Where are we headed?

Where we live I get to listen to the BBC each day.  Its interesting to hear the European perspective on the US presidency, housing market, economic status and such.  Its also interesting to hear how far Europe has moved from any sort of religious moorings it used to have.

On Monday it was a story about Spain's parliament trying to decide if great apes should have legal rights.  You know, basic "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" type stuff.  So the host was talking with a British professor at Princeton about the morality of zoos and should one intervene if two gorillas were fighting.  They also discussed if other animals should have legal rights, like birds and things or just animals who are "like us".

Then a social commentator came on and said this line of thinking of course has an end that is still very far off.  The debate is philosophical, you see, and has to do with the soul.  He said that humans because of their religious leanings decided we had souls but other animals did not.  But since we now know that God is dead we have to decide: do any of us have souls or do none of us?

It seems the only choice we have is that BOTH my cat and I have souls or NEITHER of us do.  Or to put it another way, all animals have souls or none do.  That gets to be a pretty sticky wicket insofar as chicken nuggets are concerned, right?  Doesn't every hen out there have the basic right to life and hence its wrong for them to be chopped and fried up with some mashed potatoes and gravy?  

If its OK for them to be thus treated ... how about other humans?  I mean as long as we are denying civil rights and all.  Hmm, I wonder about marriage?  Could a cat and dog be married if everyone got civil rights?

The most interesting thing along the whole line is that these folks are trying to make decisions (actually standards) of what is right and wrong and yet they would spend the rest of their lives debating if there even is such a thing.  Right or wrong?  Only where animals are concerned, I guess.