Whaling ban may end; Christianity to blame for lack of regard for animal intelligence
A meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in St. Petersburg, Florida to be held Sept 15-19, is closed to the press, the public, and scientists not associated with the commission.
In private, the 3 countries that continue to whale commercially despite a 25-year ban (Japan, Norway and Iceland) are expected to make a move to resume legal whaling. Some think the Bush government may well attempt to appease Japan by supporting the end of the ban. The meeting director William Hogarth is a Bush appointee, so the media blackout makes things look kind of shady.
Whales are one of the most intelligent species on the planet, with complicated and adaptable social patterns and what appear to be clear interpersonal communications. The intelligence of animals is scientifically verifiable; sheep can remember up to 50 sheep faces for over 2 years, for Pete’s sake.
Had our society evolved to be strictly secular, that is to say, had reason always prevailed in lawmaking, we may have long ago granted the right to life to many sentient and nearly-conscious species.
The bible set a precedent that infects human regard for animal intelligence even today. From Genesis:
9:2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
Would the world have subjected animals (or various other genres of being) had the bible not been the prevalent Western moral driver for the last several hundred years? Humanity should rethink this primitive regard for–at the time–misunderstood intelligences. Eat meat, but maybe skip the octopus at the sushi bar. They’re as smart as a three-year-old.
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