| A liberal Christian might reason somewhere along these lines.
The 'original sin' is an aspect of being human acquired through evolution. Humans evolved and acquired the moral sense other animals lacked.
Paradoxically, this aspect, the moral sense, makes them reprehensible for those parts of their nature that allow them to stray from or fall short of the high ideals of God. Aka, their innate, sin-prone tendencies. This means two equally real parts of human nature are in constant conflict with one another.
In contrast, animals lack the capacity to stray from or fall short of the high ideals at all (not in their nature), so they don't factor into the equation in the same way humans do.
In order to resolve the paradox, Jesus comes and provides, in the form of his teachings, a guide for the refining of flawed humans on earth, pending on their eventual completion in the afterlife.
Well, that's how I used to think, anyway.
A moral being is an entity for whom the disadvantage of others is an issue.
– K.H.Y. |