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33519 Inter-Species Relationships
The best example of instruction for inter-species relationships in religious traditions is the theological concept of stewardship. It is the acknowledgement of X's ownership of everything that exists, and that one of the most important reasons humans exist is to maintain, improve and use appropriately the physical environment of the world. Biblically, Psalm 24:1 says that "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." In certain pagan beliefs, a Gaia philosophy is adopted, wherein ecology becomes holy, and the entire Earth is considered a sacred ground. There is a firm acknowledgement in all religions of the importance of the earth and its nature, including the animals and plants that reside on it.

Zoomorphism and Sacred Animals

In Hinduism, the cow is a sacred animal, to be protected and respected. The festivals Mattupongal and Gopastami are in celebration and gratefulness (at least in part) to cows for their life-giving, gentle nature, and ability to help sustain the human population with dairy products. Cows are decorated and fed specially on holidays, and there are more cows in India than anywhere else in the world.

According to Marvin Harris, in 200 AD, the status of cows began a change that moved them from just an animal to a sacred animal, and by 1000 AD, cows were utterly untouchable. Harris argues that it is not their contribution to the dairy market that makes them so valuable, despite the fact that dairy makes up an important portion of India's exports, 

Throughout the Vedas (the oldest scriptures used in Hinduism, written in Sanskrit) the importance of cows is explained through their association with various gods, including Kamadhenu, the mother-cow goddess. She is a blend of human and bovine features, and serves to produce life-giving milk and the ghee (clarified butter) that is used in many rituals in Hindiuism.

The belovedness of cows could be argued as post-anthropocentric in nature: bovine lives are exactly as worthy as human lives, and they are worth defending until the bitter end. However, the willingness to harm a human over harming a cow could indicate a level of hierarchy that includes cows as higher than humans, which is not post-anthropocentric.

 

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