I have been noting this more recently and it seems to be a trend, at least with people I converse with on the regular. The really religious types aren't animal people or downright dont like them. The more chill or agnostic types seem to be more apt to love animals.

I could go on my theory of this but I'm interested to see if anyone thinks this is a trend.

Oh I'd say this is definitely just anecdotal to you personally. Lots of animal shelters are owned, operated and funded by religious organizations.

It's not that they don't like animals. It's that they don't view animals as equal to humans. They believe that god made them superior to animals, so what happens to animals doesn't really matter.

that also seems anecdotal... I personally never heard of a single one (oh, anecdotal too) and in all cities I've lived I knew of shelters and rescuers because I'm one (and I currently take care of 34 cats and 4 dogs), and I must agree with OP, I know a lot of rescuers that have a religion (like, that vague belief in the god their parents talked about) but none that are overtly religious (wear symbols, attend temples, etc)

edit: Homeless shelters and nursing homes though, plenty of religious institutions behind them.

I wouldn't call myself religious, it's more of a lifestyle but I am Christian and Love animals. They always have a place in my heart. And I love to draw them.

I try not to associate with that kind of people, but just about every hyper religious nut that I know personally has had at least one dog. Only one of those has had cats.

But, I'll definitely verify the second part. I'm an atheist who has 5 cats (had a dog too, but she passed) and has successfully gotten a squirrel and at least one chipmunk to eat from my hand.

I basically came here to say this. Especially these days basically all good pet owners think of them as their children or at least living beings with rights. And abrahamic religions (I know less about others) view humans as being god's special creatures who have dominion over all others. Same reason there's often more child abuse in religious homes.

Yeah, but how do they treat them? Is it just a new way for them to make money?

Ooo! La-dee-da! Disney princess over here!

(JK)

I think this is because many religions convince their followers that they are the center of the uni, and that the sun, mountains, animals, and birds were all created to serve them. In contrast, non-religious people are much more likely to see the bigger picture, that they are simply part of nature.

​Also, some religions like Islam for example, treat dogs as something to be avoided. For example, there's a Hadith that says: "Angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a picture"! So that is the case with Islam, since I come from a Muslim background.

Guess I'm going against the grain here, but in my experiences, no not really.

At least here in Aus I've never noticed any correlation between animal friendliness and religion. My family for example is very religious (I'm not), and quite conservative (I'm definitely not lol), but they care for animals better than they care for other people.

What I have noticed is more fear from other cultures. For example, I have an Indian neighbour who never grew up around dogs, especially big dogs. When I first picked up my German Shepherd as an 8 week old pup, they were scared shitless of him! Scared of a cute little fur ball, with paws too big for his body just flailing around bumping into things, literally one of the cutest things I've ever seen!

Not dismissing the question on religion being linked to animal friendliness, but maybe region and cultural factors are also playing a role here?

We've been making the same joke over here!

St Francis of Assisi was an animal lover, by all accounts 😂

According to one religious person I've talked to, animals don't have "souls" so they're not worth anything. I argued there's no difference, many animals have emotions and awareness, just like us. His reply was they we are smarter than animals.

I asked what about dumb people then, because there's considerable overlap between the dumbest people and the smartest animals. Like at what "IQ" do you obtain a soul? That's about when he tried changing the subject.

Are you under the impression animal shelters are churning out big bucks?

To steelman his argument, maybe he was saying god gave people souls because we are smarter?

Ton are a google search away. Dalo Acres Animal Sanctuary UT, St. Francis Animal Sanctuary MI, Keeping the Faith Animal Shelter PA. There's a ton of em.

I don't think an animal's life is of equal value to a human's. I don't think that's a strictly religious view point either. Should they have shot harambe to save that kid, or was that action equivalent to murder?

I can't speak to other religions, but I'm pretty sure there's a passage in the bible that says that (paraphrasing) mankind has dominion over animals. Some clearly interpret this to mean "God says I can be as shitty as I want to animals".

I know a fair number of religious people, They don’t seem to be any more or less cruel than non-religious people.

Anything connected with churches can make good money from donations and shady financials.

That is true of any charity organization, regardless of affiliation.

I think it depends on what you mean by “animal friendly”. If you mean own a pet and treat it well. I don’t think there is a correlation. At least in the southern US I would be willing to bet a majority of religious families have owned a pet.

If you mean “they care more for animals than humans” then I would agree. The world is big and I am not an expert on religions, but most of the ones around here do think animals are less than humans. But I think you can believe that while being animal friendly. Becusse I believe that and my dogs are spoiled as shit.

I didn't take organizations into account,

not even a picture??? wowy

While true, lets not be those jerks who associate literally every bad thing to ever happen with churches. Believe it or not there are churches with good people feeding the homeless etc. It's probably .000000001%, but they're out there (and it sure as hell ain't megachurches or any church that preaches maga)

I guess I could have phrased this exact question with "the environment" and probably got the same answers. (Bad) religious people think it's all "theirs" so they can do whatever they want and pollute all they want as "god" will take care of the earth no matter what.

They are run by people. I think if you have a generally negative perception of a certain type of person, you'll start attributing negative behaviors to all of them, even if its only been your limited experience.

You might want to note that while this probably applies to major religions, it's not all religions

Also this is probably a good representation from the bible

Genesis 1:28 (KJV): "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

Genesis 1:28 (KJV): "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

I had food and home heating oil for 3 winters when I was a kid. From a church we didn't even go to. Parents were social workers, a unbelievably poorly compensated profession. Its why I became an engineer instead of following their path. Its much bigger than that percentage but I agree its never the mega churches. They are organizations run by people. Some good, some bad.

Of course. The Bible taught people that this planet is ours, and that animals are under us.

Over controlling christians won't have "dirty" animals in their homes. Ask any of their children how disappointed they were not having a pet as a kid.
However, most of the xians where I live have a ton of cats that run free, a yard full of barking angry dogs and children that act like animals.
Hoarding animals seems very common in my experience.

I agree, I have even helped my friends church with IT stuff and when I moved to a new town as a kid a church gave us food as we were the poorest family according to my school. That same church said I was going to hell a couple years later when everyone thought I was gay when a gay kid said I was cute and I thanked him.

Yeah but it's easier to do when you think you are righteous and have the will of your God behind you.

If you're actively scamming the system intentionally, you don't think that. You know you're being shitty and you've consciencely chosen that over being a righteous godly person.

I'm not sure, I'm not religious aside from Buddhist thoughts. It seems like a lot of people love domesticated animals, but food is where I can see a difference. I don't think that there's not too much of a religious division by many means when it comes to animals we consume.

Take for example, a lot of people look at deer as oh adorable Bambi. I see great, I have to scrape you off my steel bumper, shoot you in the head to put you out of your misery, and then venison is on the menu for the month since it would be a shame to disrespect the animals death.

The vegan thread I wrote in really didn't like that I wrote that if hunting, shooting deer in where there spine and skull connects is the most humane way as opposed to a heart/lung shot and having the animal run in fear in it's last moments. Same goes for cattle, kosher and halal aren't very humane compared to using an air gun to sever the brain and skull and seize all function. There is a difference in the taste of the meat.

Same goes with fish and shellfish. Fish for sushi is basically killed with a spike destroying the brain and that's why it tastes different than the fish for grilling. Same goes for lobster, you can put it to sleep or do the same.

Had me in the first half....

Damn. Thats shitty. Sorry they were assholes to you.

Typical creature that values it's own species over all others. I really despise this mentality. Anyway have a great day.

Should they have shot harambe or let it rip the kid in half? Is it your position that all organisms are of equal value?

The really religious types

What country/culture/religion are you asking about?

Yes

Congratulations on the false dichotomies.

What are the other options ? This is a binary discussion. A human life is of more impact and relevance than an animal's. Therefore it's value is higher. I have a ton of animals, farm and pet, I LOVE my animals. I'd put my girl's life above all of them in a second.

For your first question: there is no certainty that Harambe would have “ripped the kid in half”.

For your second, you could value some species more than your own and others less, there’s no reason all species must be equally valuable (let alone individuals) Although the idea of thinking about things that way at all is a little gross to me.

Is it genuinely your belief that the kid would have been fine? Or even any 100% safe solution outside of what happened? What was done ensured the safety of the human child, as it should have. You're misusing false dichotomy. The user I was responding to stated

"Typical creature that values it's own species over all others."

The all or nothing aspect I gave is a direct response to the one they gave. The implication being the user does not value human life over all other life. I do, which is why this started and is ending as a binary conversation. Secondary to that, whats better than what in a tier list is completely irrelevant to the conversation.

There are entire religions on the well being of animals. Jainist hardliners i think it is where the monks even cover their mouth and noses to not breath in the smalles of bacteria since those are animals too

A lack of empathy extends to all things.

Probably not. At least I can't think of a single reason that would explain this. I can however come up with reasons why one might be tempted to think that even if it wasn't true.

Interestingly, I don't know a single religious person so I have zero anecdotal evidence to reference to.

Many are told that they are above animals and that they are there to be used by us.

It depends on what religion you look at you have religions with literal sacred animals, religions where all life is sacred, religions where the prophet didn’t like dogs so dogs are explicitly shunned, religions where just cloven hooves animals are forbidden etc. it’s kind of all over the place, my church is dog friendly and I’ve brought him with me before.

I do think there is a subset of Christianity that believes that 1) animals exist to serve man 2) animals don’t have souls so that would mean animal welfare isn’t really a priority. It’s also important to maintain that animals don’t have souls explicitly to justify caring less about them, if they had eternal souls it would be a lot harder to feel ok exploiting them.

So yes, I do think some religions do have an undercurrent of denying animal welfare for the benefit of animal exploitation because they believe that is the god given purpose of animals, to be exploited by man.