Sir, - Recently at one of the Sunday morning services, as we said the Benidicite and came across the words "O ye beasts and all cattle, bless ye the Lord: raise him and magnify him forever", I found myself thinking of the slaughter of the lambs, and the sheep, and the pigs and the cattle that is happening all over the EU. I wondered how such slaughter could possibly be to the raise of the Creator God, He who claims the ownership of all the beasts of the forest and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
I am not a vegetarian and I believe it is justifiable to slaughter animals for food, but to slaughter animals in their thousands, even millions, for economic reasons is, I believe, a betrayal of the charge given to us by God when he gave us dominion over His creation.
To quote from the Church Times: "Foot-and-mouth disease kills neither animals nor humans. Most infected animals suffer only temporary lameness and loss of appetite. They recover after two or three weeks, and the disease is rarely passed on to humans. When this occurs, the symptoms are very mild. The disease that is eating into the core of our spiritual life is economic in character."
Time and time again our generation has shown by its actions that it has forgotten how to care for the wonderful creation given us by God. However, nature has its own way of getting even. BSE, caused ultimately by scientific arrogance and desire for cheap feed, brought its own judgment.
Our new EU world could now with great benefit consider seriously the words of the prophet Jeremiah when he says: "Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone." - Yours, etc.,
Kevin Dalton, The Rectory, Monkstown, Co Dublin.