As a human who knows I am an animal, I want my fellow humans to stop tyrannizing all the other animals.  I want to see some "fairzy squarzy", some application of the golden rule,  I want kindness, empathy, compassion, and respect for our fellow animals.  So, now for my question.  Does the idea of animal rights conflict with atheism.  As an atheist I have trouble with the concept of "rights" as in "God given rights".  The U.S. Constitution does not grant any rights, but simply acknowledges that god gave us these 'rights'.   So, since no god gave us anything, he didn't give anything to the other animals either.  Therefore, from where do "rights" come?