Monday, February 25, 2013

Bestiality

I've been asked to comment on whether I think bestiality is moral or immoral.  This (like incest) came up in a conversation about homosexuality, which makes it a red herring, since the topics have absolutely nothing to do with each.  Nonetheless, I thought I'd offer my views.

I believe that bestiality is wrong because animals are not consenting adults.  You're raping the poor creature, which ranks up there among the worst kinds of animal abuse I can envision.  That's wrong.

While I agree that such a thing should be punished, I do think the Bible takes the punishment a little too far.  If I remember my Old Testament correctly, the perpetrator is to be executed; I don't necessarily think the crime warrants that.

The Old Testament also says the animal is to be killed as well.  That's a bit harsh on the poor traumatized sheep, don't you think?

12 comments:

  1. How do you know that animals are not consenting adults? I've known some dogs and cats to initiate sexual activity with people. Is it okay then?

    You are correct that the Bible requires both the person and the animal to be put to death. It has to do with what God created sexual relations for in the first place. Beastiality (and homosexuality) go against God's design for sexual relations.

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  2. Can animals legally enter themselves into contracts? No, because they don't meet the definition of consenting adults for that purpose. Similar situation here. And no, I typically turn the hose on a horny dog rather than let him have his way with me.

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  3. What if the dog really wanted to, and his owner consented? Since animals cannot legally enter themselves into contracts, does that mean that anything humans do to or with animals is wrong? What about riding horses or using water buffalo to plow?

    I know those are different topics from the original post, but I am trying to understand your view. Is there something about sexual relations that is different than other relations (for animals)?

    In a way, this ties back to our conversation about slavery. Is it right for a human to own a dog at all? Why or why not? And if a human can own a dog, why can't he decide that it's okay for the dog to engage in sexual activity with a consenting human?

    Just to be clear, I am not advocating that. I go with the Biblical view that beastiality is sinful. But I believe this exposes another inconsistency in your view of morality.

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  4. I think there's a pretty clear distinction between domesticating an animal and abusing one, and I think that having sex with one falls into the latter category. I'm not sure how that's inconsistent with any other opinion I've expressed.

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  5. I understand that there is a distinction between domesticating and abusing an animal. However, in the example I gave, I wasn't talking about abusing an animal. I was talking about allowing an animal and a human to engage in sexual activity that they both want to do in order to increase their happiness. Based on your view of morality, why is that wrong? It would only increase happiness, and not cause any suffering.

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  6. I still don't think an animal could give meaningful consent to such a thing in the way that humans can. If a case could be made based on evidence, I'd be willing to consider it.

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  7. So the dog trying to hump your leg isn't meaningful consent? If that isn't meaningful consent, what possibly could be?

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  8. No, it's not. It's an instinctive behavior among dogs that the dog is applying to me. A dog has no idea what sex would mean to a human, and in fact has no concept of the fact that it wouldn't mean the same thing that it does to the dog himself.

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  9. I'd love to just let this one go, but let me ask another question.

    How do you know that, "A dog has no idea what sex would mean to a human, and in fact has no concept of the fact that it wouldn't mean the same thing that it does to the dog himself"? Is that assertion based on evidence, or is it simply a "faith" claim? How could you possibly verify such a claim?

    Isn't it interesting that all of these discussions end up leading to, "How do we know anything?"

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  10. We know these things because they can be studied.

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  11. But you've already said on your post about "Knowledge" that we can't know anything with 100% certainty.

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  12. Correct; you're just dishonestly leaving out the rest of what I said.

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