Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

Deryl Davis, host

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), visits the Cathedral to talk about the place of animals in religion and in the world. This week’s conversation is hosted by Deryl Davis, producer of the Sunday Forum.

The Humane Society was created in the 1950s to complement local animal welfare organizations that had begun to spring up in the U.S. after the Civil War, and in the 1820s in the United Kingdom. The early groups were founded by clergy, and strong religious leadership has characterized the HSUS. “I’m actually the first non-clergyman to run the organization since 1970, so we actually have a rich religious tradition,” Pacelle says.

According to Pacelle, the founders of the HSUS thought that a national group could more effectively combat types of animal cruelty taking place nationwide: puppy mills, dog fighting, cock fighting, factory farming, and the use of animals for laboratory testing.

Today the Humane Society has over ten million members. Pacelle describes the organization as “a national, and now international, presence to take on the big-picture issues, to look at the culture at large, try to reform corporate behavior, public policies, and to be a voice for animals.”

Recently the HSUS founded a Department of Religion and Animals and launched a new campaign called “All Creatures Great and Small.” Pacelle asserts that all major religions “speak to animal questions, and they speak well to them. The principles of compassion and mercy and kindness are there in all of the world’s major traditions… We’re not inventing anything… We’re simply pointing to what exists in these traditions and saying, let’s think about how we live our daily lives, and let’s think about the other creatures who share this planet.” The power and intelligence of humans, according to Pacelle, gives humans a responsibility to care for animals, to show restraint, and “to be good to these other creatures.”

Pacelle calls for agriculture to return to its traditions and to a “humane scale” of raising livestock—to benefit people as well as animals. He draws a connection between the crowding of chickens in battery cages and such problems as salmonella outbreaks, which sicken many people every year. The American Medical Association, Pacelle says, has called for an end to the practice of giving low doses of antibiotics to livestock; HSUS’s initiatives to reform agriculture take this advice a few steps further.

Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States. Founder of Humane USA, the non-partisan political arm of the animal protection movement, he has been instrumental in the passage of animal protection legislation in many states. A sought-after commentator on animal life, Pacelle recently led the Humane Society in unveiling a new &$0147;Religion and Animals” campaign.

About Wayne Pacelle

Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States. Founder of Humane USA, the non-partisan political arm of the animal protection movement, he has been instrumental in the passage of animal protection legislation in many states. A sought-after commentator on animal life, Pacelle recently led the Humane Society in unveiling a new &$0147;Religion and Animals” campaign.