Respecting the great apes

Chimp/Wikipedia.

There's a good op-ed by Roscoe Bartlett in today's New York Times. He was involved in chimp research for the space program. Now, as a senator, he's sponsoring a bill that would outlaw such research on the "great apes".

It's worth reading. And they're worth respecting. I'd even go further: let's outlaw torturing any living creature for our own purposes (and yes, that would include humans). Why do we feel that we're the only beings on this planet who count? I don't get it.

Well, actually I do. This insane notion comes directly from religion, which tells us we're special in some magical way. We're not. We're the hairless monkeys of Earth, kids. So how come we get to torture all the other creatures?