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Interview Transcript
Question: Do you have a personal philosophy?
Ingrid Newkirk: I do have a personal philosophy. I’m an atheist. I believe that if you have a religion, it should be sort of to your personal principles. In my case I believe kindness is one of the best religions that you can have. And in fact all the major religions are founded on that principle. It’s just that followers deviate from it over a period of time. Mohamed used to say to his followers never to overload a donkey; to rest the donkey; never to throw stones at a bird; all these things.
In Judaism there are many rabbis who say that you shouldn’t eat animals, that you shouldn’t ever wear the fur of animals. In Christianity of course Jesus knew if a little sparrow fell and was always advocating kindness to all living beings. And Buddhism, Hinduism, the gamut. So to me the core value is kindness and just trying to be decent.
Recorded on: November 12, 2007
Discuss
Mark Powers on February 22, 2008, 2:57 AM
I have heard many people argue that without religion, there would be chaos. People would run amuck, caring nothing about others, unless there was an overseeing God to scare them into behaving. Ms. Newkirk’s video is evidence to the contrary. I know a number of atheists, and they are all decent people. They are no meaner or nicer than the Christians I know. My personal observation of humankind leads me to believe that people are not kind because they’re afraid of going to Hell; they’re kind because it’s in their nature to be kind. Some people have to work on it, but as I’ve lived life, I’ve seen that compassion is a hard thing to learn. For me, religion is more of a source of confusion than a source of comfort, and for every lesson about kindness to be found, there is a lesson on intolerance to counter-balance it.
There’s no way to prove it, but I think that most people would be the way they are even if religion didn’t exist. For me, the examples set by the people around me as I go through life teach me lessons at least as profound as those I have found in the Bible and the Quran. Perhaps not as dramatically or poetically illustrated, but just as profound. And I agree with Ms. Newkirk, it always comes down to kindness and consideration.
a schneidafunk on February 27, 2008, 7:19 PM
Ingrid, I think you misspoke when saying religion was against harming animals. The old testament, which Jews, Christians, and Muslims all derive their beliefs, talks many times about sacrificing animals to God. Regardless, you’re an atheist so I don’t expect you to know that. My question is whether you think it’s OK to have pets.
Simon-Pierre Lauzon on March 18, 2008, 7:56 PM
Masturb, it is not because someone is an antheist that he/she would not read the bible or study theology.
Larry Wright on March 24, 2008, 3:47 AM
Proof that atheism is not synonymous with rationality.
Okay, perhaps that is a bit harsh but let me explain my frustration.
She states that she is an atheist but then instead of explaining that choice or describing how it has enriched her life she goes off on a tangent wherein she uses theist religions to support her agenda. What’s that all about?
Furthermore, none of those religions are founded on kindness. They are founded on fear and ignorance. The same sort of fear and ignorance that causes people to anthropomorphize animals to the point that it becomes immoral to maintain the food chain.
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