In Switzerland, there is apparently a movement to protect the dignity and life of plants. The Weekly Standard broke this story:
At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the "dignity" of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of what could be called "plant rights" is being seriously debated. A few years ago the Swiss added to their national constitution a provision requiring "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms." No one knew exactly what it meant, so they asked the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology to figure it out. The resulting report, "The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants," is enough to short circuit the brain.
I support the ASPCA and carry spiders out of our house to safely relocate them to a more agreeable habitat, but I never for a moment think that a plant, spider or even my dogs are of equal or more value than a human life..
What has happened to bring us to this: guilt over picking flowers, eating lettuce, pulling weeds? We have had a shift in world view that has led us to explore "new standards of morality."
People really are different from all the rest of creation. We were created in a special place and for a special task. Man was created to be the image of God and to care for his creation:
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
The issue in the creation of man is not just one of purpose, but ultimately one of relationship. Man was created to be in communion with God. When in communion with God man knows his place in creation and can be a good steward of God's creation. God creates man to have dominion and to keep the garden. Weeds, thorns and thistles are a consequence of the fall.
Elevation of weeds to a status equal with man is a consequence of secularism and the "enlightenment." When this communion with God is broken and when God's plan for man and creation is denied then man is no longer the pinacle of God's good creation, but must be considered to be "nothing more than an animal. By rejecting the biblical world view, mankind was lowered to the level of all animals. Some environmentalists consider man the worst of all animals because we modify and damage the environment.
A "Plants Rights movement" is only a natural extension of the same train of thought. The next step in this train of thought is that eating would be immoral. Dr. Kenneth Korby was fond of saying that eating is a violent act, "Look at what happens to the tomato!" Yet, man's gift of dominion is part of God's "very good" design. Within the understanding of how God designed and ordered the world, however, such "violence" is natural and even good. God gave us the creation as a gift, both to serve us and to be conserved by us.
It is the lack of connection to God and His original plan that drives people to despair; despair about how man doesn't seem to fit or belong. The despair is real and true and right if they are apart from God. Man was created to be in communion with God. When that communion is broken and lost, we are the most pitiable of beings and the worst of all animals. But where that connection, purpose and communion exist, man lives harmonious in and above creation to do God's work.
(Photo HT: Michelle Malkin)
