animals and animal rights Flashcards
Buddhists who eat meat
- many Buddhists vegetarian/vegan apart from some Theravada Buddhists
- meat eaters argue that their Buddhist scriptures refer to Buddha and his followers eating meat. Buddha never specifically said vegetarianism is necessary for enlightenment
Buddhist who don’t eat meat
Mahayana scriptures state that Buddha insisted that his followers should not eat any meat or fish. scriptures argue that eating meat doesn’t show compassion and that it spreads atmosphere of fear amongst all living creatures
Buddhist for animal testing
-testing drugs which will save lives could be seen as act of compassion as could end suffering for many people. only if necessary and animals treated with respect
Buddhists against animal testing
-animals will be human in other lives, so wrong to inflict on an animal something you wouldn’t do to a human
why Buddhists care about animals
- animals have potential to be re-born as human
- to abstain from taking life
- eightfold path requires ‘right action’ and ‘right livelihood’ so wont work anywhere animals mistreated
- kamma
bible teaches that animals should be treated kindly
‘the righteous care for the needs of their animals’
‘do not muzzle an ox while i is threshing the grain’
Christians for animal testing
god gave us dominion ‘they will rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the air, over the livestock, over all the earth’
Christians against animal testing
- cruel
- in Genesis God asked humans to care for the animals (stewardship)
use of animal for food
after flood, noah given permission to eat meat ‘everything that lives and moves about will e food for you’
‘the one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not,and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them both’
