One of the most mistreated of all so-called “food animals” is the
chicken. Not only are billions of chickens physically exploited in the
most horrific ways, they are used as the target of some of the most
hard-hearted of “jokes.”
I was reading about the shameless cruelty that was going on for years
at Kansas State University’s basketball games: throwing hens, painted in
the school colors, 30 feet from the stands onto the basketball court and
kicking them to death. And until recently a Sports Illustrated
website not only instructed students on how to conduct a “chicken toss,”
but also encouraged this as one of the “Things You Gotta Do Before You
Graduate.” (It was taken off their website only after United Poultry
Concerns requested its removal.)
Yet look at how lovingly Jesus speaks of the hen and her chicks in
Matthew 23:37-39 (also Luke 13:34-35). If He is not ashamed to compare
Himself to a chicken in such a positive way, why do so many people trash
them?
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those
who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you
were unwilling.
38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!
39 "For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you
say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' "
~ New American Standard Bible
See also:
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/chicken.html
