Do non-human animals have souls? What does your religion say?

[Modem Butterfly]

Assuming you believe in souls, do non-human animals have souls? How are their souls different from human souls, or are they? And does this differ, or agree, with your religion?

[neweurope]

1. My religion says they don't - I say they do. Everybody who ever looked

into an animal's eyes knows they do.

--------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[autorank]

2. My religion is "Bottie-ism". I consulted my priest, "The Mac Daddy" and

he said, :wtf:, "are you kidding. Yes!"

O8) = all my dead pets!

[KoKo]

3. Well, the Episcopal Church has a blessing for the animials where

you bring your pets to be blassed on a certain day of the year. But, I don't know that that the church has an actual doctrine on animal souls.


Since God gave Man the charge to take care of the earth and it's animals too, then one would suppose there was a purpose. Animal Heaven and Hell...or do they go where we go. :eyes: I'd love be reunited with some of the pets I've lost somewhere.

[imenja]

20. I believe you will

If there is a heaven, and we are fortunate enough to go there, we will see all those we loved, including our animal friends. I know my little Brazilian kitty Lucy is there as we speak, my Siamese cat named Moses, and my childhood dog Jumpy. No one will ever convince me they don't have souls.

[DBoon]

4. What I recall the nuns saying in school so long ago

was that animals do indeed have souls, they just do not have immortal souls.

If my dog can't go with me, then I don't want to be there.

[mahina]

5. If dogs can't go to heaven, I want to go where they go.

I wish I knew who said that, but they were right.
My religion says no but I only buy about 50% of what they say anyway. I just go for the donuts. ;)
My Mom takes her golden retriever (My dog's brother) to the beach and says she's going to her church.

[DBoon]

14. Going to your mom's church, the golden retriever's church, or both?

I think dogs worship god in their own way. The beach is a good place for them to do this.

[SnowGoose]

6. I would like to test this....

all I have to do is: figure out what a soul *is*, OR maybe a guess as to what it's made of, OR where it's located, OR some way we could actually *find* one, OR detect its presence or past presence.

I'm not trying to bust your chops, I just don't see how one can even ask the question of who has souls, (or even figure out if I believe souls exist) unless we have *some* kind of idea what we're actually talking about.

I don't even know if I believe souls exist, because no one has ever told me what the thing is that they're referring to as a soul in a way that I can understand, you know?

"God" is a little different, because if you ask what 'god' is, most people will say something like "a being..." and follow up with some characteristics. That I can understand, even if the being is magical, like a god, at least I have somewhere to start figuring out something to think about the question.

Souls just leave me completely at a loss.

[Modem Butterfly]

8. It's an interesting question

I don't personally believe in souls, but I think that when most people speak of a soul, they're speaking of their consciousness, the part of their "spirit" that makes them who they are and which, most believe, continues in some form after death.

I do agree that an afterlife without the fuzzy butts wouldn't be much of a life at all.

[SnowGoose]

16. Me either.

I don't believe in souls, that is. On the other hand, I don't *disbelieve* in souls - I just don't know what they are supposed to be.

Consiousness is an interesting route to take, but it's not clear how consiousness (which most people will agree is a function of the brain) could continue after the brain is dead. In the case of people who've had specific brain injuries, they can lose memories, abilities, ambition - anything that can be pointed out as a distinguishing feature of my consiousness could probably be lost by a skilled surgeon cutting out the appropriate parts of my brain.

So, if someone with, say, Alzheimer's disease can forget their own children because of a loss of brain function, how would a soul remember anything about its own identity if the entire brain is dead and decomposing? To my mind, that seems to be the problem of defining souls as consiousness.

Also, I should note that I'm not trying to draw you out into some kind of argument. The fact is that this exchange is kinda helping me to grapple with these (supremely fascinating) questions, and maybe *begin* to figure out what my own opinions are.

Thanks.

[ruthg]

17. Ever read the SF book by Rob Sawyer called The Terminal Experiment?

It deals someone finding out a way to measure the human soul....they then run the test on critters with some interesting results..

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. Religion = crowd control.

Just a set of barking orders for the masses.

I'll just keep my spirituality to myself, thankyouverymuch.

[pelagius]

9. Yeah, stop talking about religion in the Religion and Theology forum!

I have to make a special trip over here to let y'all know how stupid you are and how offended I am! :evilgrin:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

10. Actually, no.

All posts come up in the "Latest" forum. I didn't make any special trips anywhere, nor did I tell anyone how stupid they are, nor did I say I myself was offended. It's just my own belief. If others are free to put out their beliefs without retribution, I can do the same, can I not?

[imenja]

19. then use the hide thread feature

to insist people shouldn't talk about religion on a theology discussion board is as ridiculous as it gets.

[H2O Man]

11. Ecclesiates 3:18-21 reads:

I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

For that which befalls the sons of man befalls beasts; even on thing befalls them; as one dies, so dies the other; yea, as one breath they are, so that a man has no preeminence above a beast; for all is vanity.

All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Who knows that the spirit of a man goes upward, and that the spirit of the beast goes downward, into the earth?

And, as Job 30:29 says, "I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls."

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. all things are sacred

all things are part of God, made from God, so all things have souls.

In the Lakota tradition, the animals can be spirit helpers, and they are honored as such. Each has medicine and teachings to give.

[autorank]

13. This is like the Indian Jain tradition...everything has a soul.

I agree.

Afterall, there is only one species, DNA.

[AlienGirl]

15. That's what my Rabbi says, too!

[imenja]

18. I say they do

at least cats and dogs, which are the animals I'm most familiar with. Cats especially, since they are earth's most highly evolved species.