The title of the book is For Our Friends the Animals: Cultivating a Reverence for life. This book will consist of on-point biblical passages, prayers and author commentary and explication on and development of the ethos of a reverence for life. In particular the commentary will explore the applicability of a reverence for life to the treatment of God’s creation by the species Homo sapiens in the 21st century.

This little book will change how you regard animals from live pawns to be exploited and abused by humans, to our brothers and sisters, deserving of our compassion and care with an equal right to exist! This book is needed at all times, as in order to save our world we humans must alter our view of other life forms, other creatures on this planet. But right now, with so much harm, so much ecological depredation, so many lethal viruses stemming from abuse of animals, it is critical that we make that alteration immediately. It can only happen through the spirit of Jesus. The audience is anyone who cares about life on this planet, but the audience also includes people who are only concerned with their own lives, as our own survival hinges on how we treat all of God's creatures who live on earth. It is time for churches and all religions to come to the realization that we humans are not the be all and end all of existence; rather, we are but one species, with incredible intelligence and linguistic and organizational skills, a species that, by dint of those enormous advantages, must transform our ethical approach to animals, indeed to all life. A new voice is needed to help bring these concerns to the fore, a voice of one who has worked with mistreated animals and who has also worked with human ethics. Your author humbly submits that he can be that voice.

This book is dedicated and beholden to the spirit of Jesus Christ. As Albert Schweitzer wrote in The Quest for the Historical Jesus:” But the truth is, it is not Jesus as historically known, but Jesus as spiritually arisen within men, who is significant for our time and can help it. Not the historical Jesus, but the spirit which goes forth from Him and in the spirits of men strives for new influence and rule, is that which overcomes the world....” As far as the author knows this is the first book to be published that attempts to link a biblical/religious underpinning for compassion to animals with the ethos necessary to make that compassion universal: a reverence for life. As stated, given the ubiquitous slaughter and cruel exploitation of animals, given that the recent virus and so many others that have stemmed from human abuse and misuse of animals, this book is more than timely. It is sorely needed.

Purely in order to provide a useful form and order this book will initially provide training and background on the meaning and applicability of a reverence for life. We will situate ourselves within a holy context, a necessary situating before we can put that tenet of universal love into practice. Once that grounding instruction has been received and comprehended, at the conclusion of part one we will provide a pledge for all readers to sign and follow. This pledge will set forth the promise of each signatory to behave in particular ways regarding animals and life, and the instruction, commentary and signed pledge will afford the reader the opportunity to move on and participate in the second part, prime examples of the overarching need to accept and adopt this ethos without fail or delay. While this first section is intended to be mainly foundational in nature, the second part will be more practical in outlook, will outline several issues confronting us regarding animal rights and treatment, and will provide ideas and proposed solutions to those problems.

Although unabashedly Christian in its underpinning, this book is not aimed at any one religion or faith. Our goal is to reach and inspire all who may possess even a spark of compassion for animals in their hearts. While the spirit of Jesus will serve as a guide in these prayers and meditations, ultimately each of us must find and tap into that spirit to find the vein of compassion that exists within us all and to be guided towards proper behavior. It is all who agree to follow and embark on this spiritual journey, regardless of denomination, to whom we reach out.