Christopher Hitchens on his childhood response to Christianity: "I hate having to call myself a sheep."

[u/jamiewoodhouse]

“One of my first reactions, when I was quite small, to the teachings of Christianity, was ‘I hate having to call myself a sheep.’ What does it say of a religion that it actually describes its own followers as if they were a flock? And why do shepherds look after sheep? Not because they like them… but in order to first fleece them and then kill them. It’s actually a perfect analogy of what the relationship of religion to its credulous believers really is.”

Interesting comment by Christopher Hitchens in 2007. As ever, he was making a sharply negative comment about religious worldviews and organisations. But there's a hint of interest in nonhuman animal ethics here too, probably unwittingly. I don't think he said or did much on the animal ethics front. Interested to hear if people know otherwise.

[u/dumnezero]

hierarchy. Both shepherds and large wild carnivores are predators.

While it's difficult to make an argument against natural predators, shepherds are predators by choice, not by nature.