Living Legacy: Faith Voices on Animal Protection

 The Humane Society of the United States has announced a new video series entitles, “Living Legacy: Faith Voices on Animal Protection” that will coincide with the celebration of the season of St. Francis. In this series, three modern-day faith leaders discuss three historical figures whose contributions to animal welfare stemmed directly from their religious convictions. William Wilberforce, C.S. Lewis and Hannah More (all inspirations for us here at The Clapham Group) are highlighted in the series and we are excited to share this opportunity to learn more about how they incorporated animal welfare into their lives.Eric Metaxas, author of Amazing Grace and host of New York City’s, Socrates in the City, starts the series off with a discussion of William Wilberforce, the early-19th century English Parliamentarian and abolitionist for whom The Clapham Group is named.  “For Wilberforce, animal activism came out of his faith,” says Metaxas. “He said it was wrong and cruel and ultimately something that coarsens human beings.”Secondly, C.S. Lewis is discussed by Dr. Jerry  Root, Associate Professor at Wheaton College; Director of the Wheaton Evangelism Initiative; Director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism and C. S. Lewis Scholar.  Lewis was the author of fiction and non-fiction books alike, including the beloved Chronicles of Narnia series.  Root notes that Lewis focused much of his writings on the link between the way one treats animals to the way one treats his human neighbor. Finally, the discussion of 19th century evangelical and social reformer, Hannah More, features Dr. Karen Swallow Prior, professor of English at Liberty University and author of the upcoming book Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More.  In these videos Prior points out that, “The animal welfare movement actually began with evangelical Christians including Hannah More.”Here are a few ways to engage with the video series:The series will be featured on the Patheos website as a tool for small groups wanting to dig deeper into the topic of Christian thought on animal protection.The entire 12-segment video series can also be viewed on YouTube Also, consider getting more involved with animal protection issues by signing up to become an HSUS faith ally.