Dogs and Christianity

I have written in this blog that we. weredogs, do not understand human religion. And over the past 2 days I have gotten heavy doses of it. On Friday we rode with 4 drivers. 2 of them listened to nothing but Christian radio.  Patsy listened to the BeeGees, Bread and the rest of the time Christian radio. And it got me to thinking about human religion, and dogs.  And I found a Bible here. The Kellermans actually have them all over the house. So, I looked some things up. 

The crux of the issue seems to be if dogs, and other animals, have souls, then we msut have feelings, emotions. If we do, then we more than likely have souls. If we have souls, then they have to let us into the church, so to speak. 

Well, if anyone thinks that dogs do not have emotions, then there is nothing I can say to that person. Anyone who has spent any time with dogs knows that they exhibit emotions constantly. 

The six universal emotions are said to be: happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, surprise, and fear. All animals exhibit all those emotions. I have also seen animals of many other species exhibit pride, envy, guilt, shame, jealousy and embarrassment. Domestic and wild animals exhibit all these, both social and nonsocial species. 

Emotions are part of survival. They represent the Divine spark in each of us survive, seek others, to connect, to procreate, to sacrifice. Every animal, from the elephant to the ant, fights for all these things. 

It is emotions that allow us to connect and communicate, between species, without the luxury of a common verbal language. I give you man and dog. We learn many of your words. But that is not how we communicate. We do so through our emotional bond. The stronger the bond the better the communication.

Therefore, each of us, man, dog, and dung beetle, has a soul.

What does the Bible say about God and animals? In Proverbs 12:10 it says that the Lord regards a person who cares for animals is righteous, and a person who is cruel to animals is wicked. Thus, the righteous treat animals with wisdom and kindness, not cruelty.  This suggests that God takes heed of how humans treat animals. 

Immanual Kant, the 18th century German philosopher, wrote on this subject.  He wrote that "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."

It is true that God has given human beings dominion over Creation, and all the other animals in it. (Gen. 1:26). Animals are a resource to be managed and used as humans see fit. Yet people are accountable to God for being good stewards, not irresponsible abusers of any of those resources. 

Proverbs 1:7 suggests that we should be wise and treat animals as God their Creator would treat them, and those who do not should fear the Lord. We know that God has an interest in the preservation of species. Genesis 7:1-5, 23-24, 8:1, 17 and Luke 12:6 all speak to that.Exodus 23:12 and Deuteronomy 22:4 talk about how God wants farm and work animals be cared for properly. 

Other religions have something to say about it.

 

The Hindu epic of the Ramayana tells of the monkey god, Hanuman, assembling a vast monkey army to defeat an evil king. The Chinese consider themselves descendants of dragons, whom they see beneficent, powerful and wise.  The ancient Egyptians had animal gods.  Most American Indian tribes consider animals to be their brothers, and to be descended from the wolf, the bear, and the eagle. 

So, what is it about the 3 great monotheistic religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam - that makes them so want to disrespect and loathe dogs, and all other animals?  Can someone tell me?  I am not trying to be critical or difficult.  I am just a dog who wants to understand.