Wesley Smith is shocked and appalled (surprise!) by Humane Society president Wayne Pacelle’s recent column on Michael Vick’s efforts to rehabilitate himself.

First, Pacelle:

In a civil society, there must be accountability for grievous actions. But there also must be an embrace of people who are willing and ready to change – even in tough cases, like Michael Vick. We are all sinners when it comes to animals, and we can all do better.

Smith, weirdly, asserts that this reveals the “religious” nature of the animal rights movement:

We have all sinned against animals? Substitute God for animals in this piece, and you have a classic Christian message. Yup. animal rights is religion and Wayne Pacelle a high priest of the faith.

Um, does Smith realize that in Christian terms it makes perfect sense to talk about sinning against beings other than God? As in, “If your brother sins against you…” (Matt. 18:15)?

So how much of a stretch is it to talk about sinning against animals, especially when we’re talking about the kind of sadistic abuse Vick was guilty of? Sure, Kant and some other philosophers said that we have no direct duties to animals, but they were wrong! Pacelle is simply using religious language to point out that we all, to some degree or another, seriously wrong the animals who share our world.

It’s a staple of conservative anti-environmental and anti-animal rights rhetoric that those movements are ersatz religions. But actual religion already teaches us not to sin against our fellow creatures, including the most vulnerable ones.