Why has Buddhism and jainism go beyond other religions to promote the value of every

Humans, animals, birds and even fish

Most of you may say that this idea of animals and bird life is of no value , but dint you think religions such as Buddhism and Jainism have evolved to higher plains than other religions which says that animals and birds were created by a god so that humans can eat them?
Val,
A very well written answer. Proves that you are a very intelligent .
Thanks

This is because there is a vast difference between religion and spirituality. Religion is just being a member of an organization, it implies no knowledge of spirituality.

Spirituality is the understanding that all life is sacred and as such its worth is beyond measure. The difference is a religious person would thank a totally unsubstantiated god figurehead for their food, while a spiritual person would thank the food directly for their personal sacrifice.
I think spiritual folks are more honest and sincere than religious folks, one rarely sees a religious person walking their talk, for all their fine words.


Practicing Shaman... quantum physics rocks.

Because Abrahamic faiths place value upon human life, and all other life is a form of commodity to either be exploited or destroyed as a nuisance. The excuse they use is that God gave them the right to do so, and justify the misuse by stating they are mindless dumb animals.
Now Im not a saying that all faiths do this because I know there are some who do follow God's Commandment of being good stewards of the Earth and do try to help lesser beings.
We Buddhists however, do place a precious human birth as better than birth in an animal realm because animals do not have the mental capacity to study the Dharma and become enlightened. That does not mean, however that animals should be abused. We also acknowledge that they are sentient beings, and all beings right down to the smallest insect wants nothing more than to be happy and not to suffer. Our goal as Buddhists (and most Wiccans and Pagans as well) is to ease their suffering as much as possible.
I don't know anything about Jainism but I presume they have similar values when it comes to other sentient beings.
om Mani pad me hum

That is because in Buddhism and Jainism belief.
It is possible for humans to be reincarnated as animals.

Eating animals is like cannibalism. Therefore, Buddhist and Jainist should avoid eating meat.