BOOKS: They Shall Not Hurt Or Destroy

June 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2003:

They Shall Not Hurt Or Destroy
Animal Rights & Vegetarianism in the Western Religious Traditions
by Vasu Murti
Vegetarian Advocates Press (P.O. Box 201791, Cleveland, OH 44120), 2003.
140 pages, paperback. $15.00.

They Shall Not Hurt Or Destroy author Vasu Murti traces the
struggle for animal rights and vegetarianism back to antiquity. The
great prophets of Israel, Pythagoras, and Plato spoke out against
slaughter.
The cause was then taken up by the early leaders of the Christian
church and their Jewish counterparts, demonstrates Murti.
Separate chapters deal with Jewish, Catholic, and
Protestant teachings, from medieval times to the present.
Says the Jewish Talmud, “Adam and many generations that followed
him were strict flesh-abstainers; flesh-foods were rejected as
repulsive for human consumption.”

BOOKS: Monster of God

May 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2003:

Monster of God:
The man-eating predator in the
jungles of history and the mind
by David Quammen
W.W. Norton & Co. (500 5th Ave., New York, NY 10110), 2003.
384 pages, hardcover. $26.95.

Certain to be classified by most librarians as “natural
history,” Monster of God has already been mistaken by many reviewers
as a screed in defense of “sustainable use.”
Monster of God is actually a book mostly about faith,
exploring the influence of the human evolutionary role as prey upon
concepts of religion, and of the more recent human ascendance as a
top predator on our ideas about conservation.

BOOKS: The Raven Who Spoke With God

April 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2003:

The Raven Who Spoke With God by Christopher Foster
Singing Spirit Books (4127 Ash Ct., Loveland, CO 80538), 2001.
148 pages, paperback. $12.95.

Joshua, The Raven Who Spoke With God, is more-or-less kin
to Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the title-bird of the 1973 best
seller by Richard Bach, reissued to renewed success in 1995. Those
who like spiritual bird stories seem to be as enthralled with Joshua
as they were with Jonathan, judging from the many rave reviews
published elsewhere.

Chronology of humane progress (Part 1 of two parts: from Moses to Walt Disney)

April 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2003:
Chronology of humane progress
(Part 1 of two parts: from Moses to Walt Disney)
by Merritt Clifton

1300 B.C. — Hebrew law as proclaimed by
Moses includes provisions for humane slaughter
and care of work animals.

740 B.C. — Rise of Isaiah, the most
prominent of the Hebrew vegetarian prophets, and
the prophet who most emphasized opposition to
animal sacrifice.

Tongdaeng the street dog reawakens Thai sense of duty toward animals

January 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

BANGKOK–For the second time in five years a street dog has
grabbed the attention and affection of Thailand, reminding Thais
that kindness toward animals is a national tradition as well as a
Buddhist teaching and moral obligation.
Among modern nations, only India has a longer documented
history of acknowledging duties toward animals. At that, the
difference is slim. The animal-loving Indian emperor Asoka sent
missionaries to Thailand to teach Buddhism in the third century B.C.,
only 250 years after the Buddha died.

BOOKS: Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy

January 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Dominion:
The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy
by Matthew Scully
St. Martin’s Press (175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010), 2002.
464 pages. $27.95 hardcover.

In November of 1998 I received a copy of
an article from the National Review. As editor
of Humane Religion, a bi-monthly journal, I was
used to getting all kinds of clippings from our
readers, negative and positive. And when I saw
this was taken from the very conservative
National Review, I was sure it was going to be
disheartening, at best. But I couldn’t maintain
that attitude. The article began with the
statement “Respect for God’s creatures should be
a conservative impulse.”

BOOKS: The Cosmic Serpent

October 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2002:

The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge by Jeremy Narby
Translated from the original French by the author, with assistance
from Jon Christensen
Tarcher/Putnam (c/o Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson St., New York,
NY 10014), 1998. 257 pages, hardcover. $22.95.

The Cosmic Serpent is not a quick, easy read. It is
thought-provoking, and bound to bring to light surprising facts for
readers, no matter what their area of expertise. That does not mean
that the facts will convince most readers to agree with all the
conclusions painstakingly drawn by anthropologist Jeremy Narby. Any
book which begins as this one does, with a description of the
author’s hallucinogenic trip under the guidance of a shaman, is
bound to stir some controversy.

Islamic zoos & Chinese animals

September 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2002:

DEN HAGUE, JAKARTA, KABUL, AMMAN, LAS VEGAS– Mohammed,
reputedly fond of cats, might have given his special blessing to a
cat who found herself locked inside a minaret at a mosque in Den
Hague, The Netherlands, on July 26 after Friday prayers. The cat
summoned help by somehow switching on the minaret sound system and
amplifying her meows along with Turkish music throughout the downtown
area, the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported. Her people
recognized her voice and called the police, but the key to the
minaret was not found until Sunday.

Why sanctuaries scare the Crown

July 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

Governmental agencies are usually happy to step in and
regulate: expanded duties make bureaucrats more secure.
Yet the whole idea of recognizing sanctuaries as a class of
entity distinct and separate from zoos, game preserves, and
dog-and-cat-oriented animal shelters tends to make regulators
nervous–and not just because of the many contentious practical
issues and personalities they might have to deal with.
Historically, the concepts of “sanctuary” and “civil
government” have rarely harmonized for long. The whole notion of
“sanctuary” is of religious rather than secular origin, and
abolishing it was among the major accomplishments of the
post-Protestant Reformation separation of church from state.

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