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The Bible says in Genesis 9:3


Nowadays it is consider politically incorrect to defend the killing of animals even when its purpose is to feed us. Some people even think it is "bad" from us to kill an animal to eat it.

Many people complain about the way animals are treated before they are killed, like if they were "things" or some kind of "industrial" machinery. They compare them with human beings sometimes and try to show how bad it is kill another animal, as if we were just animals as well, at the same level as them.

According to Catholicism, what should be our attitude be towards animals? Should we consider them only as "things god put on earth for us to use"? Or should we show some kind of respect to them in the way they are treated / killed ?

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up vote 6 down vote accepted

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has useful information on how we should treat the animals.




We can also find some verses from the Bible which seem to indicate that we should show kindness to animals.

The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel. (Proverbs 12:10, NLT)

Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day. (Leviticus 22:28, NIV)

The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. (Numbers 22:32, NIV)

Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain. (Deuteronomy 25:4, NIV)

Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk. (Deuteronomy 14:21, NIV)

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Thanks for the answer. But where does the catechism take it from? Some of your quotes refer to the old testament law in terms of what to eat how to eat it. That's a bit different to what I'm asking. Many of those verses could be ignored nowadays. – Steve Jun 23 '14 at 13:29
@Steve That's exactly why I mentioned "seem to indicate" – Mawia Jun 23 '14 at 13:42
@Steve The Catechism is not always directly extracted from the Bible. It is simply what the Catholic church believes, which is of-course based on how they understand the Bible. Some OT verses may seem out of date but many times it teaches us about moral values and there are many things we can learn from it. – Mawia Jun 23 '14 at 13:55
ok, I believe you answer the questions anyway :) Catholics should follow the catechism. – Steve Jun 23 '14 at 13:58

In addition to Mawia's quotes from the Catechism, there is also the pithy summary:


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Where does the catechism take that idea from? – Steve Jun 23 '14 at 13:31
The seventh commandment, Respect for the Integrity of Creation. See paragraphs 2416-2418 [as Mawia quoted] at, which gives some references in addition to Mawia's. – Andrew Leach Jun 23 '14 at 13:35
@AndrewLeach Can I suggest you work the extra tidbits from your comment into this answer and then flag obsolete comments? – Caleb Jul 19 '14 at 7:43

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