Are you anti-hunting? Is your religion involved?

Question

I love to hunt. I take into consideration that natural population swings of game-animals are just that natural.

I have witnessed death by starvation, disease, predators tearing them to shreds while they were still alive, and i get the impression that a well-placed bullet is not any worse than the above.

I have a Lutheran friend who hunts and has no problem with it but i have taken alot of crap about hunting from my fellow town's people (we have 623 people and 8 churches) and they site that God says not to kill. I am just curious of your opinions here in R&S.

What makes me sick?
I eat what i kill and waste only the non-edibles. I don't trophy hunt but i have been known to put some of the bigger animals i have killed on my wall.

Gandalf is right, they love super-market steaks.

Sunny a: I could go into why gun-control wouldn't effect gun-crimes but that is saved for another question. Oh, what the hell, Banning the sale of guns would only keep them away from the people who own them legaly, so it would not stop a drug dealer who got his AK-47 on the black market from killing anyone, it would however keep the people he kills (innocent people mind you) from defending themselves.

Answer 1

I have mixed feelings about hunting, mostly from an ecology point of view. I hear what you're saying about "thinning out" the herd, but the problem is that unlike natural predators, hunters always go after the strongest (not the weakest) animals. For the past 100 years, the size of elk antlers has declined considerably in North America, for example.

So hunting doesn't really balance out the lack of natural predators, nor does it replace what nature would do anyway -- because hunters go after the strongest animals, it's like reverse natural selection.

But I also appreciate what the Elk Foundation, among other groups, do to preserve open space. I wouldn't say they preserve habitat per se, because they isolate specific organisms they like to hunt, but overall their goals are at least similar to mine, as an environmentalist.

My lack of religion has basically nothing to do with that opinion.

Answer 2

I'm an atheist, and I don't hunt myself. I decided when I was younger and got a .22 that I really didn't enjoy killing things.

That being said, I am a meat eater, and I recognize that modern man is insulated from the source of meat in plastic sterile wrap in the grocery store. I have been in abbatoirs and I deplore the callous cruelty of assembly line animal death.

I also realize nature is 'cruel', and as you say, perhaps a well placed bullet or arrow is a kinder death than that by being eaten alive, or starving.

So, I don't hunt. I support people who hunt for food. I don't support trophy hunting of any sort however. That is just sick.

EDIT Gun control is a completely different issue, and I am in favour of banning handguns and assault weapons. I am ok with long guns. I realize in the USA you love your guns, but it seems bizarre to most of the rest of the civilized world.

Answer 3

No. No.

Genesis 3
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Where do you think God got the coats of skins from? Animals of course.

For goodness sake, have these people ever read their bibles, if such a literal thou shalt not kill interpretation is made than how in the world did all the ancient prophets ever carry out the commandments given them to have animal sacrifices? Thou shalt not murder is a more correct translation, in other words taking of innocent human life is wrong. Now I certainly don't condone the killing of animals just for trophy or sport, but for food and meat and thanksgiving I think is appropriate.

Answer 4

I am agnostic, but your comment 'a well-placed bullet is not any worse than the above' still doesn't make hunting right, in my opinion. I have seen humans die slowly from cancer and quickly from car accidents and, just because a well-placed bullet would be no worse than either of those, that still doesn't mean that it would be right for me to shoot you.

I'm not sure how God feels about it (or if God even exists), but I know how I feel about it and I feel that I do not have the right to take any life for any reason besides self-defense.

Answer 5

Hunting is a part of the cycle of life. Period.
And I'm Heathen. I think I'm the only one I know who doesn't own a firearm. Not only do most of them hunt, most hunt with guns AND bows. So my religion is FAR from against it lol

Answer 6

I'm pro-hunting, and I'm also non-religious and believe in God. I also strongly support the 2nd amendment on the right to bear arms, and I'm anti-gun control.

Answer 7

It's ok to hunt, but we should not abuse.
Ex 20:13 is talking about murder not killing a deer.

Answer 8

Jews are not opposed to killing by "well-placed" bullets, but that's generally not the case when hunting for sport.

Judaism is about moderation and self-restraint. We are allowed to eat some animals, but not others. The animals we are allowed to eat must be killed in the most humane method possible so as not to cause any unnecessary suffering.

If you enjoy killing for sport, why not raise your own animals and kill them as quickly as possible so as not to cause them an agonizing prolonged death?

BTW, that is our practice, but we never impose our practices on others. We volunteer and donate to humane societies in order to prevent unnecessary suffering.
.

Answer 9

God gave us humans everything on this planet; to use, to conserve, to manage properly. He also gave us the plants and animals for food.
When the Bible says "do not kill", it is talking about humans, NOT animals.

My views on hunting:

If I am not going to eat it and it is not trying to eat _me_, then I don't bother it.

Answer 10

Im an atheist.

No problem with hunting.

I stopped because I just dont care to butcher the animal myself.