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the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.’ (Genesis 1:29) This serves as the basis of argumentation for Christian vegetarians. Later, after the fl ood, the consumption of meat is permitted. In the Bible, the expulsion from paradise is followed by Cain’s fratricide of Abel and the buil ding of the Tower of Babel. Humans are becoming envious, jealous, violent and megalomaniac. While God thought everything had turned out well after creation, nothing was really good anymore. Full of wrath, as the Bible story goes, God drowned hu mans along with all creatures in great fl oods. Only Noah and his family are spared as they had led a godly life: Noah and his wife, and their three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth along with their wives, who also remain nameless in the religious tradi tion. Four human couples are saved in addition to one pair of each animal species so that each creature has a future. It is a great tale, known all over the world. Anyone who sees a ship with animals on board generally knows what this alludes to. However, the story of the fl ood is not just a tale of miracu lous rescue, it is also cruel. Peter Spier’s picture book illustrates this brilliantly. The book fascinated me because everyday life on the Ark also plays a part. It shows how the animals are fed and how Noah’s wife and his daughters-in-law hang out the washing. I hadn’t thought about that before. And there is a picture in which the animals left behind slowly but surely drown in the fl oods. I had to turn that page quickly with my children. So cruel, ani mals and, of course, also people drowning. If we see God in human terms, according to the Bible story, he regrets being the cause of so much suffering. At the end of the narrative, God

enters a covenant with Noah and declares: ‘Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.’ (Genesis 8:21) God is aware of humankind’s failure and yet gives the lasting pledge: ‘As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’ (Genesis 8:22) And the covenant with Noah follows, which is sealed with the rainbow: ‘Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, Be fruitful and increase in number and fi ll the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fi sh in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.’ (Genesis 9:1–3) For both Judaism and Christianity, the re sponsibility of this biblical statement remains: encouragement of progeny, responsibility for the land and livestock as well as permission for the consumption of meat. As I said, I am acutely aware that the issue of offspring is ambivalent. Increasing population numbers worldwide imply a threatening situation for the whole globe. That is a huge topic we cannot tackle tonight, although it is by all means relevant. It is mostly the religious communities that deny women access to contra ceptives. Let us summarise this brief theological di gression: even after the time of paradise, even after the fl ood, there is a responsibility for culti vating and preserving the land. And animal hus bandry that has respect for the creatures is a

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