For many people, religion is the basis of their ethical belief structure, and the failure of many mainstream religions to specifically incorporate animals presents a quandary. At Our Hen House, we love to find opportunities to shed light on the links between religion (or spirituality) and animal rights and we’re constantly looking for opportunities to showcase people who are exploring this subject. It was the impetus for our “Spirituality and Animals” series that is intermittently part of our podcast.
Which is why we are particularly excited about Paul Waldau’s upcoming summer course at Harvard University, entitled “Animals and Religion.” There is more info about the course, and the subject matter in general, at the Religion and Animals Institute’s website (“RAI”) and at Harvard’s summer school website. RAI “promotes education, discussion and scholarship regarding the fundamental role that religion has played in our awareness of the living beings in, near and far away from our human communities.” For those interested in this subject, RAI’s resources (interviews and lectures as well as papers) are definitely worth checking out. “Animals and Religion” is open to college undergraduates as well as high school juniors and seniors.
Further, Professor Waldau has made a video describing this summer’s course.
As always, if you want further resources about human-animal studies and about getting animal issues into academia, check out Animals & Society Institute.
H/T to Jessica Almy.
Photo: From Religion and Animals Institute.