Tax Meat!

Maya it is good to hear from you again. I think you helped my point a little bit with a statement that you made. You said that "man"when I say man I am not being sexist it is just a general term has moral reasoning man feels emotions and understands that pain is not only a physical feeling but an emotional one as well. I believe that our ability to distinguish bt right and wrong gives us a soul. That is why we are to "do unto others meaning man as they would do unto us." The reason why human life is more precious than that of an animal is because of family. Not all but the overwhelming majority of humans don't just produce offspring but aid in the development of their children. We don't raise children until they can fend for themselves and let them go on by themselves. Humans never stop being parents the family bond is stronger than any bond that may exist in the animal kingdom. Human parents feel unconditional love for their children they would die defending them and would give anything for their wellbeing. I know some animals have what seem to be strong family ties but you will rarely see any beast defend their offspring to the death. Once a predator has the upper hand the parent will give up and reproduce again. I don't believe animals have a ture sense of loss or any kind of sense of love. I think that is what the key word in my arguement is. Love! We humans have the ability to love not only our children but our parents relatives and friends. Most people will help a stranger in need risk their lives to help a complete stranger in peril and fight anybody or thing that threatens our exsitense. You can't show me many cases when an animal has risked life and limb for another. I do agree with you that if someone attacked a pet of mine I would defend the pet not to the death of myself or the other person but I would do as much as possible to aid my pet. However on the other hand if I had a pet that attacked an unsuspecting person I wouldn't hesitate to help that person no matter what the risk to my pet. Antigone stated that she would choose an animals life over mine if she had the choice I don't think that is what Jesus would do and I am certain that God would frown upon that. Like I said in one of my last posts I derive most of my beliefs from my religon Catholicism. We believe man was made in Gods image. Therefore man's life comes first in the hierarchy of life.

Hey you two! Far be it for me to interfere but I find this conversation interesting! I hope you don't mind if I offer my opinion. Kurt I don't usually go into "souls" or religion no offense at all to any religion but I prefer to stick to science since that's my background. In a factual sense neither animals nor people may not have souls but BOTH have brains. That means that animals like humans can feel extreme pain terror loneliness and despair. I'm not trying to be soppy I'm just speaking of brain function. Animals that kill prey are not being cruel because they are not capable of a moral sense that is unique to humans. Moral reasoning is a very complex brain function and can be seen on an fMRI brain scan. Lions and other predators DO NOT have the abiltiy to empathize with their prey. Humans do. When I counsel people on cat behavior clients will sometimes say "my cat is being a snob". This is not possible being a snob is actually a very complex thing LOL! So although we can project our idea of a lion being cruel it is not possible for a lion to internalize the feeling of another animal. Any affection between lions and offspring are a function of instinct and reproductive evolutionary success not of human like empathy. In regards to saving a human versus saving a dog of course if a pitbull was hurling towards my mom I would take out a shotgun no hesitiation and blow the dog's brain out. If a person was to attack my cat unfortunately shooting them would land me in jail leaving my cat in a shelter so I would defend my cat with my life without killing another human. But let's get real Kurt. That's not likely to happen and that's not what we're discussing. What you're saying is that spending time helping an animal is less important than saving humans. My question is what's the logical reason why an animal's life is less valuable than a human's?

Kurt K Bottom line is you do not know whether or not they have souls but choose to act as though they do not so that you can mistreat them. As for whether I would choose btw a human or an animal it depends upon who we are talking about. If it is btw my mother and a stray dog I have never met I would choose my mother. If it was btw the cat who has lived with me for 14 years or you I would choose my cat. Only a human would turn his back on a true friend because of his species which is a despicable thing to do. As for your silly comments about animalsI have never met an intentionally cruel or malicious animal. Those traits seem to be reserved for humans. Carnivores NEED meat to live humans do not. I have yet to see any animal commit any of the atrocities committed by humans and captured on PETA video. If you have I would love to see the video. Otherwise your comments are nonsense.

Kurt K I asked you firsthow do you know they do not? As such a humanitarian you should want people to be killed so they can live with God in Heaven in a constant state of bliss. Why would you not want that??

They probably wouldn't. But then again they don't know what they hell they would be choosing. I guess if all animals have souls then wouldn't they be in a better place if they get killed. As animal lover you should want all these animals to be killed so they live with God in heaven and be in a constant state of bliss. You never thought about it that way did you? I win!