To the question, "Why should religious people treat animals humanely?," Paul Waldau has the answer:
Traditional sources, such as the Bible, the Qur’an, sacred writings from India and China, and the stories of indigenous peoples, often reflect the commonality attested to in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes (this translation is from the Revised Standard Version):
“For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth?”
(Quoted from page 15 of Animal Rights: What Everyone Needs To Know, by Paul Waldau. Oxford University Press, 2011.)
For a brief biography of Paul Waldau, click here. For images of or relating to Paul Waldau, click here.
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