Faiths Working Together for Animals
Can faiths shape our common future and what does that mean for animals? What role does the Parliament of the World’s Religions (PoWR) play in this?
At the AIA AGM, during Animal Interfaith Week 2024, Dr Nayana Shah told us about the work of the PoWR, its esteemed history and future goals.
Dr Shah is a trustee of the PoWR and a patron of AIA, as well as being a theoretical quantum physicist.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Founded in 2014, AIA is celebrating its 10 year anniversary by taking a look back at some of its achievements over the past 10 years. Full details are here.
The Celebration takes place during Animal Interfaith Week 2024, full details of which are here. The events included ASWA’s Animals in War Memorial Service in Park Lane, London on Sunday 10th November – Remembrance Day; the online AGM talk ‘The Parliament of the World’s Religions: Faiths Shaping Our Common Future‘ by PowR Trustee and AIA Patron, Dr Nayana Shah on Thursday 14th November; and the third Interfaith Vegan Panel webinar, jointly hosted by AIA and the Peace Advocacy Network, with the Interfaith Vegan Coalition on Monday 18th November.
AIA is partnering with Peace Advocacy Network and the Interfaith Vegan Coalition (IVC)to explore the ethical aspects of veganism from different religious perspectives in a series of webinars.
The third webinar will be held on Monday 18th November at 10.00am PT, 6.00pm GMT and will explore veganism from Sikh, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu perspectives.
or
email: info@peaceadvocacynetwork.org
The first webinar, held on 19th August 2024, explored Catholic, Orthodox, Buddhist and Jewish perspectives and can be viewed here.
The second webinar, held on 23 September 2024, explored Christian, Jain and Jewish perspectives and can be viewed here.
COP29 is being held from 11 – 22 November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where the Global Faith Leader Summit, led by UNEP’s Faith for Earth Coalition, will be taking place in the Faith Pavilion, hosting a range of activities and events by the faith network.
Full details of the Faith Pavilion at COP29 can be seen here.
“We have an ethical and moral responsibility to support laws, policies, and government actions that will achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement”, says Dr. Iyad Abumoghli, Founder & Director of the Faith for Earth Coalition (UNEP).
AIA is a member of the Faith for Earth Coalition and a UNEP accredited organisation.
Many gathered for the ASWA Animals in War Memorial Service, held at the Animals in War Memorial, Park Lane, London on Remembrance Sunday, 10th November 2024, to remember all the animals and people who gave the ultimate sacrifice in wars past and present.
The service was led by Rev. Samantha Chandler, Secretary of the Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals (ASWA), with a “A Time to Reflect’ presented by David Hill of Nowzad who are helping animals in Afghanistan and Ukraine. A poem was written and read by Janet Wilkes and the Intercessions were read by AIA’s Barbara Gardner.
Join us on Zoom as Dr Nayana Shah describes how faiths are shaping our common future at the Parliament of the World’s Religions (PoWR).
Dr Nayana Shah is a trustee of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, a patron of the Animal Interfaith Alliance and a theoretical quantum physicist. She will be talking about the role of the Parliament in promoting global interfaith harmony and shaping our common future.
All are welcome to the talk which will be followed by a Q&A session.
To register for the zoom link, please email Barbara at barbgard.aia@gmail.com.
Presentation by Dr Andre Menache, AIA Chair and Scientific Consultant at Antidote Europe to the 6th annual meeting of the European Veterinary College of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare in Paris on 3rd October 2024
The regulatory requirement that all new pharmaceutical drugs be tested on animals before proceeding to clinical trials can be traced back to the Doctors’ Trial in Nuremberg at the end of the Second World War (Greek, 2012). Subsequent recommendations and directives, including the Helsinki Declaration (World Medical Association weblink) relevant EU Directives (European Medicines Agency weblink) and the International Conference on Harmonisation continue to rely on the Nuremberg Codes with respect to animal use and regulatory toxicology (Ohno, 2002). However, it would appear that the laws have not kept up with scientific progress. As an example, human organ on a chip technology is now widely available and increasingly used by the pharmaceutical industry for the purposes of evaluating drug safety in preclinical screening. While ‘human on a chip’ technology is still under development, the human liver on a chip is probably the most significant innovation currently being used by industry and could be considered to have achieved ‘validation’ status based on a weight of evidence approach (Ewart, 2022). It is far more predictive than animal testing in terms of correctly identifying drug induced liver injury (DILI). As DILI is the leading cause of withdrawal of approved drugs from the market (Levner, 2023), it makes sense that the liver on a chip should be included in all new drug applications (NDA) as a matter of urgency and that the results obtained from animal tests be submitted to the relevant regulatory agencies and compared with the results obtained from the liver on a chip.
References :
Available at : https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/
‘Ethical Dilemma’ by Sian Hughes, age 13, joint winner of the 12-13 age group.
This year’s entries to the NATRE international Spirited Arts competition on the theme “Why Do Animals Matter?” were truly spectacular! It is the second year that Animal Interfaith Alliance (AIA) and Veganism in Education (VinE) have sponsored a theme that enables children and young people to explore human-animal relations and to think deeply about the moral and spiritual aspects of all living beings. Once again, we were blown away by the children’s extraordinary artistic creations and deeply reflective narratives. Each piece not only showcased remarkable talent but also conveyed profound insights into the significance of animals in our lives, offering thought-provoking perspectives on empathy and compassion through the unique lens of religious education.
This year’s judging held an extra special touch, as the founders of AIA and VinE travelled alongside our President, the esteemed academic Dr Richard Ryder, to RE Today’s headquarters in Birmingham. There, we had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful RE Today team and Angela Hill, the visionary behind RE Today’s pioneering resources on ethical veganism as a worldview. These resources were commissioned by VinE with input from AIA and have been freely available to teachers and schools since January 2023. Angela’s work inspired the animal theme and supported school engagement, enriching the children’s interpretations and bringing thoughtful, compassionate approaches to their artwork.
Selecting winners from thousands of entries proved immensely challenging, as each submission showcased exceptional creativity and insight worthy of recognition. We are especially grateful to our President, Dr Richard Ryder, for undertaking the difficult task of selecting the theme’s winners and runners-up.
Dr Ryder said: “I have very much enjoyed helping in the judging of the Spirited Arts competition, and I thought the children showed high levels of creativity and concern for the animals. I am proud also as AIA’s and VinE’s President that so many children showed a clear ethical concern.
“I believe, as a psychologist, that most children are concerned and interested in members of other species. This is not just a children’s interest, but one that can and should last throughout life. In my childhood, however, adults too often tried to stop this interest as being “sissy”. Far from it: such interests and compassion are the foundation for a moral community of all painient beings”.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone involved – teachers, students, NATRE and the RE Today team – for making this year’s theme a resounding success! We can’t wait to judge the entries to next year’s animal theme!
You can access the FREE ethical veganism as a worldview resources from RE Today & VinE here: Classroom Resources for RE (RE Today) – Veganism in Education
Ieva, aged 12 – ‘We’re All God’s Creatures?’ – 2023 Gallery
Since RE Today, Veganism in Education and AIA launched their ground-breaking new school resources for veganism in religious education back in January 2023, we have run Spirited Arts competitions in both 2023 and 2024. Schools across England & Wales and beyond have taken part in the competitions, producing some most creative and inspiring work.
We aim to announce the winners and the runners up of the 2024 competition ‘Why Do Animals Matter?’ on World Vegan Day – 1st November.
The gallery of the winners and runners up for last year’s theme (2023) ‘All God’s Creatures?’ can be viewed on the Veganism in Education website here.
The Religious Education Resources
In January 2023, the first range of free classroom resources for Religious Education, which enable teachers and pupils to explore, through critical, objective and pluralistic RE lessons, questions around the moral status of animals and ethical veganism as a worldview, were launched. Veganism in Education (VinE) had commissioned RE Today to produce these excellent resources with input and support from the Animal Interfaith Alliance.
Further details, along with an introduction by our wonderful patron, Peter Egan, can be viewed here.
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