My dog is more moral than your god

Owning a dog has been very educational for me.  I have learned a lot about myself and about dogs simply by observing the dog that we own.  I have shared some of these thoughts before, and now I shall share some more.

One of the many things I have thought about is the morals that our dog seems to exhibit.  Many people will say that animals act on instinct or that they do not have a moral code.  I strongly disagree.  Observing Konan, and all of the animals in the YouTube videos that Conrad watches, I know that animals are intelligent and that they feel empathy just the same as we do, and that their conduct is dictated in large part by their empathies.

To illustrate what I mean by this, let me give some examples.  Konan bites us.  But when he does, they are play bites.  He is not biting with his full strength.  He would easily break our skin if he did, and possibly even break some bones as well.  But he does not.  He has only broken skin on a couple of instances, when he was overly excited and unaware of the strength he was using.  He has never intentionally broken skin.  He bites softly and playfully.  Why does he do this?  He doesn't want to hurt us.  He must be aware that we can feel pain the same way he feels pain.  He doesn't want to inflict pain upon us because he loves us, and we are kind to him.

Another thing that I think about is acceptance and tolerance.  Konan has never been unkind to us because we are gay.  He has never done anything to treat us unfairly.  He treats us exactly the way he would treat us if we were a man and a woman.  Konan doesn't care if we are black or white, male or female, tall or short, thin or fat.  He is loving to us regardless of how we look or whom we love.  We love him and he loves us and that's all that matters.

I say that this is an indication that his morals are preferable to those that the Christian god decrees.  The Christian god was pro-slavery as late as the 19th century.  He was pro-segregation as late as just 50 years ago.  The Mormon god took until 1978 to admit that black people should be treated the same as white people, and that black and white people should be allowed to marry each other.  In the name of teaching line upon line, this god has institutionalized racism in the history of the world.  Thus, he is morally inferior to my dog.

At the current time, the Christian god decrees that homosexuals do not deserve the same rights and protections under the law as heterosexuals.  There are a few pro-gay churches out there who teach the opposite, but by and large, most of Christianity is still anti-gay, and likely will be for another decade or two (possibly even longer).  As gay rights become the norm and homosexuals become equal as far as the law is concerned, we will see more and more churches change their doctrine on homosexuality, just as they did with segregation and slavery back when those social changes happened.  This is evidence that the Christian god waits until his policies are no longer socially acceptable before admitting that they were a bad idea in the first place.  This is a sign of stubbornness and is evidence that my dog has superior morals.  My dog didn't wait until DOMA was struck down by the Supreme Court in order to treat me and my lover as he treats any other human being.

Dogs are, by their biological nature, predators.  And they may at times kill things unnecessarily--just for the sport.  My dog hasn't yet--aside from insects.  Some day he may.  But my dog does not go around waging war on dogs who believe in different ideologies than he does.  My dog doesn't commit genocide in the name of his religion.  The Christian god commanded genocide multiple times throughout the Bible.  He commanded genocide as late as the Second World War--he told Adolf Hitler to kill the Jews and the gays.  My dog has never commanded genocide, nor will he ever command it.  He will not commit it.  He wouldn't ever kill another dog unless his life was in danger.  And he wouldn't kill a human unless his life was in danger.  So my dog is morally superior to your god.

My dog truly does love unconditionally, even though it is god who is proclaimed to love unconditionally.  We bathe our dog, and he does not enjoy the bath in the slightest.  The entire time he is soaped up and wet, he is petrified, attempting to jump out of the tub at any chance he can.  It is a miserable experience for him and he is aware that we are the ones putting him through this experience.  And yet, as soon as we are done with the bath, even before he dries off, he is happy and excited and wants to play with us and love us.  He does not hold grudges.  The Christian god talks about holding grudges for generations.  In fact, he punished the entire human race for something that the first two people did 6,000 years ago.  We clip Konan's nails and he hates it.  In fact, the last time we did it, he was so scared that he peed.  But as soon as we were done, he was happy with us.  Our dog does not hold grudges, but your god does.  The Christian god punishes people for eternity simply for not believing in him and praising his name.  Thus your god is morally inferior to my dog.

In every way, I would prefer to have a dog than a god.  I can see my dog, I can love my dog, I know that he loves me, his love is truly unconditional.  I understand my dog.  I feel empathy for him and he feels empathy for me.  He does not cause things to happen which will harm me.  He wants only to please me and to enjoy spending time with me.  He is truly a good companion.