Religion and Animals | 451 The third contribution that religion makes is in terms of practice How people perceive the world obviously affects what they Religious practices can therefore be seen as the embodiment, that is, the physical shape of religious perceptions of animal-human relations The obvious example is animal sacrifice It has been said that the most usual characterization of animals in the Hebrew scriptures is as objects for sacrifice In fact, there are a wide variety of characterizations For example, they are perceived as creatures, as covenant partners, as possessors of nephesh or God-given life, to take only three examples, but it is the case that animals and birds are most regularly used throughout the Hebrew scriptures as a means of sacrificial offering Interpreting what this practice means is less than straightforward As one might expect of any practice lasting more than a thousand years, various interpretations are possible Negatively, it can most usually be seen in terms of using animals as a means of reparation for human sin or appeasing the divine But it is worth pointing out that this is only one of many views For example, another view is that sacrifice is to be understood as the returning of an animal to the Creator who made it, so that far from involving the gratuitous destruction of a creature, the practice paradoxically involves its liberation, its final union with God Whatever interpretation is given, it is significant that within the Hebrew Bible there is a developing criticism of the practice as inefficacious or immoral Psalm 50 describes the Lord opposing sacrifice on the grounds that creatures belong to him: I not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are continually before me I will accept no bull from your house, nor he-goat from your folds For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine (7–11, RSV) The logic of this protest appears to be that humans should not appropriate what in fact belongs to God Not only are all creatures his, but he also knows them individually and cares for them Eastern religious traditions have, however, firmly set themselves against animal sacrifice, though it is true that Islam retains animal sacrifice for major festivals And, of course, both Judaism and Islam maintain the practice of religious slaughter, called shehita and halal respectively Again, Jainism led the way in rejecting animal sacrifice and in commending the way of peaceable living with all nonhuman creatures In Mahayana Buddhism, the Bodhisattva postpones his own enlightenment in order to save all living things from the cycle of misery and death: I have made a vow to save all living beings The whole world of living beings I must rescue from the terrors of birth, old age, of sickness, of death and rebirth I must ferry them across the stream of samsara I will help all beings to freedom (The Bodhisattva’s vow of universal redemption) This vision of humanity using its power to save other living creatures, and