An interview with Paul Waldau

A Communion of Subjects is the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of the conceptualization of animals in world religions. Contributors consider how major religious traditions have incorporated animals into their belief systems, myths, rituals, and art.nnQ: Is this a book about religion or a book about animals?nnPaul Waldau: Those interested only in animals (or, to use the scientific terminology, “nonhuman animals”) would find an extraordinary range of interesting material in literally dozens of these essays. Those interested only in religion would, similarly, find much new and fascinating information about religious traditions, communities, and believers’ experiences. Each of these vast areas—religion, on the one hand, and “animals,” on the other—has so much to do with our lives that the intersection “religion and animals” is bound to be a busy, diverse and, yes, sometimes contradictory place. That’s precisely why the book is so important—it asks many different kinds of questions about human-nonhuman relationships in careful, open-minded ways.nnQ: What’s new in this book that hasn’t been written about before?nnPW: First, the volume sets out why this extraordinary subject is, at once, everywhere but, at the same time, dismissed as unimportant by certain people and even disciplines in the academic world. Second, by looking at such diverse materials collected in one place, the prevalence of the topic becomes very obvious. One almost wonders, “How could we have missed this?” Third, the volume is a meeting place of another kind—scholars of religion meet non-religion scholars, scientists and animal advocates who hitherto have been rather dismissive of religion as a topic relevant to animal protection. The resulting conversation is remarkable.nnQ: Did you include your own experiences?nnPW: The book is dedicated to Ryely and Barley, two golden retrievers I lived with in the 1990s, and also to Emily the Rabbit who graced my co-editor’s life. These individuals are thus “included” even though the reader doesn’t find them described explicitly. Similarly, my experiences kayaking with dolphins and whales are powerful presences in the book, though they are never called out as such. Many other authors do mention personal experiences. In fact, it would be hard to write an informed book about “religion and animals” without in some way mentioning the actual biological beings we share Earth with—for me personally, this one of the real thrusts of the theme “a communion of subjects.”nnQ: Do other countries view “animal rights” differently than this issue is view in the United States?nnPW: Some do, some don’t. In one sense, the United States is a peculiar animal, as it were, in the area of “animal rights” or, more accurately, “animal protection.” The theoretical work here is cutting edge—there are now over 70 law schools that offer this new topic, including the Harvard Law School course in “animal law” that I taught in Spring 2006. And the otherwise draconian U.S. legal system is now seeing interesting additional protections being offered some animals, such as the tens of millions of companion animals that now members of our families. But at the same time, more animals than ever (9 billion or more in 2006) are subjected in the United States to the incredibly harsh system generally referred as “factory farming.” Outside the U.S., there are countries (indeed, the entire European Community) that moderate the harshness of industrialized farming much more than does the U.S. Even beyond that, there are extraordinarily far-reaching implications from the fact that some countries (India, Germany, Switzerland) that offer constitution-level protections for some nonhuman animals. I personally hope the book prompts many in religious communities to ask how they and other believers can, in their own world, make informed and, hopefully, caring choices about our dealings with other animals. This is important because factory farming is spreading, and in some countries the conditions are even worse than in the United States. What might religions and their believers have to say about this development?nnQ: Isn’t concern about animals just a passing fashion? Paul Waldau: Reading the book will introduce anyone to this simple fact—concern for other animals is an ancient concern. Many ancient peoples thought of nonhuman animals as bringers of blessings. Some even thought of them as divinities or ancestors. That’s one of the reasons I described this book part of “an ongoing project of sensitive, compassionate humans for millennia.” It’s true that over the last two thousand years, some cultures have lost their fascination with other living beings and become extremely human-centered. But care and concern for other animals can be found, if you look carefully, in any time period and in any religion. What’s groundbreaking about this volume is that it complements ancient concerns with the special contributions of modern sensibilities and information. There is, thus, plenty of information about actual animals, and this is a key feature of the volume—information about actual animals is vital to getting past our personal, cultural and, indeed, self-inflicted ignorance about Earth’s other lives.

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