One of the most ignored aspects of the debate over religion and whether it is bad or good, is its effect on animals.
The position of the monotheistic religions on animals is backward to start with for obvious reasons since they come from a time before evolution was known.
But what I am talking about mostly is the cruelty to animals that happens in the name of religion. The most famous example is of course halal meat, or kosher in the case of judaism - the belief that the animal needs to be slaughtered in a special, painful way, in order to make it holy.
In the UK, halal butchers are exempt from a law that says one must stun animals first before killing them.
Anyway I am reminded of this now unfortunately as the Hindu religion celebrates its festival of lights "diwali". This "celebration" involves buying up every firecracker in the country and spending 10 hours a day for a week just setting them off. one after the other after the other. The louder the better. Every family does their own show.
Of course there are other reasons for firework displays, but what makes Diwali here so notable is that its not about the display (as say new years is, where some special fireworks that look really good get used for 10 minutes) but about the process itself, so it lasts forever.
It starts at about 5 pm and from then on until 1am an entire area of around 5 square miles lives to the sound of continuous unbroken machine gun fire.
As annoying as it is to humans, at least we know its just some idiots who will stop in a few days. animals on the other hand, to quote the Times of India, "have a heightened sense of hearing so the jolts and loud noises cause many animals to flee in search of safe haven" Unfortunately this is the fate of Sisyphus, since there is no safe heaven to find, the fireworks come from all areas and its hours and hours of running a gauntlet.
The article mainly focuses on pets, since Diwali and Guy Fawkes night (English fireworks "celebration" which fortunately is slightly more controlled with single park displays favoured over the every family for themselves approach) are by far the most common periods for pets to run away causing owners pain, and it happened to me as a child so i know how it feels.
But besides the pets who live in a state of shock for hours, woodland animals like squirrels and birds also suffer and their plight is ignored. They also live in fear for hours and often in their flight in search of a haven, end up away from their nests or even habbitats. More over the fireworks themselves often cause the animals burns or worse.