The Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals (ASWA) held their 2023 Animals in War Memorial Service on Sunday 12th November at the Park Lane Animal War Memorial.

AIA directors Fr Martin Henig, who co-led the service, and Dr Christina Nellist represented AIA, as well as their own organisations, ASWA and Pan Orthodox Concern for Animals. Dr Nellist laid a wreath for AIA.

We remember those animals, not only in past wars, but who are caught up in the new wars of today, and pray that there will be and end to all wars.

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Bob Isaacson, Founder and President of Dharma Voices for Animals (DVA) talks to the AIA AGM 2023 about DVA’s inspirational work.

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Antidote Europe has interviewed Dr Pandora Pound, Research Director for Safer Medicines Trust, a UK based patient safety charity. Dr Pound is the author of the book “Rat Trap” and has written numerous academic papers on the scientific drawbacks of using animals as models for humans.

Read the full interview here.

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Interfaith Week 2023 runs from 12th – 19th November and is run by the Interfaith Network in the UK.  During that week, AIA and its members will be promoting animals in religion and will be holding a series of events.

A full list of the events can be seen here.

Please do join us!

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Pope Francis released his apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum on 4th October 2023 which follows his historic encyclical letter Laudato Si’, released in 2015, and focuses on the climate crises.  AIA member, Catholic Concern for Animals has responded it to it and their response can be read here.

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You are invited to the upcoming Vegan Convergence Of the People #15 (V-COP 15) which will be held online on 28th & 29th October 2023, 11am – 9pm Eastern time (3pm-1am GMT).

V-COPs are being organised by Climate Healers and have been convening every quarter following the debacle at the UN Conference Of the Parties #26 (COP26) in Glasgow where meat, dairy, fish and eggs were being served in the cafeterias, while nations agreed to continue deforesting the planet until 2030. V-COPs intend to co-create the Greatest Transformation in Human History. As Stephane Pace Marshall said, “Adding wings to caterpillars does not create butterflies.”

The theme for V-COP15 is “Sea of Change” as it will be focusing on the state of our oceans. 

Join V-COP 15 in transitioning from a Climate Heating system to a Climate Healing system, creating a Vegan World by 2026, and ushering in a Homo Ahimsa stage of humanity. 

Also, AIA’s Barbara Gardner will be speaking with AIA patron Dr Lisa Kemmerer and Isabella La Rocca Gonzalez on “Food Choices that Protect the Planet” on Sunday 29th Oct from 11:05-11:55 AM eastern time (15.05-15.55 GMT). Please join us.

Full details of V-COP 15, including the schedule and registration and joining instructions are here.

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Together for Peace

The Animal Interfaith Alliance and its members are committed to non-violence and interfaith cooperation. All faiths are based on the Golden Rule – to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself. Together we will work for peace.

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The Spirited Arts & Poetry Competition is run by the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE) and hundreds of schools from around the world take part. AIA and Veganism in Education (VinE) jointly sponsor an animal theme.

The theme for 2023 was “All God’s Creatures?” to encourage schools to think about our relationship with animals and to explore our new RE teaching resources. The competition closed on 31st July 2023 and over 4,000 entries were received. Judging was undertaken by NATRE, AIA and VinE and also our patron Peter Egan. The standard of the entries were amazing and judging proved to be extremely difficult.

The results are in!

AIA’s Barbara Gardner said: “The entries were so impressive – not just for their artistic merit and demonstration of knowledge of scriptures from a wide variety of faiths, but also because of the thought and understanding of deep ethical and philosophical questions and concern for the kind treatment of animals and, indeed, for all creation.”

To enter the competition, children were asked to consider the following:

Do animals belong to God? Are they part of a divine plan? Do animals have souls? The beauty and sheer awesomeness of non-human animals with whom we share planet Earth is celebrated in many of the world’s religions. Some worldviews see all living beings as interconnected, yet others emphasise the separateness and superiority of humans over other animals. Animals play a huge part in all our lives, whether we realise or not. How humans interact with other animals and the natural world impacts on all living beings and the planet. This theme invites exploration of ideas and beliefs about non-human animals. Great work will show originality and flare coming from deep consideration of the issues. Challenge learners to engage thoughtfully with scripture, philosophy, and scientific enquiry to write an inspiring passage to accompany stunning images. We are delighted to partner with the Animals Interfaith Alliance (AIA) and Veganism in Education (VinE) to bring you this theme.

NATRE welcomes entries in (almost!) any art form, including:

• Art (painting, drawing, sketching etc)
• Poetry
• Photography
• Dance
• Music
• Drama
• Sculpture

Full details can be read on the NATRE’s Website here.

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2024 Competition Sponsored by AIA and VinE

“Why do Animals Matter?“

Following the success of the 2023 competition, VinE and AIA are already starting to plan their sponsorship of a 2024 animal theme, as we feel this is a really important and effective way to get children to consider the ethical treatment of animals and to help to build a more peaceful world. This year’s theme will be “Why do Animals Matter?”

Full details can be found on NATRE’s website here

If you could help us with sponsorship, please donate here:

Donate

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The Somali Animal Welfare Society (SAWS) which, like AIA, is a member of the World Federation for Animals (WFA) held a seminar on “The Benefits of Improving Animal Welfare from the Perspective of Animal Production”. The event was held in Mogadishu, Somalia on 5th October 2023 for World Animal Day (WAD).

AIA presented, via zoom, on “An Interfaith View on Extending the Golden Rule to Include All Sentient Beings”. The presentation noted that over 80% of the people of the world claim to belong to a faith, and it demonstrated how all the faiths say good things about our relationship with animals and how we should extend the Golden Rule (to treat others as we would wish to be treated ourselves) to them. It then described how humans abuse billions of animals each year in entertainment, laboratories and particularly intensive farming, and asks why there is such a huge discrepancy between what the faiths teach about animals and how the followers of those faiths treat them today. We then had the opportunity to promote our RE teaching resources and to recommend further reading on animals in religion.

Other speakers included the following:

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