Would God Want Us to Torment Monkeys in Pointless Experiments?

PETA’s Christian outreach division, LAMBS, is asking the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to let his faith guide whether cruel and pointless fright experiments on monkeys should continue.

Dr. Francis Collins was just awarded the 2020 Templeton Prize, which is given to people who integrate science and faith. Collins, a vocal member of the Christian community, has even written a book, The Language of God, on how religion can inform scientific progress. So LAMBS is reaching out to remind him of something he may have forgotten: Jesus told us to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” He was so adamant about this lesson that He said it twice, in Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12.

It’s doubtful that Collins would want NIH experimenters to saw open his head, inject toxins into his brain, vacuum or burn part of it out, shove him into a cramped black box, and torment him with all the things he’s most afraid of, just to see how he’ll react, then kill him. Yet he keeps funding NIH experimenter Elisabeth Murray to do exactly that to monkeys—our closest relatives. She alleges that her experiments shed light on human neuropsychiatric disorders, but they don’t. She has spent tens of millions in taxpayer dollars terrorizing monkeys and has not produced one single treatment or cure for humans in 30 years.

LAMBS is urging Collins to show mercy to these animals, who are also part of God’s precious creation, and end these abusive, useless, deadly experiments now. In its letter, LAMBS reminds him:

Christian theology has long recognized our God-granted dominion over the Earth not as authorization to exploit other sentient beings but as a sacred duty to be loving stewards of His creation. Jesus teaches in Matthew 25:40, “As you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.” We were created in God’s loving image (Genesis 1:27; 1 John 4:8), and thus, we’re called to show love to the world and all His creatures. Surely, Jesus considered our treatment of animals when He said, “Blessed are the merciful” (Matthew 5:7).

LAMBS is asking our fellow Christians to join us and follow Jesus’ example of compassion and mercy by respectfully requesting that Collins use his authority to end these experiments today.

Send a note to Francis Collins here.