Do Cows Go to Church?

As I was making breakfast this morning I looked up to see a house wren fly up and perch on the bird feeder we have affixed to our kitchen window. It looked at me for a moment, then took off in a wild, noisy flutter of feathers. It took me a minute to realize that the bird had seen me frying an egg. I'm just glad it hadn't seen me carving our Thanksgiving turkey.

That got me thinking. What goes through a cow's mind when it sees someone drinking milk? What would you hear if you could sneak into the back pew of a bovine church? Perhaps it would be the lowing voice of an old bull reading from 2nd chapter of the Book of Holstein:

“Beware of consorting with humans. They may say they only want to play with your teats, but they will get you pregnant, drink your milk and EAT YOUR CHILDREN.”

I've always been leery of anthropomorphizing animals. Both sets of my grandparents and all my great-grandparents and great uncles and aunts were farmers. I once helped my uncle butcher a hog and often helped load steers onto trucks and looked into their big brown eyes, knowing that they would soon be steaks and roasts and hamburger. But at the end of the day, I have to say that they were mighty tasty.

I've been away from farm life for a lot of years now and I rarely come face-to-face with livestock or poultry unless it's shrink-wrapped and labeled something like “flank steak” or “chicken strips.” It's easier it ignore the obvious if you don't know your main course's real name was “Pedro” (the pet turkey that became Thanksgiving dinner in Giant) or “Eddie” (The delivery boy who became dinner in The Rocky Horror Picture Show).

On a day-to-day basis now I see cartoon cows and pigs more often than the real thing, and somehow these silly images of humanized animals makes thinking about killing and eating the real ones a little uncomfortable.

Of course we know animals feel pain, show affection and – if you've ever watched lambs leaping about in the springtime or a horse or dog running across a field all-out, ears laid back and  dust flying, for no apparent reason – you know that animals have a sense of play and of joy.

Do animals have souls? Does God get ticked off when we kill and eat them? It's certainly food for thought.

For the sake of our own souls, I believe we must treat all of God's creatures with respect. But after we pay our respects, I think it's okay to eat them.

There is a real circle of life, though sometimes it seems cruel, inappropriate, illogical and poorly thought out. Perhaps the Almighty rushed it a bit at the end of the sixth day, while looking forward to a well-deserved Sunday off – but it's the way the life survives and renews itself.

All of that said, how would you like your eggs this morning? We can draw the curtains.