The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:6–9INTRODUCTION
Peter Singer is perhaps best known for championing the moral status and ethical
treatment of non-human animals. Indeed, he might be the person most responsible
for bringing such issues to the Western world's attention. Of Singer's
contribution, the Christian philosopher Robert Wennberg says:
In 1975, with the publication of Peter Singer's Animal
Liberation, the cause of animal advocacy took a dramatic turn,
as the book, in conjunction with forces already at work, served to radically
change the entire arena of moral concern for animals. Here we have the
beginnings of the animal rights or animal liberation movement as a pervasive
presence on the contemporary scene. Indeed, things have not been the same
since.
As it has gone through its multiple editions, Animal Liberation
has generally become accepted as the seminal work in the field. And Singer has
gone on to write even more in recent years on this topic with The Way We
Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter and In Defense of
Animals. That one person could have this kind of impact on how we
think about other animals is simply extraordinary.