R.E coursework - Animal rights.

There are many arguments for and against using animals to test cosmetic products on here are just a few.

There are many arguments for and against eating animals

All Christians agree that animals are part of god’s creation and that humans have duties towards animals.  Most Christians believe that humans shouldn’t be cruel to animals and that farmers should care for their livestock, that animals for food should be slaughtered without pain and that animals should only be used for scientific experiments when absolutely necessary.  However they believe that humans have a right to use animals for food do experiments on them which are aimed at improving human health or testing new drugs, toiletries and foods for health and safety reasons.  They believe this because god is the creator of animals as well as humans. They believe god gave humans the right to control animals. They believe animals do not have rights since only humans can have rights because they are the only beings made in the image of god and they believe that humans have a duty to care for animals because of their duty as stewards of gods creation.  Some Christians are vegetarians and are opposed to animals being used for food or experiments.  They also oppose the hunting of animals and fishing.  They believe this because god is the creator of animals as well as humans; humans have a duty to care for animals as part of their duty as stewards of god’s creation.  They believe that Christians should never be cruel as jesus said he was the good shepherd who would lay down his life for his sheep rather than let them be harmed and that is it impossible to slaughter animals for food or experiment on them without being cruel.  They also believe that animals have the same rights as humans.

Muslims believe that humans should not be cruel to animals.  That farmers should care for their livestock humanely.  They believe that animals for food should be slaughtered without pain. And that animals should only be use for scientific experiments when it is absolutely necessary.   They also believe that hunting can only be done for food not as a sport.  However muslims also believe that humans have a right to use animals for food do experiments on them which are aimed at improving human health or testing new drugs, toiletries and foods for health and safety reasons.  They believe this because the qur’an says that animals are part of gods creation and teaches that animals have feelings and must be dedicated to god when slaughtered in a painless way.  They also believe this because the Qur’an states that humans may use certain animals for food.  There are many hadith about treating animals kindly; this is another reason for their beliefs.  Also the Shari’ah teaches that animals can be used for experiments but only if they are necessary and for the benefit of humans.

I do not believe that animals should be eaten or tested upon.  I am a strict vegetarian and I do not use products if they have been tested on animals. I believe this is a horrible, inhumane thing to do.  However I do understand that many humans would not want to stop eating meat as the protein is good for the health.  But there are substitutes for that and these are often a lot healthier all round.  I also would not expect many people to give up dairy products as the calcium is vital to our health and it is also very commonly used.  I therefore do not think that everyone should stop eating meat (unless it is their personal choice to do so) however I do think that the way the animals are killed should be a painless way and the animal should go through no suffering.  I also think that killing animals for sport (for example fox hunting) should be abolished, as this is a cruel, unjust thing to put an innocent animal through.  I do believe that animals should have rights – they should have the same rights as humans. I think this because we live in a world where we all depend on one another.  Humans could not survive without plants and animals just as they could not survive with out us.  We all live equally dependant on something else – a child for its mother – a cow for its farmer there fore we should treat every living thing as our equal and grant it rights as equally as we grant them unto ourselves.