Animals in church

[TroutDude]

Originally Posted by Thoreau424

I enjoy animals more than most humans. They're free of so much b.s. that is common in mankind. We'll probably eventually wipe ourselves out, and they'll carry on just fine afterwards.

Better.

Much.

[Thoreau424]

^ I was going to say that Yeah, they'll be not just fine, but much better off. Back to the topic, I need to bring my tank of sea monkeys to church.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

But animals are not part of the human kingdom. Animals are here for our use. In some countries Fido & Kitty would be the main course at dinner.

Seriously?

In some cases, humans are dinner for animals.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Thoreau424

^ I was going to say that Yeah, they'll be not just fine, but much better off. Back to the topic, I need to bring my tank of sea monkeys to church.

You'd be welcome at mine with them, hehehe.

Yes, the other animals and the cockroaches will still be here long after we've all offed one another.

[Shirina]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

But animals are not part of the human kingdom. Animals are here for our use. In some countries Fido & Kitty would be the main course at dinner.

Perhaps, if there is a design to this miserable universe, animals are here to test our compassion and morality.

Because I'm not so sure animals are merely things for humans to use. Anyone who has ever bonded with a pet knows they display all the emotions we do -- up to and including knowing the difference between right and wrong.

They may not be humans, but we're more alike than different. We don't give animals enough credit, in my opinion. Too many seem to think that animals are like little computers carrying out a program we call "instinct." And they are incapable of doing much else. They must follow their programming.

Yet I have seem remarkable intelligence in the pets that I've had -- especially some of them who demonstrated the ability to come up with jaw-dropping solutions to problems, showing problem-solving abilities that could never be attributed to mere instinct.

Not to mention the incredible compassion they so often display. Like when my outdoor cat laid with me for an entire week when I had a bad case of bronchitis -- she never once begged to go out. She'd get up to eat and use the litter box but spent every moment in my bed. As soon as I recovered, off she went into the great outdoors and rarely slept with me.

But hey, I'm not one of those insane PETA people and I eat meat like most people do. Ergo I understand that we do use some animals as a source of food. Just one more way we are more alike with animals than different. But c'mon, no one needs to eat dogs and cats in this day and age -- not unless you are literally starving and that is the *only* food source.

[Shirina]

As for animals in church -- heh -- back when I was forced to attend church and didn't want to (more because I was a teen and would rather be out with my friends than because of being an atheist -- and I wasn't quite a full-blown atheist then, anyway), I would have loved to see people bringing animals to the Sunday morning service.

Watching the antics of dogs and cats would have been infinitely more interesting than the sermons, the terrible singing, the smell of death on half the congregation, and the searingly uncomfortable straight-backed wooden pews; those pews literally had back support that was 90 degrees perpendicular to the seat, meaning if you didn't have back pain yet, you would before it was all over.

I would've thought it was a laugh riot of a dog started barking and howling during the hymns or a cat slithering away from its owner resulting in a merry chase through the church trying to catch it. THAT would've been worth getting up and dressing like Sweet Miss Innocent for.

Sometimes a little chaos is a good thing, no?