Priest hunts free of moral conflict

[snip] When [Christopher Wenthe became a priest], he didn't sell his scattergun, his bow or his fishing rods. Nor, in his ever-more-detailed studies of the Bible and the church, did he find conflict between his evolving life as a man of God, and his past -- and current -- life as a hunter. And killer.

"It comes down to, 'Is it moral or not' to hunt? If it weren't, I wouldn't do it," he said. "To be honest, I haven't given it much thought. But I believe hunting is moral. We have a long tradition as Catholics and an extensive and very clear moral theological tradition, and none of it speaks to the immorality of hunting."

Wenthe hunts, he said, primarily because he enjoys being outdoors. "That's first and foremost," he said. He enjoys also the challenge of finding game he enjoys eating, saying it's part of his, and man's, primitive nature.

"Not primitive as opposed to our intellectual nature," he said. "But primitive as part of our nature as mankind. Intellectually, obviously, we don't need to hunt. But what does that mean, exactly? We need to eat. Not necessarily animals that we hunt; we obviously don't need to eat those exclusively.

Among biblical passages often cited in defense of hunting, Genesis 1:26 is retrieved most often. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle ..."

The anti-hunting group PETA -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- doesn't buy the reference, and has argued, counter-intuitively, on billboards that Jesus was a vegetarian. "Follow Him," PETA advised.

Clearly, I need to get my historical and religious understanding from PETA... they know so much! Here are some things that they know:

1. Jesus was an observant Jew. Therefore, He ignored God's command to eat the slaughtered lamb in each of the Passover meals in which participated throughout His Life.

2. At the Wedding at Cana... when it was time to kill the fattened calf, Jesus surely said, "No, thanks. I'm a Veggan."

3. When Jesus told us the parable of the Prodigal Son, He obviously meant to say that the father was a bad person... after all, he had the fattened calf killed and served in honor of his returned son.

I could go on... but it really is just such a ridiculous assertion anyway...

Not only in hunting perfectly fine morally, but wearing furs and leathers is morally positive and reinforcing of God’s Will.

God gave man dominion over the Earth so it would be blasphemous for Christians to disparage furs.

And yes, I mean baby sealskins too!

As for leopard furs, I think it should be legal (because it’s already moral) for American breeders to start breeding these creatures specifically for their beautiful furs. Real leopard fur is quite beautiful, it’s the cheap imitation stuff that looks like it belongs on hookers.

Clearly, I need to get my historical and religious understanding from PETA... they know so much! Here are some things that they know:
1. Jesus was an observant Jew. Therefore, He ignored God's command to eat the slaughtered lamb in each of the Passover meals in which participated throughout His Life.
2. At the Wedding at Cana... when it was time to kill the fattened calf, Jesus surely said, "No, thanks. I'm a Veggan."
3. When Jesus told us the parable of the Prodigal Son, He obviously meant to say that the father was a bad person... after all, he had the fattened calf killed and served in honor of his returned son.

I could go on... but it really is just such a ridiculous assertion anyway...

This was in post #1, which got deleted for some reason [presumably my comment about hunting in season]:

Matthew 4:19, the PETA Bible (red letter edition)
"Follow me, and I will make you farmers of men..."
Luke 5:4-10, the PETA Bible (red letter edition)
4: When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."
5: Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets."
6: When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break;
7: so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.
8: But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
9: For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;
10: and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear. I give you a new commandment: put all those fish back in the ocean once the crowd's gone. From now on boys, we're eating beets."

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