Animal Welfare

Wesley argued that animals were created in fulfilment of divine purposes, could like humans be redeemed and should therefore be treated with compassion. His interest in the subject was lifelong and included a fascination with the lives of the tiniest creatures. Such thinking was not unique, and was foreshadowed by Calvin, but was highly developed in Wesley. His belief in a prelapsarian paradise in which animals did not predate is inconsistent with modern scientific understanding and creates the theological problem of explaining how a loving God could create creatures who prey on others. Wesley’s claim that the ultimate redemption of animals is compensation for their suffering is also problematic, suggesting that cruelty to animals is defensible. However, his central argument for the compassionate treatment of animals is attractive and convincing. Methodist concern for animal welfare was widely known in his day and continued into the nineteenth century. Recently, human cruelty toward animals has greatly increased in scale through factory farming, and wild animal populations have declined very substantially on land and in the sea. Human health and the environment are also suffering through modern animal agriculture. Wesley’s thinking should encourage us to reduce meat consumption and reconsider the use of industrialized animal-rearing techniques.