“You maniacs! You did it! You really did it! Damn you all to Hell” –Planet of the Apes
Well, the stupid monkeys went ahead and did it. Right to life for monkeys, not babies.
[RO]Spain may be better known throughout the world for bull fighting than animal rights, but its parliament declared support on Wednesday for the right to life and freedom of the nation’s great apes.
The move is the first time any national legislature has called for rights for non-humans.
The parliament’s environmental committee approved the resolution, which calls on Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project. The initiative, originated by philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri in 1993, promotes the position that “non-human hominids” such as gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans and bonobos should enjoy comparable rights as humans, including the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured. The philosophers believe the apes are our closest genetic relatives.
The right to life and freedom! At the same time, moves are afoot to liberalize abortion laws in Spain.
The Spanish newspaper ABC reported this week that the country’s Health Minister, Bernat Soria, who supports the legalization of abortion, is “hoping” to get a majority of lawmakers to back a Congressional proposal to change Spain’s law on abortion.
“The reform of a norm is something that is usually proposed by the government, and I hope we achieve a consensus,” Soria said.Nevertheless, the Zapatero administration “has not said whether or not it would take up the initiative, and we only know that it intends to issue norms on the confidentiality, the quality of services and the legal protection of those who practice abortions,” ABC reported.
The philosophers believe the apes are our closest genetic relatives. Babies. Wouldn’t babies, fetuses, or embryos be closer genetic relatives? Don’t they share 100% of our DNA. Europe, having lost all faith, has now lost all reason. Only wickedness remains.
June 26, 2008 at 2:40 pm
This is weird, just weird.
June 26, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I’m an occasional reader of this blog. And I like it very much. BUT (you knew it was coming, right?) I don’t see anything wrong with being kind to animals -especially our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.
We were told by God to care for the animals. I don’t see how making fun of those who want to heed God’s call by taking care of animals is a very Christian thing to do.
June 26, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Anon,
Caring for animals is one thing. I support cruelty to animals laws. But granting them “comparable rights as humans” is ludicrous. Ludicrous becomes horrific when we don’t grant basic human rights to actual humans.
I hope you can see the distinction.
June 26, 2008 at 7:19 pm
What are they going to do when some ape wants an abortion?
June 26, 2008 at 8:43 pm
How about ape ordination?
June 26, 2008 at 8:52 pm
“How about ape ordination?”
What!? You never heard of Capuchin monkeys?
Otherwise, I believe something similar may have happened recently on a barge in the Danube River among other locations including Saint Louis.
And then there is a pastor in Chicago who….
June 26, 2008 at 11:01 pm
I work with an EDGE program (Life Teen for middle schoolers) and one day in small group, I was trying to get the girls to tell me the difference between a person and an animal (the answer is humans have immortal souls). We got really close when one of the girls said that you can baptize people and not animals. Another proceeded to chime in, “I baptized my cat once.” Ah well…
June 26, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Dogs are ever so much nicer than cats, and sometimes smarter than governments.
— Mack