[continued from previous message]   
      
   The excessive consumption of meat in most so-called developed nations of the   
   world (and indeed in most other nations as well) has been found recently to be   
   a major cause of many serious diseases. In underdeveloped and densely   
   populated countries where    
   hunger, and often starvation, is a major problem, vegetarianism also offers   
   significant socio-economic advantages over the non-vegetarian alternative.   
   This is due to the fact that vegetarian nutrients may be produced in far   
   greater quantity more easily    
   and more cheaply than the equivalent non-vegetarian nutrients. In fact, the   
   more we investigate the value of a non-vegetarian diet, the less desirable   
   this meat-centered diet appears from every angle of vision – a finding which   
   will surely be appreciated    
   not just by physicians and economists, but also by a large portion of the   
   animal kingdom as well.   
      
   How Much Then Is a Man Better than a Sheep?   
   In the final analysis, the whole subject of animal and plant rights, and the   
   corresponding duties and responsibilities of human beings toward the lesser   
   evolved species rises or falls depending upon the position one takes in   
   response to a question    
   unwittingly posed by Jesus himself: “How much then is a man better than a   
   sheep?” [318] For Jesus this question was rhetorical – a statement of fact   
   rather than a subject to debate. Jesus clearly considered animals and plants   
   as inferior creatures which    
   could not, under any circumstances, be ranked in the same class with human   
   beings. “Consider the ravens… how much more are ye better than the fowls? …   
   Consider the lilies… if then God so clothe the grass which is today in the   
   field, and tomorrow is cast    
   into the oven; how much more will he clothe you?” [319] But was the evaluation   
   of animals and plants given by Jesus a reasonable and just assessment of their   
   actual worth? Can it really be that God has more love for human beings than   
   for animals and    
   plants? And, ultimately, is divine love something which may be measured in   
   monetary or in any other terms?   
      
   Already we have seen that the brand of humanism preached by Abraham, Moses and   
   Jesus led directly to intrahumanistic clash. Not only did the Jews slaughter   
   the early Canaanites and the Christians slaughter the latter-day Jews, but   
   both Jews and    
   Christians suppressed and enslaved the women of their own religious   
   persuasion. But human beings are not the only living organisms in the world;   
   and, if we examine the attitude of Judaism and Christianity toward animals and   
   plants, we may easily discern    
   that the teachings of both these religions expressly violated the interests of   
   the non-human creatures as well. When the value of women could be calculated,   
   at least to a large degree, in monetary terms, then the application of this   
   same type of utility    
   value system to the animal and plant kingdoms hardly comes as a surprise. The   
   only difference is that, in the case of women there was some recognition of   
   their existential value as well – that is to say, men always understood that   
   the existence of women    
   is not just useful, but is indeed critical to the existence of men; and, in   
   consequence, men generally accepted that women do have some existential   
   rights, albeit the rights which men recognized for women were rarely the   
   equivalent of those rights    
   accorded to men. On the other hand, animals and plants were never viewed as   
   having any existential rights whatsoever. [320]   
      
   To explain further, let us consider a modern example. Just fifty years ago,   
   horses were the prevailing mode of transportation. In every city one would   
   find many horses living in close association with human beings. Today, due to   
   the invention of the    
   automobile, one can hardly find even a single utilitarian horse in most major   
   cities of the world. One hundred years ago, it was a great crime to steal   
   someone's horse – often a hanging offense. Today the matter is not taken so   
   seriously. Rather, the    
   large majority of horses are gradually finding their way to the abattoir,   
   where formerly only cattle and sheep were slaughtered. Nowadays a living mare   
   or stallion frequently carries a much lower selling price in the market place   
   than her or his body    
   carries, after having been converted into the appropriate form recognized as   
   dog food. In this way, the horse may soon become an endangered species, along   
   with the whale, the seal, the Texas longhorn, the bald eagle, the kangaroo and   
   countless other    
   species.   
      
   Today, about one thousand of earth's species of fauna are in jeopardy, and   
   each year one or more of them becomes extinct. In addition, approximately ten   
   percent of the world's species of flora are also threatened, and almost every   
   day, one more species    
   of plant life disappears from the face of this planet, perhaps forever. Some   
   botanists estimate that, in a few years, we may lose one plant species every   
   hour and that, in any event, by the year two thousand there will probably be   
   precious little left of    
   our tropical forests. In most cases, the major cause of this tragic and   
   needless destruction of the non-human living beings is the cruel carelessness   
   of the so-called human beings, who insist on viewing the world around them   
   only in terms of the degree    
   of selfish pleasure which they may derive from its use. According to Judaism,   
   according to Christianity – this world is for human enjoyment only. [321] Even   
   the promised afterlife would seem to exist for human consumption as well. What   
   happens to an    
   animal after s/he dies; can a cat go to heaven? Nobody – that is to say, no   
   Christian or Jew – seems to know for sure; but, according to most   
   Judaeo-Christian speculation, animals and plants only live once. After this   
   brief and often pain-filled    
   terrestrial existence, animals and plants are allegedly snuffed out forever.   
   Indeed, they were always expendable according to Western religious dogma. If,   
   in fact, the animals and plants have been exempted from attendance in the   
   Judaeo-Christian Valhalla,   
    then indeed, this may be taken as the greatest mercy shown towards them by   
   Judaism and Christianity. By not returning in heaven, there is, at least, no   
   question of animals and plants having to satisfy whatever fetishes the   
   Judaeo-Christian God or the    
   Judaeo-Christian man would have dreamed up for them there.   
      
   A Source of Sadism   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)