Ethics for a Can of Worms
As I said last week, failing to understand God’s created order makes for all kinds of futility. Then we received our hard copy of Credenda/Agenda (Summer 2008, Vol. 20 Issue 2) and were greeted by the following news briefs.
A report in April prepared by an ethics committee for the Swiss government has determined that plants have “inherent worth” and that human beings have no right to wield “absolute ownership” over aforementioned plants. Cases must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Arbitrarily picking a wildflower would be unethical, while a farmer mowing his field would be okay. We are glad that’s settled.
An appeal has been filed in the European Court of Human Rights located (for those who are curious) in Strasbourg, France, in which the appeal court is being asked to declare that Matthew, a 26-year-old chimp, is a person. This will just open up a can of worms, and if we open up a can of worms then somebody will want them to be all declared persons. And how do we count animal years to determine voting privileges?
These are just a couple examples of what happens when foolish hearts are darkened.