The legendary French president, Charles de Gaulle, once quipped, “The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.” I may have come to agree with him!
From time immemorial, people have loved their pets. But today, dogs and cats enjoy a status in many homes akin to children’s. We often hear of “fur babies” who are afforded luxuries, like day-care, spas, gourmet food, and trips to parks and play areas that their canine and feline ancestors would never have experienced.
Some couples deliberately avoid having or adopting children, thinking they can substitute the love they might have experienced with more convenient companion animals instead.
Pope Francis remarked to a general audience that loving pets as if they were children represents “a form of selfishness.”
The Pope was not casting slurs on his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, a noted keeper of cats! Instead, Pope Francis noted the lamentable drop in birth-rates across the West.
The Pope often explained that it is worth the inconvenience and risk to have children or to adopt them rather than opt for the company of house pets.
Unsurprisingly, the Pope’s comments on pet ownership have yet to be universally well-received. A new study from the Pew Research Centre may explain why.
New Survey Pets and You
According to new surveys, about 62 per cent of Americans own at least one pet, and among all pet owners, 51 per cent say pets are part of the family “as much as a human member.” Men are less likely than women to consider pets on par with human relations, and suburban and rural respondents are considerably less inclined to prize animals as highly as urban people are.
The interesting divide, however, comes when comparing married versus unmarried people and parents versus non-parents. Among married people, 43 per cent said they consider pets as much a part of the family as humans, whereas respondents who identified as “living with a partner” polled 65 per cent and those who said they had “never married” polled 63 per cent. Among parents, however, 42 per cent said their pets were on equal footing with their children.
In brief, the data suggest that being married and having children results in a lower estimation of the status of pets compared to humans.
Nonetheless, even among these traditional demographics, an alarmingly high number of people take the idea of “man’s best friend” to a whole new level?—?even on an unnatural level.
How Should Christians React?
We need to start by getting our -ologies straight.
First theology. Who is God? God is God, and we are not. God made everything that exists, including humans and their pets. God made everything in the world exists in a particular order relative to everything else to glorify God.
Second anthropology. What is a human being? He is the crowning glory of God’s creation. Humankind is made in God’s image and according to his likeness.
Humans are ensouled creatures. Humans are capable of reason. Human beings are destroyed by sin but invited into participation in the divine life. There is no other creature like human beings.
Third, zoology. What is an animal?—?every animal? An animal has a personality but does not have a rational soul or will. An animal cannot sin, and an animal is not conscious of, nor does it strive for heavenly bliss.
An animal communicates, but not with anything like human language or reasoning. When a dog, cat, deer, or rhinoceros is thirsty, it drinks but cannot reason.
So How Should We Love Our Pets?
Our love for animals can never be a meeting of equals, a meeting of minds or wills. Neither an appreciation of the depth of each other’s being.
Humans should not have sexual relations with animals. Nor should they marry them, which seems to be modern practice in some quarters here in 2023.
The Bible speaks of the pairing of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:19–20, which notes, “None of the animals can be man’s partner.”
The Bible explains that animals are entrusted to man’s care and control. He must show animals kindness. Although one can love animals, one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.
The Bible mentions bestiality in four different passages. Exodus 22:19 says, “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death.”
Leviticus 18:23 declares, “Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.”
Leviticus 20:15–16 commands, “If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal. Suppose a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it. Kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their heads.”
Deuteronomy 27:21 agrees, “Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal.” From these verses, it is abundantly clear that, according to the Bible, bestiality is a horrible, unnatural, and abominable sin.
Although in 2023, bestiality does not carry the death penalty, it is,
nonetheless, a horrible, unnatural, and abominable sin.
Our pets rely on us. Pets get used to us, seek to please us, and may even help us in various ways. But pets are incapable of the natural human loves of romance or friendship, let alone the supernatural divine charity that binds a Christian family together. If we love animals the way we love a human, we will not only be left disappointed but find our souls and minds disordered.
Pets Are a Comfort to Us
And so, we return to Charles de Gaulle’s statement: “The better I get to know man, the more I love dogs.” His quip may have been meant in jest, in frustration over the annoyances of human interaction. But in its literal sense, it rings true.
The more we humans understand our role concerning God, our fellow man, and the rest of creation. The more we can love and respect animals as God created them.
The less we consider our pets to be as loveable as our children, the more we will love them and enjoy them for what they are.
And now it’s time for me to walk my dogs, Pepsi & KiKi, and feed my fish. I love those guys.
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I have worked internationally with over 40 years of experience, having a Bachelor of Pastoral Counselling and Theology and a Master of Arts in Counselling & Professional Development. BACP Life Coaching Certificate. I currently work as a Christian educator, blogger, author, and grandmother living with my two dogs in Wales, UK.
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