Skip to content

Why do animals matter?

July 3, 2026 · 55 min

Show notes

Do to a dog what we do to a factory-farmed pig, and you’d be arrested.

Do it to ten thousand pigs in a shed, and it’s breakfast.

Most of us say cruelty to animals is wrong.

And then most of us are happy to have them killed and eat them.

Both our panellists think the way we treat animals is a moral catastrophe.

But they get there by opposite roads. One says animals matter because they suffer. The other says they matter because they’re God’s creatures.

GUESTS:

Peter Singer

Emeritus Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University. Host of the podcast Lives Well Lived. 50 years ago exactly, his book Animal Liberation launched the modern animal liberation movement as we know it.

David Clough

Professor of Theology and Applied Sciences, University of Aberdeen. Author of the two-volume work On Animals. He’s a Methodist Preacher and Co-founder of CreatureKind which aims to transform Christian attitudes and practices toward animals.

All episodes of God Forbid

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.