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The Art o f Nan Sea Love “Whatever
you do unto the least of my brothers, you do unto me.” Learn more about diet and Christianity at the Christian Vegetarian Association
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A plea for kindness to all animals, the painting “Sacred Lives” was inspired by a quote from the Bible, "Whatever you do unto the least of my brothers, you do unto me." It is similar to many well know images of Jesus surrounded by children, here the artist replaced the children with animals. The artist, Nan Sea Love, does not believe animals are the "least" but chose that quote as it appears many humans do think animals are the least and behave accordingly. Hopefully this image may inspire in Christians, who believe"thou shalt not kill" the idea that all life, including animals, is sacred to their Lord. Perhaps seeing this more Christians will start to value an animal's life as they value human life. Today some Christians believe human life so sacred they claim life begins at conception, yet think so little of the life of an animal they happily eat animals who have suffered horribly in factory farms every day of their lives.
Pope Benedict XVI has spoken about the exploitation of all beings, particularly of farmed animals. When he was asked about cruelty to animals in a 2002 interview* he said, "That is a very serious question. At any rate, we can see that they are given into our care, that we cannot just do whatever we want with them. Animals, too, are God's creatures… Certainly, a sort of industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible." Cardinal Ratzinger was echoing official church teachings laid out in the Catholic Catechism, which states clearly that “"Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with His providential care. By their mere existence they bless Him and give Him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals... It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly." * From God and the World: a conversation with Peter Seewald. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2002; 78
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