The Husson Symposium on Ethics and the Sacred is an annual April event dedicated to practical dialogue between ethicists, business leaders, and persons of faith. Each year it is focused on a different topic. It began in 2008 on the topic of healthcare and religion: "Healing and Curing in Downeast Maine."
2009 SymposiumAnimal Rights and Animal Wrongs
Religious, Ethical, and Economic Perspectives on the Humane Treatment of Other Animals Thursday, April 16, 2009 9 to 2 p.m. The utilitarian ethicist Peter Singer notes that, "The use and abuse of animals raised for food far exceeds, in sheer numbers of animals affected, any other kind of mistreatment." The passage of California's Proposition 2 regulating animal confinement in intensive farming is the latest of a series of initiatives in various states to improve food animal conditions. Viral videos spread images of sick cattle being prodded and dragged to the slaughterhouse. With increasing demand for natural, cage-free, and humane animal products, the public conscience seems to have been pricked on these issues.
Will Maine see a similar legislative effort to California’s Proposition 2? Should it? How should people of faith respond when it seems like jobs, food prices, and animal welfare compete for our ethical attention? With the economy in deep recession, people unable to afford groceries, dairy and chicken farms struggling to stay afloat, is this a good time to worry about animal rights? How do we provide good and affordable food for an increasingly urban population so far removed from its food sources? How does our use of farm animals relate to our other humane concerns: habitat destruction and extinction, animal research, pet treatment? Join us for a day of practical reflection as we engage leaders in the faith community, animal welfare experts, farmers, food suppliers, and ethicists.
Speakers for the event will include
- Hugh Curran, Peace and Reconciliation Program, University of Maine, Buddhist practitioner and teacher
- Dr. Clifton F. Guthrie, Circle Professor of Religion and Humanities, Husson University
- Donald E. Hoenig, VMD, State Veterinarian and Director of the Division of Animal Health and Industry of the Maine Department of Agriculture
- Rabbi Darah Lerner: Rabbi of Congregation Beth El, "Neo-Kosher? New issues between Jews and Food."
- Katie Lisnik, Maine State Director for the Humane Society of the United States. "Animal Welfare: Changing the way we impact animals, the environment and ourselves."
- Diane Schivera, Organic Livestock Specialist, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, MOFGA
- Nancy Smith, Monmouth dairy farmer, representative to the Maine Legislature and a member of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee in the Legislature.
Plus: A 25-minute film produced by The Humane Society of the United States: "Eating Mercifully."
Cost: $30.00. Includes lunch.
Free for Pre-registered Husson University, NESCOM, and Bangor Theological Seminary students.
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