It is not found in Genesis 1 that God "gave us animals." As for giving to eat, it says explicitly there that the plants are given for food to both human beings and nonhuman animals. Direction to kill and eat animals does not come till after the Flood, in the covenant with Noah.

No doubt the nine billion chickens who are slaughtered for food in this country every year love being exploited, made to suffer, and put to death "with a Christian spirit of cheerfulness, a spirit of service, and great generosity." That makes it all better, doesn't it.

Fortunately, with respect for our intellect and our conscience, we are encouraged to set aside such an interpretation, and the disgraceful seizing of a license for cruelty and injustice.