Why Animal Testing is Wrong, and Why I, as a Christian, Do Not Care

   Many companies, such as soap companies, cosmetic companies, and pharmaceutical research companies, test their products on unsuspecting lab animals, frequently with tragic results. This includes chemical burns, sores, abscesses, tumors, and even death. Injured and ill animals regularly go without treatment, and many, myself included, believe this is wrong. These companies should be stopped, but at what cost?

   God has commanded us to "have dominion...over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26). Dictionary.com defines 'dominion' as, 'the power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority." This is not indicative of tyranny, rather, we are to be caretakers of God's Creation. How then, by afflicting God's creatures, are we caring for them? Not well at all. Instead, we are destroying it.

   Animals do not have eternal souls, but they do feel physical and emotional pain, caused by the usually abrasive testing and neglect. Keeping them in unsanitary conditions and testing potentially toxic substances is wrong, especially because we leave them helpless to defend themselves. It is a form of animal cruelty and abuse, yet no one objects. And should they?

   As a whole, our country and world needs to be less concerned with the welfare of our animals, and more concerned with the welfare of our fellow mankind, as well as healing the moral decay seen in today's society. Every day, over three thousand children (137/hour, 4/9 minutes) are murdered ruthlessly through abortion in the United States alone. All around the world, many people, young and old, male and female, wanted and not are starving due to lack of proper nutrition. Terminal illness kills innumerable people daily. Our veterans go without necessary health care. Our morals are gone. Homosexuality, pornography, premarital sex, and immodesty are embraced and accepted, not only as normal, but as desirable.

   Suddenly, the nameless, faceless animals no longer seem to matter. Yes, it does need to stop. However, right now, our country and world has larger issues to face. We need to be less concerned with animals, who have no soul, and be more concerned with reaching out to lost people, who have eternal souls in peril.