a religious proclamation for animal compassion, pt. 2

As promised, here are Five Calls to Action which were developed by the authors of A Religous Proclamation for Animal Compassion (see previous post):

Five Calls to Action: As concerned people of faith and in response to these proclamations, we make the following five calls to action in five arenas that directly impact the quality of animals' lives: Pet Overpopulation and the Plight of Homeless Pets; the Meat and Fur Industries; Animals in Sports and Entertainment; Medical Research and Experimentation on Animals; and Wildlife Preservation and Protection

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a religious proclamation for animal compassion, pt. 1

A couple of weeks after not one sparrow launched I heard from Kris Haley and Michelle Buckalew of Best Friends Animals & Religion who gracioulsy wanted to highlight not one sparrow in an online news story.  In the process I was reminded of a proclamation which Best Friends was sponsoring to engage religious communities and people of faith with a concern for animals, co-authored by a friend Sue Grisham of EpiscoVeg and the Episcopal Network for Animal Welfare. 

Though evangelicals and other conservative Christians are often reluctant to sponsor or endorse inter-faith efforts, A Religious Proclamation for Animal Compassion (PDF) is a wonderfully composed document which is very much compatible with the mission and values of not one sparrow (see our faq).  It reads:

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look what love can do

A couple of weeks ago I came across a post by a very gifted author, Tracy Simmons, from her blog The Best Parts.  In "Look What Love Can Do," she takes an honest and moving look at God's love for us his human children, a love we often don't know how to accept or trust, let alone pass on to others.  This dilemma is seen through the analogy of Tracy's love for two dogs with severe behavioral problems, the latest of many she and her husband have adopted.  She writes of Arthur in particular (see picture):

He had been in the shelter for five months, the product of a divorce where neither party could handle him alone.  He had such bad separation anxiety that the longest we could leave him alone for was 10 seconds. ... Anything longer than that and he'd totally freak out.  I will not bore you with the details of how we slowly built up his tolerance to being left alone with Ruby (Tracy's other dog) for short intervals of time, but it took a lot of patience, love, and effort just to get him to the point where he could be left alone for an hour without utterly destroying the house. ...

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creature comforts

The difference between cats and dogs, British accents and all, courtesy of Creature Comforts:

In case you're new to Creature Comforts, as I was myself until my brother showed me a side-splitting episode on YouTube (one of several), it's a wonderfully dry and smart clay animation series in which real interviews with everyday people are transposed onto animals in a number of natural, and not so natural, settings.  The series was produced by the UK company behind Wallace and Gromit, and began with a short film involving zoo animals:

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newsletter numero uno

Updated on August 2, 2008 by Ben DeVries

Two and a half months have passed since not one sparrow launched, or “hatched” if you want to call it that, and I’m a bit overdue for an update. This is the very first not one sparrow newsletter as a matter of fact, and while it’s also being posting on the blog, thank you very much to those who signed up for it by email. I really am grateful for the opportunity to keep you in the loop, and won’t abuse it by flooding your inbox.

I hope to add more content to the newsletter in the not-too-distant future as well as give it a more creative layout, but for now here’s an update on some of what I’ve been working on the past few months:

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interspecies bonding

After a rather heady week of dialogue (see previous posts), I thought I might end on a lighter note with a heartfelt story about a crow adopting a stray kitten.  Apparently this "Miracle Pets" video from a few years back has made the rounds on tv and the interweb, but I hadn't come across it as yet (thanks to Susan Schwarz for forwarding it to me):

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discussion at UK blog continues, the secret history of animals

The discussion at Jason Clark's blog continues with one last main contribution of the week by my friend, Stephen Webb.  Steve, professor of religion and philosophy at Wabash college by day, is a Christian animal welfare advocate by night, and author of On God and Dogs and Good Eating.  I especially recommend the latter, which is a wonderful resource on both animal welfare and humane eating. 

In The Secret History of Animals, Steve challenges the romantic (and naturalistic) view of animals which depicts them as at their most natural in a wild and predatory state, left alone by humanity.  Such a view of animals, though realistic in our presently fallen world, ignores Genesis and other peacable kingdom narratives in Scripture which depict an innocence that fully embraces all creatures.  Here's an excerpt:

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discussion at UK blog continues, peeking at animal cruelty

The animal welfare discussion at Jason Clark's blog continues today with an excellent post by my friend Karen Prior.  Karen hails from the dept. of English and Modern Languages at Libert University, and I mentioned her excellent article Animals and Evangelicals in a previous post. 

In her current piece, Peeking at Animal Cruelty, Karen reflects on her youth on a family farm and her affectionate interactions with the animals they raised for food.  She also juxtaposes some thoughts on animal welfare with her experience as an active pro-life advocate.  Here's an excerpt:

In answering both of these categorically distinct but not unrelated calls, I have experienced similar responses from the church and the larger community.  Many prefer the comforts of the status quo and blissful ignorance over change—whether small or radical. 

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hidden from view

This week I ran across an excellent mini-series of posts by evangelical theologian and church leader Greg Boyd, starting with Why I'm a Vegetarian.  I hope to review Boyd's posts in the near future, but in the meantime I wanted to pass along a can't-miss video from Mercy for Animals which he mentioned.  It's a powerful summary of what goes on in the factory animal farming industry.  The video is graphic when it needs to be, but here's a challenge: watch as much as you can, and the 12 minutes as a whole if at all possible.  It's an incredibly affecting awareness builder, and it can only be hoped that the day isn't far away when everyone in our churches and society will be familiar with what's behind the vast majority of our animal products.

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discussion at UK blog kicks off

About a month ago my father forwarded a post on animal welfare to me by Christian blogger Paul Mayers.  I was somewhat surprised to see it, with such posts being few and far between, but very grateful to come across it and connect with Paul soon after.  It turned out he also helps administrate a blog for fellow Brit Jason Clark, evangelical and emerging church leader in the UK.

He and Jason had been looking for an opportunity to generate some dialogue on animal welfare on Jason's blog (Jason had previously posted on the subject once as well, after attending a seminar by Andrew Linzey).  And they graciously invited me to help host a week's worth of discussion on animals from a Christian perspective, along with friends Stephen Webb and Karen Prior.

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