The author addresses ways in which participants in the religion-and-science dialogues avoid ethically sensitive issues involving the scientifically developed subject of nonhuman animals. Using the concept of ethical anthropocentrism, he maintains that the contemporary dialogue is mired in a traditional set of concepts and myopic discourse. The present approach entails serious risks of weakening both religious life and scientific inquiry, including the foundation for an engagement between religion and science. Furthermore, the specific sciences dealing with nonhuman animals should be engaged fully for a number of reasons related to both religious and scientific goals. A further benefit of such an engagement would be promotion of an understanding of community more responsive to the non-anthropocentric ethics found so broadly in religious traditions outside the Abrahamic, and in subordinated portions of the Abrahamic traditions.