I first realized this 30 years ago, in my early 20s. I was seated on an airplane next to a woman who was having a vegetarian meal. After ascertaining that she was a vegetarian, I asked her why she was one.
"Because we have no right to take an animal's life. Who are we humans to think we are more valuable than animals?"
That was the first time I had ever heard such an idea, and I was dumbfounded.
"You don't really mean that, do you?" I asked. "After all, which would you save first, a human or an animal?"
I was certain that this was a rhetorical question. But to my amazement, no answer was forthcoming.
Finally, I said, "Did you hear my question?"
"I'm thinking," the woman responded.
Those two words were an epiphany. I immediately suspected that this woman might not be an anomaly, but rather a perfectly normal product of a secular society. To confirm this, I decided to pose this question to others. For 30 years, I have asked high school seniors throughout America which they would save first, their dog or a stranger. In every instance (except some religious schools), one third have voted to save their dog, one third for the stranger, and one third just didn't know.
These students are now adults. Some of them work for PETA, and many of them support an organization that believes in the equivalent worth of humans and chickens.
The thing to understand is that this makes sense. When people stop believing in God, they believe in anything.
In the Muslim world today, we see the dangers of religious fanaticism. In the Western world we see the dangers of secular nihilism. America, with its unique blend of secular government and Judeo-Christian values, is in the middle. We better guard this unique blend. Or we will all be barbecued.