ANIMA: Animals, Faith, Compassion – 12 Religious Faiths on the Sacredness of Animals
A new, short, 12-minute documentary film, “ANIMA: Animals. Faith. Compassion.,” explores the core fundamental beliefs of 12 diverse religious faiths including–Christianity, Buddhism, Muslim, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, ISKON (Hinduism), Bahá’í Faith, the Brahma Kumaris movement, Judaism, Vedanta (Hinduism), Indigeneity, and Jainism—and their call for greater protection, respect, care and compassion for animals today.
Representatives of each of these faiths explore the theme of compassionate living and our human responsibility to care for all that God has created and not contribute to hurting or harming sentient animal life in any way. That we have an obligation to treat human and non-human animals with complete reverence, compassion, care and respect, and when we go against this, we are hurting God and His divine creation.
The message from all of the faiths is that animals are sacred and sentient, as humans are, and should be protected as part of God’s creation. That we are not “supreme” over animals, we are not to “dominate” animals—but rather, we have a responsibility for stewardship over them and over all of life.
The film challenges long-upheld and misunderstood beliefs about the relationship between human and non-human animals and myths created by different faith traditions regarding animals. Rabbi Suzanna Singer challenges the need for animal products altogether, “Our belief in Judaism is that God never actually meant us to eat animals. In the Garden of Eden, God shows us the fruit of the trees, the grass in the fields, and says ‘You may have any of this to eat.’ But God never mentioned animals,” she notes in the film. Reverend Dr. Gwynne Guibord, Founder and President of The Guibord Center, addresses misconceptions surrounding Christianity and animal consumption. “In the book of Genesis, it is written ‘And God gave man dominion over the animals.’ Dr. Guibord says, “That’s a mistranslation. It should read: ‘And God gave man responsibility or stewardship.’ It shifts the whole notion of [the word].”
It’s time to challenge the misunderstandings that have been used to justify the exploitation of animals. Dr. Lo Sprague says in ANIMA, “Every religion has compassion as part of its mandate. It is time to mobilize that.”
Quotes from the Film
“Every living entity is sacred in God’s eyes.”
“As a compassionate people, our job is to be loving and compassionate to all that God has created.”
“The Creator has given us the spiritual feeling to care, if you go against that, then you are going against our Creator, and you are going against nature.”
“When we harm something we’re hurting Divinity.”
“Everyone has equal right to have freedom of life, and when we kill animals, we have taken that right away from them.”
“When people are cruel to animals, they are missing the knowledge that – that animal has feelings – they are sentient beings like we are. They feel pain, joy, just like we do.”
“Animals shouldn’t be caged, abused, confined, or performing things that are unnatural to them.”
“If I’m hurting someone else I’m hurting God, and when you’re hurting an animal you are directly hurting God.”
“God’s heart breaks when another animal is abused.”
“When we harm something, we are not seeing the divinity in animals.”
“We hear this word Dominion over creatures, that is not at all the Hebrew word that is interpreted this way. It has been mis-translated and mis-interpreted. We’re not meant to dominate, we’re not meant to exploit.”
“We are here to take care of all life, not hurt it. It’s our duty to take care of all life on Earth.”
“If we can get people to change their consciousness, so they no longer see animals as objects, then that changes everything.”
“Animals are to be treated with reverence, compassion, care and respect.”
Indigenous People
“In the indigenous way, the animals are very sacred. They are considered our relatives. They are part of us, they become into our spirits, into our souls, into our hearts. They have feelings just like you and I. Anyone who abuses anything alive, is not human.”
Jain Religion
“Jains regard the animal kingdom with the utmost care. Jainism is a strong believer in non-violence. A responsibility to be non-violent through mind, speech and action. That’s why we don’t hurt them or kill them. They have the same soul and feelings as humans. We have no right to take their life from them. When we kill an animal, we are taking away that right from them that God gave them.”
Judaism
“Judaism considers all life to be sacred. The belief in Judaism, is that God never meant us to actually eat animals. In the Garden of Eden, God shows us the fruit of the trees, the grass in the fields, and says you may have any of this to eat—but God never mentioned animals. There’s a whole section of the Talmud dedicated to avoiding cruelty to animals.”
Sikhism
“The Sikh religion recognizes and respects all life, and considers all life to be sacred. In Sikhism, our core fundamental belief is God created everything. By seeing an animal as an object, you are treating that animal as less than you. And if God created all things, how could one be greater and one be less? They are all created by the one God.”
Hindu / Krishna
“Ahimsa in Hindu, is non-violence. Every living entity has a soul according to ancient Hindu tradition. The life inside an animal is no different from the life inside of us. So one should not have any violence against any other soul. There is no need to eat other animals and cause violence.”
Christianity
“Animals and all life on the planet are sacred. They are creatures of God. In Genesis it states that I God, am in covenant with you and them, equally. In God’s world, we are in equal relationship with all things. It’s all about right relationship between us and all the other creatures on Earth.”
Zoroastrian Religion
“Believes that all of God’s creations is sacred. They all have the divine spark of God in them. We have a duty and responsibility to take good care of animals, and treat them with love, kindness and compassion.”
Buddhism
“Compassion and loving kindness means that we want to alleviate all suffering for all beings. This is central to Buddhism. Chinese Buddhists are vegetarian – so in practicing vegetarianism means we don’t want to take a life, and we shouldn’t take a life. We are one, we are interconnected, to save them, we are saving us.”
Islam
“Anything we see in the animal kingdom or plant kingdom, it was created by God to worship him. We are supposed to provide for them and treat them with respect and dignity. In the name of God, the compassionate.”
More about The Guibord Center
http://www.theguibordcenter.org +1 323 333 4664
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Film Credits
Written and Directed by: Jennifer Jessum
Executive Producer: Dr. Lois M. Sprague
Cinematography:Joseph Tama & Aaron Torres
Music by: Moby
Made for: Animal Defenders International
Produced by: The Guibord Center
A Flying Limbs Inc. Production
ANIMA features:
Baha’i – Randolph Dobbs*, General Secretary, Spiritual Assembly of Baha’i
Brahma Kumaris – Sr. Vino*, Sister of The Brahma Kumaris
Buddhist – Ven. Abbot Hui Dong & Ven. Miao Hsi*, Nun
Christian – The Very Rev. Canon Daniel Ade*, Dean and Rector, & The Very Rev. Canon Mark Kowalewski, Dean and Rector, St. John’s (Episcopal) Cathedral
Hindu – ISKCON – Sura Das*, Priest & Karen Pharmer, Lay Leader
Hindu – Vedanta – Swami Sarvadevananda*, Minister & Dr. Rini Ghosh*, Leader The Vedanta Society of Southern California
Indigenous – Saginaw Grant, Hereditary Chief of the Sac and Fox, Iowa and Otoe-Missouria Nations & Sam Bearpaw*, Indigenous Leader, Apache Nation, Theodore Payne Foundation
Jain – Community Leaders and Youth, Ami C. Shah, Raj Shah, Prashant Shah, Kush Shah, Harsha Parikh, Manilal B. Mehta, Dr. Mahendra Shah
Jewish – Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels*, Temple Beth Shir Shalom, Santa Monica & Rabbi Suzanne Singer*, Temple Beth El, Riverside
Muslim – Salam Al-Marayati, President, Muslim Public Affairs Council & Edina Lekovic*, Islamic Center of Southern California; host, Meeting the Moment podcast, The Islamic Center of Southern California.
Sikh – Nirinjan Singh Khalsa*, Executive Director, The California Sikh Council
Zoroastrian – Maneck Bhujwala*, Priest and Community Spokesperson, The California Zoroastrian Center, Westchester
Interfaith – The Guibord Center – The Rev. Dr. Gwynne Guibord, Founder and President, The Guibord Center, Los Angeles. Dr. Lois M Sprague, Vice President, The Guibord Center; Executive Producer, ANIMA: Animals. Faith. Compassion.
