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Monday, July 19, 2010
In a piece that I wrote, I found that authors who have recently written on the topic of animals and souls seem to agree that (1) animals have souls and that (2) these souls have a space for them in heaven.
But what about those people who do not subscribe to this idea? Many of the most conservative of Christians do not believe that animals have souls or that, if they do, they will join their owners in heaven. This leaves the issue, then, of what will happen to their pooch when the end-times comes, a theology that many of these same conservative Christians uphold?
Enter Eternal Earth-bound Pets, USA, an organization that promises to care for Fluffy if/when the Rapture were to occur. RNS Senior Correspondent Adelle Banks wrote about them back in February. I had the pleasure of catching up with one of the owners of the company, however, to talk business.
As their website advertises:
You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved. But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind. We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.
Started by Co-owner Bart Centre of New Hampshire, author of The Atheist Camel Chronicles, the organization began accepting contracts in June 2009. To date, they have collected 200 contracts, a number which disappoints Centre somewhat. The owners figured that there were approximately 40 million Premillennialists, Christians who subscribe to the image of a Rapture and being "left behind," so 200 people was not the number they had looked forward to.
Centre emphasized:
"A lot of people think that this is somehow a parody or a joke. A lot of people think that I am making fun of believers who believe in the rapture.... (But) this is as genuine as it can be. All (animal rescuers) have gone through background checks and credit checks. We know these people are committed and we do this for the long run. Do we think that our contracts will ever have to be executed? No, we don't. But it doesn't make our offer any less valid or genuine."
Centre has received thousands of requests from Atheists around the world asking to become rescuers, however he says that the company is not taking any more rescuers at the moment. The company has been featured in a variety of news outlets including Bloomberg Businessweek.
Posted by Alfredo Garcia at 3:00 pm
More than likely the reason believers in the rapture do not flock to this offer is they don’t really believe in the nonsensical doctrine to begin with and just give it lip service. That or they’d rather see their pets die a slow death than to see them live happily with Godless heathens. Eitherway it speaks volumes about these so called Christians.
Posted by Jeffery D—July 20, 2010, 5:50 am
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