“Species Egalitarianism” is a philosophical term for the belief that all species have equal moral status. It’s an ethic, as it turns out, that may come back to bite you. Timothy Treadwell was an environmentalist and animal rights activist that spent 13 summers studying, photographing and advocating for bears. In October 2003, during his pro-bear project, he and his girlfriend were killed and eaten by one.
The idea that “Humans are just grownup germs” or that “We are just descendants from monkeys” represent a worldview that, carried to its logical end, must conclude that a chinchilla has as much (in some cases more) dignity than a child. It is a perspective that the Bible expressly opposes.
As Creator, God has the right to assign value to each element of His creation, an authority He exercised “in the beginning.” The creation of light, water, stars and vegetation, trees bearing fruit, swarms of sea creatures, birds of the air and the beasts of the earth—all were declared “good.” However, the pinnacle of His handiwork was on the sixth day, when He undertook to fashion something in His own image. According to Genesis 1:27, “Male and female He created them,” after which it was all pronounced “very good.” The greater significance granted to mankind is articulated poetically in Psalm 8.
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Ps. 8:5-8)
Despite the most persuasive arguments of the world’s leading biologists, geneticists and philosophers, we all know this to be true. I have yet to hear one of these academics casually report about the death of his own child due to “unforeseen evolutionary causes.” We assign greater-than-animal worth to our family, friends and neighbors because they are, in fact, of more value!
This is the foundation of the pro-life argument and, if you are a Christian, I would hope that you have a decidedly strong opinion in support of it. However, is it possible that there is a sense in which you are not living a pro-life life? I’m not asking about your level of engagement in the anti-abortion cause. I’m asking about your manner of life as a child of God.
Consider the perspective of Psalm 49:20, “Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.” When a person enjoys the position of authority granted to him by God but lives like there is no God, he acts like an animal. Dogs are not commanded to love their wives or respect their husbands. Cattle are not required to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” Zebras are not told, “Whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Yet, when Christians fail to do these things, they behave like “beasts that perish.”
In what ways do people do this? When they engage in the lust of defiling passions they are “like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed” (2 Pet. 2:12). People that rely on their dreams instead of God and that reject authority “are like unreasoning animals” (Jude 10) and will be destroyed (like an animal being put down). People that return to their foolish sins are compared to a “dog that returns to his vomit” (Prov. 26:11).
Christians have strong, biblical support to believe that humans have greater moral status than animals yet they reduce themselves to mere beasts when they fail to live like a child of God. Instead of being conformed to the image of His Son, they are conformed to the image of an animal. Animal behavior is based on instinct. They are controlled by their passions. Christians are marked by their restraint, by denying themselves taking up their cross and following Christ. Today, will you act like a child of God or a family pet?
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet. 1:14–16)