Do meat eating atheists ever feel guilty?
It would be considered immoral to kill and eat a human being. However, if you're an atheist, you're going to have the belief that humans are essentially intelligent animals and nothing more.
So is it a double standard displayed by atheists when they eat non-human animals but not consider it immoral? Why is it only immoral to kill a human and not other living beings?
I'm genuinely curious. Do any of the atheists here ever see it as a dilemma? Afterall, aren't all animals just our less evolved 'brethren'?
Good question!
I absolutely feel guilty. Producing meat (especially when produced in industrial farming) almost invariably causes suffering to animals. I try to live by the harm principle, so for me it is always a struggle. I absolutely want to minimize the suffering I cause. But meat is so dominant in the diet of my country and it tastes so incredibly good imsad. I feel bad whenever I have eaten meat. My current ethical 'compromise' is to only ever eat meat when I go out to a restaurant and there isn't any good vegetarian dish. I never eat meat at home. But afterwards I always feel I have 'sinned'. I already eat very little meat, but I hope to eventually become a full-fledged vegetarian.
On a side note, while we cannot ever be sure that animals are truly capable of feeling pain (think of Descartes view of animals as '
automatons'), I personally think it is reasonable to assume so, considering their behavior and similar physiology to a human being. So yes, I indeed do consider humans highly developed animals. Though the question of sentience always bugs me in the back of my mind. Are animals sentient? If they are not, can they feel pain? How can we ever answer this question!?!?
Personally I really see no reason to consider pain suffered by animals of less relevance than that suffered by humans. Sure, they are 'inferior' in the sense that they are less developed, incapable of reason, and generally just plain dumb. But pain is pain, I do not believe we can simply assume that the pain they feel is less intense or real than our pain. Intelligence is simply not really relevant when discussing pain and suffering, just like it isn't less evil to cause pain to babies or severely mentally handicapped just because their are intellectually underdeveloped.
Mind you, this sounds nice in principle of course, but like with many ethical questions, it is very difficult to know where to draw the line. Isn't there a cut-off point at which intelligence and physiology becomes so primitive that we can reasonably assume there isn't really anything 'there' to feel the pain, there is no one at home so to speak. I mean, is a whale suffering 'worse' than that of a fly? I would think so, but it is hard to rationally and philosophically defend that position. Just because something 'feels' like an acceptable thing to do, doesn't mean it is. We always need to reevaluate our moral compass to absolutely minimize injustice and suffering. We should never become complacent in this, let alone let tradition determine what is 'right'.
That is my ethical position. So to answer your question, yes I do believe many atheists are indeed inconsistent on this matter. Many atheists try to live by the principle of 'do no harm', yet most nonchalantly ignore animal suffering, as if animals are incapable of truly being 'harmed'. They are simply forgotten in the whole harm 'equation'. I think this has a lot to do with the dominant powers of customs and tradition. Eating meat is so 'normal' in our culture, it is quickly taken for granted and branded uncontroversial.
Just to be clear, btw, for me the most urgent moral question deals with how animals are bred, kept and slaughtered. Were the life of livestock generally pleasant and death instant and painless, the harm caused would be considerably less obvious. For me, it is not the killing as such that is most problematic, it is the way we treat animals while they are alive.
While I agree this question is mostly relevant to atheists, animal suffering is a moral issue for all of course. I mean, as far as I am aware, Islam requires you to treat animals with respect, so there appears to be an implicit acceptance that animals are more than just tools, but also sentient beings capable of feelings? So I will ask a question of my own. Although your God allows you to kill an animal for meat or even sacrifice, does he require it of you? Do you really think this world becomes a better place when you all, say, collectively ritually slaughter an animal on Eid? Especially considering the circumstances in which animals are bred and transported now-a-days, namely in an industrialized manner? Surely these are difficult moral questions to all of us, atheist or not.
