Are Humans More Valuable Than Animals? | 5 Minute Video
If you saw your dog and a stranger both drowning in the ocean, which would you save first? Your answer says, well, everything about how you see the world. Dennis Prager explains.
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Script:
Are you more valuable than a dog or a cat or, for that matter, a tree?
One of the biggest differences between Judeo-Christian values and secular values concerns this very issue: the worth of the human being. According to the Judeo-Christian value system, human beings are infinitely valuable.
On the other hand, secular humanism devalues the worth of humans. As ironic as it may sound, the God-based Judeo-Christian value system renders humans infinitely more valuable than any humanistic value system.
The reason is simple: if there is no God, human beings are only material beings – and therefore not worth anything beyond the matter of which they are composed. But in the Judeo-Christian system human beings are created in “the image of God,” meaning that human life is sacred. In other words, we are either created in the image of carbon atoms – and therefore not worth much more than carbon – or we are created in the image of God and therefore infinitely valuable.
Our secular, post-Judeo-Christian society has rendered human beings less significant than at any time in Western history.
First, the secular denial that human beings are created in God’s image has led to humans increasingly being equated with animals. That’s why over the course of 30 years of asking high school and college students if they would first try to save their dog or a stranger, two-thirds have always voted against the person. They either don’t know what they would do or they actually vote for the dog. Many adults now vote similarly.
Why? There are two reasons. One is that with the denial of the authority of higher values such as religious teachings, people increasingly make moral decisions on the basis of how they feel. And since just about everybody feels more for their dog than for a stranger, many people simply choose the dog.
The other reason is that, once you get rid of Judeo-Christian values, there is no reason for elevating human worth over that of an animal.
That’s why people estranged from Judeo-Christian values (including many Jews and Christians) support programs such as “Holocaust on Your Plate.” “Holocaust on Your Plate” is a campaign developed by the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that teaches that there is no difference between the barbecuing of chickens in America and the burning of Jews in the Holocaust. Why? Because a human and a chicken are of equal worth.
So, too, in a notorious Tucson, Arizona case, a woman screamed to firefighters that her three “babies” were in the burning house. Thinking that the woman’s children were trapped inside, the firefighters risked their lives to save the woman’s three cats.
If you think these two examples are either just theoretical (the dog-stranger question) or extreme (the Tucson mother of cats), here’s an issue that is neither theoretical nor extreme: More and more people believe, as PETA does, that even if it would lead to a cure for cancer or AIDS, it would be wrong to experiment on animals. In fact, many animal rights advocates believe that even to save a human life, it would be wrong to kill a pig to obtain a heart valve.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/are-humans-more-valuable-animals
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Why’d you mention nazi germany it’s irrelevant to animal sentience
Being in the inage of God, doesn't mean being infinitely valuable even when we are sinning.
Are you worth more than a pig or a tree? Are you worth more than a black person? The idea of someones intrinsic value is subjective, there is no truth. All sentiemt beings deserve fair treatment.
Trees and rocks are not sentient so I’m pretty sure I’m more valuable than them. Animals are though, so it’s a bit more complicated. I’d still be sentient if I had an animals sentience and would suffer if I was burnt. But if I was a rock and I was burnt it wouldn’t make a difference because I’d be dead anyways
People
Eating
Tasty
Animals
Read ‘em and weep!
Bruh, humans are the true demons.
Yes, Dr Prager, this is true- but humans are also commanded in the bible to show as much humility as they can, and to be thankful for absolutely EVERYTHING our God gives us!!! We were also told to take care of the Garden of Eden; (yes this is work, but work only turned into suffering for humans AFTER the Fall of Man); so- somehow- we humans can be thought of being part of Paradise too- why else should we take care of it?
The only human that I value less than a dog is Dennis Prager.
I cannot even begin to describe how many times this guy commits logical fallacies. First of all, just because human beings are made of carbon atoms doesn’t mean they’re worth as much as carbon atoms. That’s like saying that a poem is only worth as much as the individual letters inside of the poem. You’re committing the fallacy of composition. Also, why does “being made in the image of God” give us more moral worth. And even if we were made in the image of god whatever the hell that even means, we are still made of carbon atoms. Secondly, it’s no surprise that people would rather save their dog rather than a stranger. The reason why they would save their dog is because it’s their dog. They have a personal connection with their dog but they don’t have a personal connection with the stranger. So their choice to save the dog is because of their relationship with the dog not because they think dogs are worth more than humans. Also, the environmentalist movement is human centric. The reason why people care about the environment is because the environment affects the lives of humans. So the reason why people protect the environment is because they value the worth of humans not because they value the worth of trees. Another thing worth noting is that Hitler used Jude’s Christian values to support his views. Even if Hitler was an atheist which he probably wasn’t, he still recognized that using Judeo Christian values would help support his campaign. Also, communists were atheists because they were communists not the other way around. Correlation doesn’t equal causation. In conclusion, this video is a blatant straw man of secularism. It’s imbeciles like Dennis Prager that give secularism and atheism a bad name. I mean, seriously, this man is literally stating that because people use electric cars due to not wanting climate change to destroy the Earth and kill everyone that they’re somehow stating that air is worth more than humans. It’s ridiculous. Which institution values humans more? The institution that says that we are all sinners and deserve to go to hell or the institution that values keeping the environment safe so that humans won’t go extinct. As long as people like Dennis Prager claim that environmentalists think that air is worth more than humans or that because a terrified elderly woman called her cats babies one time that it means that secularism equates cats with humans, atheists are never going to take Christianity seriously. This video has done more harm than good for the Christian movement. Shame on you, Dennis Prager.
Dennis Prager: "According to the Judeo-Christian value system, human beings are infinitely valuable"
Sounds nice but wait, in another PragerU video the same Dennis Prager supports the death penalty.
Does this man come out of his mantion often? What the hell is he talking about?
A stranger is way too vague to compare with the persons dog.
If he said a strange dog and a stranger guarantee they’re saving the stranger.
Again, if it’s a strange child and their dog I bet they save the child.
A grown ass stranger shouldn’t have gotten themself in that situation when my dog was swimming – my dog can’t buy a life vest or insist on wearing it.
So yeah, it’s not where your values are!
https://youtu.be/MifKNdE9i6E?feature=shared&t=89
Absurd, Slavery was enjoyed and ensorsed by the Judeo christian communities wonderfully, and it looks like Prager thinks slaves were saved by his ugly ass relgious cults, but to note, slavery was abolished much before in eastern countries and in many communities in southern India, not decades but centuries before. Huh, another dumb video to make conservative americans dumb enough to vote for right wing.
Every day that goes by, this video becomes more and more true, and the comments age worse and worse
No. Humans and everything on earth has equal value. Weather or not there is a god or not. Besides humans are animals. We are not seperate from other animals just we think we are special in some way. 😊
Humans are animals wether or not we are more valuable is a complicated topic and lot to consider and there is a lot to countering what makes someone valuable
A doctor more valuable than a child rapist but both are humans and we are made out of carbon atoms even if God existed this wouldn’t change the fact that we are made of carbon atoms
1:23 Just want to mention if you think we are valuing human lifes of less value now. Then we were definitely valuing the human lives of least value in the past (when judeo christian society was a thing?), as with slaves they were worth some money. Just like some pet you could purchase them, except you can make the slave do your work for free (maybe you would have to provide for survival, but then the owners could beat them if wished, just like some dog or cat)
It's obvious humans are more important because we wipe our butt.
Yes, human life value is way higher than an animal in judeo Christian belief, thats until its god or representatives say otherwise,Then your life's value is zero and you, your fam, babies and even animals are fare game for the sword and plunder.
I am not even religious but why is this even a question? Of course humans are better than a stupid animal.
Humans caused too much damage historically. Animals every time
Cat boys
If anyone is against eating animals, why don't you read Acts 10:13.
But God does compare us to animals in the Bible and he also DEMANDS that we care about them and their life in Proverbs.
4:05 It's funny because Hitler was Christian
Perhaps nearly as controversial as this video: I'm an atheist and would ban all pets.
Animal can be replaced human being can not be replaced.
God said in the bible that a single human is more valuable than all the sparrow in the air.
Imagine getting mad because instead of saving 3 humans you saved 3 cats that also probably felt pain,didn’t want to die and even tho rudimentary,they still had emotions
Other animals are worth more than humans, because 1. all wildlife has a purpose in the world 2. they are literally the reason any life is alive. But what about humans? They only destroy, kill and overpopulate. And if humans didnt exist there would be no impact on earth at all. It would actually be better
Certainly an interesting argument. I just spent the last hour trying to convince Google Bard that most people value human lives more than animal lives. It sort of agreed with me, and sort of didn't, and in the end we decided to call the debate a draw, because the issues can become very complex.
For instance, putting a spin on the debate, would you save your dog or the person, if you knew the person was a criminal of some sort? Would it depend on the crime? As people, we have a strong love of things we're close to, like our dogs, and a strong dislike of people we feel have wronged us or society.
I don't think it's commonplace among secular people to believe animals are of equal value to humans. I think most reasonable and rational people value human lives above animal lives. In fact, a common tactic of genocidal or political killings in regimes is to compare the target demographic to animals. They will often say they are less human, or a type of less valuable, intelligent humans, more like the wild animals. Devaluing people by saying animals are as good as them is not really an argument I've ever heard, honestly. Although I can say with certainty that tactic has never been used, the tactic of dehumanizing people to make it easier for the mob mentality to kill is almost always used, while anthropomorphizing animals to elevate them above humans proves too difficult culturally or intellectually.
I think PragerU is not wrong though pointing out that a person must be very careful when adopting secular belief systems, because they CAN be based on something other than the principles of honor, ethics, and justice. A favorite basis of secular beliefs that CAN become dangerous is a basis of belief ONLY in science. This is where you hear the dehumanization arguments occurring. In World War 2 Germany, Julius Streicher published the newspaper Der Stürmer, which depicted Jews as caricatures of rats or other vermin.
I'm actually trying to prove via a sociology algorithm that divorcing conventional laws that uphold civil rights from science in the name of advancing society, particularly when it comes to our most fundamental civil rights like freedom from unjust injury or death, is actually worse for evolution than merely maintaining a society that upholds civil rights.
Wokes hates humans just like satan did, that's why they cums to the abortion laws.
Tell me you never owned a pet without telling me you’ve never owned a pet
Yeah of course
There’s no objective justification for any value system.
A system that places an emphasis on the value of humans over anything else may have maximized its utility function when evaluated over the set of all humans. But introduce more non-human entities to that set and expand the utility function to possibly return negative values for these entities and the claim of objectivity falls out of the window rather quickly.
What may be good for you, can be the ruin of something else.
And looking at humans, including humanity before the secular value patch, I can’t help but think this is true. It’s too often true that what’s good for humanity is bad for something else. Be it something abstract like the climate or animals.
And I would definitely account for how more recent streams of philosophy have shaped human perception. I specifically think of people like Nietzsche or Sartre.
Actually the floor is more valuable then us. The last thing that was said in this video gave me that idea.
I believe people worship there animals
Matt. 10 says that we are worth more than many sparrows. I get that this passage is talking about something else entirely, but–at the same time–a comparison is being shown to be fact here. Gen. 1:28 also makes it clear that people are of more value, as well! I do not get how people treat animals like people or family members, but could not(and would not even if they could afford it) provide room, board, and/or transportation for every person they see(or hear about) that needs it. The logic is completely missing there–if we are valued as many sparrows. If you cannot(or would not) do the latter, then the first thing seems off limits to you! And, you should not be donating to animal causes without almost breaking the bank towards humanitarian efforts! The hypocrisy there seems to be immeasurable and it's wildly practiced across the planet. In my opinion, it's about perspective and that perspective is almost robotic, animal servitude! Notice, I said servitude, but I did not mean abuese!
Nope, a poodle is worth more than me. Someone will kidnap a poodle, but not me. Because I am worth less than a French Poodle. Besides, you'd feed a starving poodle, but not me.