Make Way for “Non-Human Persons?”

Are dogs, pigs and children all the same?  Some would argue that animals should be defined as non-human persons, with the rights and privileges that all human persons share.  Is this right?  Understanding the many distinctives between people and animals is essential to understanding the meaning of persons being made in God’s image.  At the core of this issue, the problem with calling animals ‘persons,’ is that they simply are not persons.  As Dr. Mohler notes on today’s program, the Scripture teaches that human beings are distinct from animals in that we are made in the image of the Creator so that we may know him.  To give animals the same rights that humans have is to give them privileges they are not designed to exercise.