Early religious writings

Religious writings have varied in their views of animals as manifesting the divine or simply as creatures put on the earth to support human life.

An example of the first can be found in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, one of the ancient spiritual texts of India, dating from well before the Common Era:

“As the sun shines and fills all space with light,
Above, below, across, so shines the Lord
Of Love and fills the hearts of all created beings”

Another Upanishad, the Prashna, discusses prana, perhaps best understood as life force, consciousness or energy. Addressing Prana, the verse reads:

“When you pour yourself down as rain on earth,
Every living creature is filled with joy
And knows food will be abundant for all.”

(Both verses from “The Upanishads”, translated by Eknath Easwaran, Nilgiri Press, 2007)

This text implies that animals are capable of feeling joy. Other verses in the Upanishads do make reference to horse sacrifice and to the desirability of owning large herds of cattle, presumably both common practices at that time.

Tao Te Ching

The Tao Te Ching, written by Lao-Tzu in China several hundred years before the Common Era, refers to the Tao, which is described as “older than God”, “the great Mother” and “always present within you” and “infinite and eternal”. One verse reads:

“Every being in the universe
Is an expression of the Tao..
That is why every being
Spontaneously honors the Tao”

(“Tao Te Ching”. Translated by Stephen Mitchell. Kyle Cathie, 2000.)

Jainism

Jainism, which developed in India around the same time as Buddhism, takes a strict view of our responsibility not to cause suffering:

“All beings hate pain; therefore one should not kill them”

(the Sutrakritang)

Buddhist

Buddhism, which traditionally did not embrace the concept of a personal god, has strong exhortations regarding animals:

“All beings seek for happiness; so let your compassion extend itself to all.”

(Mahavamsa)

“Let him not destroy, or cause to be destroyed, any life at all, nor sanction the acts of those who do so. Let him refrain from even hurting any creature, both those that are strong and those that tremble in the world.”

Sihkism

Sikhism, which became established in India in the 16th century, displays a variety of views on animals, which is possibly why some groups of Sikhs follow a vegetarian diet but many do not. One verse of the holy book implies a high status for animals:

“You say that the One Lord is in all, so why do you kill chickens?”

(Guru Granth Sahib p1350 line 5)

Chistian

In the Judaeo-Christian tradition we have the anomalies of the book of Genesis, in which man was given dominion over other creatures:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

(1:26)

Yet a few verses later man is exhorted to apparently follow a non-meat diet:

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”

(1:29)

However the duty of care is referred to in the book of Proverbs:

“A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast”

(12:10).

The New Testament has little to say about animals, however the following verse implies that God is aware of and cares for all his creatures:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”

(Matthew 10:29)

Islam

Islam appears to give animals an equal status with humans:

"All the creatures on earth, and all the birds that fly with wings, are communities like you.”

(Qur’an 6:38)

However animals are also there for man’s use:

“And he has created cattle for you: you get from them your warm garments and other benefits, and you eat of their produce.”

(Qur’an 16:5)

However there seems to be definite recognition that animals have feelings. One of the Hadith, or recorded stories, about the Prophet Muhammad says:

“We were on a journey with the Apostle of God and he left us for a while. During his absence, we saw a bird called hummara with its two young and took the young ones. The mother-bird was circling above us in the air, beating its wings in grief, when the Prophet came back and said: ‘who has hurt the FEELINGS of this bird by taking its young? Return them to her’.”

(Quoted in “Animal Welfare in Islam” Al-Hafiz BA Masri, 2007, Islamic Foundation, UK. Source: Narrated by Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah bin Mas’ûd. Muslim. Also Awn (Ref. No. 32) Hadith No. 2658. Also ‘Guillaume’ (Ref. No. 57); p.106.)

It seems that religions tend to recognise animals as part of God’s creation, may recognise that they are used by humans but that, because they are divinely created, because they can suffer and they do have feelings, they should be treated with compassion. However the anomalies in the holy teachings are many and the variance between teaching and practice is often wide in the modern world – as it likely was in ancient times too.