Good Eating, by Stephen H. Webb
During the past three decades, moral concern about how animals are treated has proliferated in Western societies. The leaders of the animal rights movement have been philosophers, among whom there is little agreement as to the movement's rational foundations. Peter Singer, often considered the father of animal rights, is in fact a utilitarian for whom "rights" are conceptually suspect. Tom Regan is a rights theorist; Steve Sapontzis bases animal ethics in common moral intuitions.
Though divided as to the underpinnings of animal ethics, such thinkers are united in attempting to mitigate the staggering amount of pain and suffering modern society inflicts on animals. The major source of this suffering is confinement agriculture. Animals used in research number in the millions; animals produced for food under conditions which fail to meet their biological and psychological needs are counted in the billions.
With a few notable exceptions, theologians and clergy have been slow to engage animal issues. Stephen H. Webb's timely discussion of vegetarianism in Good Eating, published as the debut volume in the Christian Practice of Everyday Life series, is a welcome stimulus to Christian reflection on current animal treatment. It should provoke much debate and perhaps more than a few sermons arousing people from their dogmatic slumber about animal exploitation.
