Animals and World Religions

What is our place in the larger universe? Are we called to be activists? What do sacred stories reveal about the ethics of diet? Animals and World Religions, the first of its kind (and still the most comprehensive book on the topic), explores animal and Earth ethics through sacred teachings (including the Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, as well as a wide variety of indigenous traditions). On a planet where habitat destruction and species extinction threaten the balance of life, this book helps all of us to reexamine and reimagine our place in the universe.Spirituality & Practice listed Animals and World Religions as one of the “50 Best Books of 2012.”

Kemmerer demonstrates many times over that the core, the fundamental teachings of the religions of the world are 'radically friendly' to other-than-human animals, demanding respect, justice, and compassion. With the publication of her book, the future of religion-and-animal-studies will be forever changed-for the better.

Tom Regan, author of The Case for Animal Rights

Interview: Lisa Kemmerer
on Animals and World Religions

Animals Today Radio with Dr. Lori Kirshner.

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For more about Animals and World Religions see:

— Book review: Animals and World Religions

— Synopsis: Animals and World Religions

— Introduction to Animals and World Religions

Animals and World Religions

Introduction by Lisa Kemmerer

From the standpoint of religious traditions, what is our rightful role with regard to red-winged blackbirds and short-eared lizards? What do sacred teachings tell us about our responsibilities to bluefin tuna and Black Angus cattle?

Humans often dominate and exploit other creatures. Contemporary factory farming, for example, causes acute suffering, prolonged misery, and premature death to billions of nonhuman animals every year, across continents, on behalf of those who choose to eat animal products. From factory farms to medical labora- tories, individuals from nonhuman species have become objects for our purposes, and means to human ends. Technology, mass production, and the sheer number of flesh-eating humans crowded onto this planet have increased the volume and inten- sity of nonhuman animal exploitation exponentially. Most of us never see the crea- tures whom we dominate and exploit, their dark eyes and steamy breath, wavy hair or intricate feathers, swaying tails or shiny beaks. We do not have the chance to know them as individuals—their preferences and fears, affections and curiosities— we see only a slab of flesh wrapped in cellophane, a bit of dairy in a plastic container, with an obscure label that fails to mention the truth: This that you eat is part of someone else’s body . . .   Read more