Don’t Eat Dogs

First, my friend and then-colleague Barbara McClay explained Why You Shouldn’t Eat Dogs. We accord dogs “a place we do not grant to the other animals,” she wrote.

That respect isn’t irrational, because it is founded in the uniqueness of the relationship. You could say the relationship itself could have been formed just as easily with some other animal — pigs, for instance. That might be true, but it’s irrelevant. Denying the existence of the relationship would be the irrational thing to do here. The relationship is a fact, and like all relationships, it comes with duties and privileges. So don’t eat dogs.

To put it another way: Speaking of dogs as our friends is not a figure of speech. We are friends with dogs (there’s even a book about it). We are not friends, in this sense, with any other animal. Even horses, with which we do have close relationships, are directed by us in a much firmer way than we direct dogs.

Eating a dog is a betrayal of that friendship. So don’t eat dogs.

Now my Patheos colleague Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, responding to another article on the subject by Michael Brendan Doherty writing in The Week, has added his own thoughts, in which he opens the door to violating that rule Barbara so well explained. In A Dog’s Breakfast, he begins with an explanation of  “the transcendent dignity of human beings as image-bearers of God.” Though lacking this transcedent dignity,

for the Christian, animals and other beings are not valueless. While humans bear God’s image in a special and transcendent way, all of God’s good Creation bears his image, and is therefore worthy of respect. And this is particularly true of the higher animals who, by virtue of man-fellowship, have acquired man-like qualities.

. . . But I think ultimately the best argument for respect for animals is precisely that it’s supererogatory. No, you are not under an obligation to have a particular respect for animals; but precisely because there’s no such obligation, it glorifies God that you do it anyway, as long as such respect is not disordered (e.g. you spend more on your pet than you give to the poor…). Dogs are not moral subjects, and this must be kept in mind, but respect for them is part of the rejoicing in God’s good Creation that all Christians are called to.

As a result, if he finds himself in a culture that eats dogs, eat dog he might.