Weekly Newsletter - May 6, 2015
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Activist Feedback
  2. Essay: Who Are the Animals People Abuse?
  3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman

1. Activist Feedback

Robbie, who leafleted with Carole at a Casting Crowns concert in Huntsville, AL on 4/23, writes:
 
I just got back from the Casting Crowns Concert. We passed out a box and half [600 per box]. I still have almost 2 boxes of leaflets. Carole took a box to pass out Saturday at an event near her. I noticed several people stopped and were reading them before they went inside.  Thanks again for your help.

2. Essay: Who Are the Animals People Abuse?
 
Last week, I suggested that humans hold in contempt those animals people abuse and kill. Why should this be? If humans felt perfectly entitled to harm nonhumans, then there would be no need to also hold these nonhumans in contempt. Most people don’t have contempt for a tree they might cut down, because most don’t believe that trees have feelings that can be harmed in a moral sense. I think contempt toward nonhumans reflects humans’ ambivalence about abusing them, and those who mistreat animals recognize that doing so raises moral concerns. Animal abuse becomes justified if animals “deserve” such treatment.
 
The specific charges humans levy against animals, I think, tells us little about animals but much about humans. People often claim that nonhumans have unattractive attributes and use animal names as insults against humans. For example, calling a person a “pig” indicates that they are gluttonous, a stupid person is a “turkey,” a grotesquely fat person is a “cow,” and a fearful person is “chicken.” These attributes do not define the named animals, whose physical and behavioral attributes are appropriate for their species and are conducive to survival.
 
Perhaps if we exposed the lies about the nature of God’s animals we could awaken moral sensibilities that would help prevent animal abuse. I will reflect on this more next week.
 
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
 
Godly Branches Bear Fruit  

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