Tom Regan Animal Rights

To be an “experiencing subject of a life” means to be something that is here, now, alive, in this world, being part of the grand mystery that is life. So basically anything that exists has life—from people to birds to trees to grass to even water and rocks. There is a grace and power and beauty and soul that is woven through all of it. To disregard something as not worth our concern or as something that can be annihilated or abused is to be disconnected from this grand harmony.
However, I do not think that being the subject of a life means that one has equal inherent value. As a human being, I feel that we can derive a sense of our value from religious teachings—particularly the traditional Christian teachings that hold that we are created in the image and likeness of God. This teaching points to a special relationship that we have with the Creator and signifies that our value is inherently greater than the rest of creation.
At the same time, I do not believe that this value gives us license to disregard or abuse the rest of God’s creation. Since it is God’s creation and we are tasked with living in it, we should be respectful of every living thing, not because it is equal to us in terms of value, but rather because it is a creature or creation of God. To disrespect it or to violate it or abuse it would be like to walk into a friend’s home and casually begin disrupting furniture, throwing dresses out of windows, knocking over vases, and upsetting countertops or throwing dishes all about. It is rude and a sign of a lack of integrity or concern for the things that belong to your friend.
If we look at all of creation as belonging to God, we can be more mindful of why we should respect it. You do not seek to offend your mother or your father or to throw away any of their things. If you have children and they have created some works of art, you do not consign them to the dust bin but rather hold on to them and cherish them because you love your children and you love what they create.
If, on the other hand, one does not love life or love the Creator of life, one might find it a bit more difficult to show love for creation. St. Francis loved all of creation and all of the animals, refusing even to harm a fly, because he had love for God and wished to respect all of God’s creation (Feister, 2017). Should we all resemble St. Francis? Could we all?
I don’t know that it is possible for everyone to be like that. But because I do not view animals as equal to humans in terms of inherent value, I do not believe they should be given equal rights. This stems from Christian teaching too, which holds that creation was given to the first man and woman to oversee—so it is not a matter of putting animals and humans on the same level as it is for humans to exercise prudent discretion and respect towards God’s creation, neither abusing nor elevating it to a position of dignity that should only be reserved for God’s creatures who have been described as being made in His image and likeness—i.e., human beings.
From Tom Regan’s point of view, the Christian teachings do not apply and humans and animals are really all the same because they are all experiencing subjects of a life. And from this point of view, it does follow that humans should respect animal life and not harm it or mistreat or attempt to farm it in any way. Animals should be free just as humans are, according to Regan’s perspective. His premise being that animals and humans are equal, humans have no right to test, kill, hunt or farm them—period. His argument flows logically from his premise, it is just not a premise that I can consent to because I do not think it aligns with reality as I understand it.
References
Feister, J. (2017). Saint Francis of Assisi and the animals. Retrieved from
http://blog.franciscanmedia.org/saint-francis-of-assisi-and-the-animals
Regan, T. (1985). Case for animal rights. In PETER SINGER (ed), In Defense of
Animals, New York: Basil Blackwell, 1985, pp. 13-26.