Respecting the Animal Life Around Us

With the return of some semblance of “normal” life amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, almost all animal rescue organizations have noted a troubling trend: animals adopted during the pandemic are now being returned, with the result that shelters are overwhelmed and often have more animals than they can realistically hope to adopt. This is a tragedy for all the animals who find themselves abandoned through no fault of their own, some of whom will end up being euthanized. But more than that, it reflects the anthropocentrism that permeates both American culture and Christian culture.

What is anthropocentrism? It is the view that humankind is the central element of existence, and that the remainder of creation is subservient to humankind. For many Christians, the Biblical justification of anthropocentrism is found in the assertion in Genesis that God created humankind in his own image (Genesis 1:26-27). The tacit assumption is that while humankind bears the divine image, the remainder of creation does not.

Although this is perhaps the prevailing interpretation of our time, it contrasts starkly with the understanding of the Patristic Fathers. For example, in discussing how we can come to a knowledge of God, St. Gregory of Nyssa stresses that all creation gives glory to God. Among his examples is a spider. Spiders are creatures that we want to stomp out, spray with pesticides, or otherwise destroy. Seeing a spider makes many of us fearful. In contrast, Gregory sees in them the imprint of God. A small, seemingly insignificant creature instinctively spins a web that is a masterpiece of engineering and architecture. For Gregory, as for very many of the Fathers, God’s image is reflected throughout his creation, and not only in humanity. If we take the time to observe and reflect, we can recognize the love with which God endowed his entire creation, a love that points to the self-sacrifice of the Son. For Gregory as for many other Fathers, all of God’s creation to varying degrees bears the divine image.

In contrast to this, anthropocentrism sees everything around us as objects provided for the use of humanity. The entire material world, and all its living things, are evaluated from the viewpoint of our utility, our convenience, and our sense of value. As the German bishops have expressed it, this anthropocentrism stresses the priority of being useful over the priority of being. Not surprisingly, it’s unfortunately the case that this transactional view of reality is extended not only to inanimate things, but to other living things, to other human beings, and even to God Himself. As we see most starkly in the prosperity gospel, God’s role is to serve us, to bless us, and to prosper us. Rather than serving God, anthropocentrism demands that God serve us.

Pope Francis writes that each species has been created to give glory to God by its existence. His statement applies as well not only to each species, but to each member of a species. Each has been created by God, each has had life breathed into it by the Holy Spirit, each has a message for us that we would do well to heed. Instead, when we stomp out God’s creatures or when we abandon God’s creatures based on our own sense of convenience, we silence a voice. And as both the Fathers and Pope Francis tell us, the voice that we are silencing is the voice of God.