The tricky art of balancing respect for various cultures with absolute truths

If you are a dog lover, steel yourself before reading this Daily Mail article and viewing the accompanying photos. I won't excerpt anything from it. I think that would be unduly gratuitous.

It's about the ongoing dog meat trade in South Korea, and how the government has issued a message discouraging those who eat it and the soup vendors who provide it from openly consuming and supplying it during the Olympics.

What I found telling was the array of comments underneath the articles, and what they indicate about the lack of depth with which most people approach this or, really, any subject.

Some comments were purely feelings-based, expressing the natural horror most of us feel at the mere thought of this. Some were at the opposite end of the spectrum, putting forth a cultural-relativity argument, saying, "Hey, each society has its own way of determining how to treat any animal lower than a human. It's cows, dogs, chicken and fish here, it's dogs over there." Some made a somewhat compelling case for the sliding-scale argument, pointing out that dogs are far more intelligent than cows. Some wanted to use it as an opportunity to advocate for vegetarianism.

I think we need to bring the sweep of history into it. Of all the varieties of animal life on this planet, why has humankind been compelled to domesticate canis familiaris? It's not a recent phenomenon, either. It got going at least 15,000 years ago. Their was surely an affinity between these species based on their hunting behavior, but it quickly grew to be largely based on mutual loyalty and affection.

At the risk of sounding like I'm approaching this in a purely feels-based way myself, I daresay that any human being with any warmth in his or her heart cannot but respond to the entreaty of a tail-wagging dog for interaction with petting and gush-talk.

Man's best friend and all that.

I'll just say it flat out: There's something cold about a culture that raises dogs for meat.

Maybe when I have time I'll look into whether Scripture addresses this in any way, but recall that John Wesley says there are four ways we can come to know God's design: Scripture, reason, faith and experience. With regard to dogs, we have thousands of years of experience.

Until I come across convincing refutation of it, my personal formulation of the way humankind is to relate to the lower animal species is to divide them into three categories:

1. Those we keep as pets, give names to, and make part of our families.
2. Those we eat.
3. Those we regard with awe from a safe distance.