Animals and Evangelicals

Article Tools

• Print
• Email ⁄ Share

    The spotlight shone by the Michael Vick case on the issue of dogfighting and other forms of animal abuse has bemused many conservatives and Christians, leaving them to wonder where to place this barbarism on the scale of evils plaguing society today. But our Evangelical ancestors in the reform movements of 18th- and 19th-century England would not have been so baffled, for even in the midst of their fight against slavery and other ills, they viewed animal cruelty as one of the most important moral issues of their day. By fighting barbarism in all its forms, these Christians sought to cultivate universal benevolence throughout all of society.
    Benevolence toward even the lower creatures has been, in fact, a feature of the evangelical movement from its beginnings in John Wesley, who noted in his “Compendium of Natural Philosophy” that animals “that want the help of man have a thousand engaging ways, which, like the voice of God speaking to his heart, command him to preserve and cherish them.” William Cowper, co-author with John Newton of the “Olney Hymns,” linked love of man and love of animals in his 1785 poem “The Task,” declaring that he would not count among his friends “the man who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.” Sarah Trimmer, a founder of the Sunday School movement in the 18th century, put animal welfare at the forefront of her program for moral education. And in the 19th century, the same parliamentarian who tirelessly spearheaded the anti-slavery crusade, William Wilberforce, also led the campaign against animal cruelty. Indeed the group of believers of which Wilberforce formed a part, known as the Clapham Evangelicals, were not only staunch abolitionists but also helped enact England’s first animal welfare laws.Wilberforce himself was part of an 1824 coffeehouse gathering that resulted in the formation of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He and several Christian clergymen superintended the publication of sermons and tracts designed to turn a hostile public toward support of animal welfare laws.
    From its beginnings, then, the animal welfare movement was led by moral, Christian reformers who understood the link between one form of barbarism and another.Therefore, conservative, compassionate, pro-life Christians might be heartened by the widespread outrage against Michael Vick’s cruelty. While some conservative leaders have expressed concern that heightened compassion for animals diminishes value for human life, such compassion may, in fact, cultivate similar empathy for other helpless victims of human depravity — perhaps even the victims of abortion.
    The animal welfare movement of our Evangelical ancestors was rooted, not in an unbiblical ethos of animal “rights,” but in benevolence as well as in recognition of the Christian’s duty toward God’s creation. Ample biblical support from the moral laws of Exodus to the wisdom of the Proverbs can be cited to advocate compassionate care for animals rather than exploitative domination. But perhaps the most compelling evidence of the implicit assumption in Scripture about the nature of man’s relationship to animals is found in the picture God provides of His relationship to us: namely, that of the Good Shepherd “who lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

Dr. Karen Swallow Prior is Associate Professor of English at Liberty University.