Encyclopedia of animal rights and animal 522

Religion and Animals: Veganism and the Bible | 479 Raven, Charles E 1927 The creator spirit London: M Hopkinson Ward, Keith 1982 Rational theology and the creativity of God Oxford: Blackwell Andrew Linzey RELIGION AND ANIMALS: THEOS RIGHTS Theos rights denotes God’s own rights as Creator to have what is created treated with respect According to this perspective, rights are not awarded, negotiated, or granted, but recognized as something God-given Comparatively little attention has been devoted to the theological basis of animal rights, though it offers a coherent theoretical basis for the intrinsic value of, especially, sentient beings Whereas in secular ethics, rights are usually correlative of duties, for example, if A has a duty toward B, it usually follows that B has a right against A, in theological ethics the reverse may be claimed For example, Dietrich Bonhoeffer maintains that “we must speak first of the rights of natural life, in other words of what is given to life and only later of what is demanded of life.” Rights thus may be characterized as what are given to creatures by their Creator, to whom humans owe a primary obligation The value of theos rights lies conceptually in the way in which it frees ethical thinking from humanocentricity As Andrew Linzey writes: According to theos rights what we to animals is not simply a matter of taste or convenience or philanthropy When we speak of animal rights we conceptualize what is objectively owed to animals as a matter of justice by virtue of their Creator’s right Animals can be wronged because their Creator can be wronged in his creation Although some Christians oppose the language of rights altogether as unbiblical or contrary to creation construed as grace, the notion of rights has a long history in theological ethics Thomas Tryon was probably the first to use it in a specifically theological context relating to animals in 1688, but it continues to be used in modern contexts as well For example, John Cardinal Heenan stressed that “animals have very positive rights because they are God’s creatures God has the right to have all creatures treated with proper respect.” Further Reading Bonhoeffer, Dietrich 1971 Ethics, 2nd ed London: SCM Press; New York: Macmillan Heenan, John 1970 Foreword to Ambrose Agius, God’s animals London: Catholic Study Circle for Animal Welfare Linzey, Andrew 1987 Christianity and the rights of animals London: SPCK; New York: Crossroad Linzey, Andrew 1995 Animal theology London: SCM Press; Urbana: University of Illinois Press Linzey, Andrew, and Clarke, Paul Barry, eds 2004 Animal rights: A historical anthology New York; Columbia University Press, Tryon, Thomas 1688 Complaints of the birds and fowls of Heaven to their creator In The country-man’s companion London: Andrew Sowle Andrew Linzey RELIGION AND ANIMALS: VEGANISM AND THE BIBLE Many vegans, that is, those who eat no food made from animals, including dairy