{"id":48796,"date":"2022-09-02T14:30:35","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T19:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/?p=48796"},"modified":"2022-09-02T14:30:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T19:30:37","slug":"the-rights-of-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/the-rights-of-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rights of Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A teacher in an Armenian Evangelical school here in Beirut was leading a discussion on human rights, trying to engage the students in the hard questions that face societies around the world. One of the students interrupted her and said, \u201cHere (in Lebanon), we\u2019re not looking for human rights. We would be satisfied with just having the rights of animals!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lebanon has descended into a chasm from which it will be very difficult to emerge. Partisans of each political party make it their aim to appoint to power those who can assert the rights of one group over (or at least equal to) the others, not trusting anyone to fairly deal with all citizens without discrimination. This is how the country has operated from its very earliest years. Yet the majority of voters, who are fed up with this decades-old dysfunction, stay on the sidelines and refuse to support any of the traditional political groupings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so the country\u2019s descent continues, to the degree that people are asking not for a new civil contract nor for visionary leadership, but for bread, water, electricity, medicine, fuel, functioning internet, access to their bank accounts, and on and on. It is a challenge for the church to avoid joining in the chorus of despair or for it to remain silent in the face of endemic corruption. But especially for people of faith, it is crucial to courageously stand in these days, especially for the well-being of the young and for their and Lebanon\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In fact, there are ways to take a stand, though often in unremarkable ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n