People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently embarked on a campaign encouraging the spaying and neutering of animals. The leaflet that it distributed, “Pope Condom,” shows an obviously doctored picture of Pope Benedict XVI throwing a condom to a crowd.
There were two problems with this campaign: the leaflet exploited the pope; and it demonstrates the incredible hypocrisy on the part of PETA.
Regarding the former issue, it is hardly news that PETA likes to hijack Christian figures and symbols to pander its message, but to do this to the pope shows how remarkably unethical this allegedly ethical organization really is.
Regarding the latter, the statement accompanying this campaign says, “It’s sinful that millions of dogs and cats are killed every year in animal shelters simply because there aren’t enough homes for all of them….” What is truly sinful is how PETA lies. In 2008, it was disclosed by the Center for Consumer Freedom that PETA kills 95 percent of the adoptable pets in its care. Indeed, PETA delivered the death sentence to 21,339 cats and dogs between 1998 and 2008 at its headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia.
There is something perverse about an organization that has to rip off the pope while violating its own mission on a daily basis, just to stay in business.
