BBC Radio 4 20170727

Yesterday morning I had just finished my cereals, when I opened my newspaper to a front-page headline: ‘Advert chiefs allow milk to be branded inhumane.’

Diary farmers had argued that an advert saying, ‘Humane milk is a myth – don’t buy it’ was wrong and damaging to their industry. But the Advertising Standards Authority agreed that the Go Vegan World advert was permissible.

The campaign alleges that removing young calves from their mothers 24 hours after birth, was inhumane because it distressed the mothers. The claim was also disputed by the RSPCA who say that the use of emotive, human-like language misrepresents what the animals are actually experiencing.

It reminded me of the story of the Indonesian monkey who inadvertently took his own selfie, which went viral. The claim is that the monkey - rather than photographer who owned the camera – has copyright claim to the photo and should, therefore profit from it.

Now I’m left wondering if it’s possible to be treated inhumanely, without being human; and whether monkeys should be tried for theft if they steal cameras from tourists.

Human beings have always had an inseparable relationship with animals. Ancient Egyptians treated cats as gods. Hindus venerate the cow. And within our legal systems animals have rights too.

In biological terms animals and people are a part of the continuum of the animal kingdom.

Christian thinking has always reflected this essential relationship. Animals feature in the Garden of Eden, Noah’s ark and in the great Exodus event. Beasts and great white horses, thunder across the biblical narrative.

Jesus himself, is depicted as the lion and the lamb.

Humans are different from animals, but their very existence is a reminder that we share creation together and that, from a Christian point of view, our ‘human-ness’, derives, not from this proximity to animals, but from our shared nature with God himself.

But for people of all faiths and none, we are, perhaps, most human when we treat each person with inalienable dignity.

And we become ‘inhumane’ when we fail to treat our neighbour as ourself.