Do animals have souls?

[Sladey]

Of course Animals have souls. Animals are no different to humans, it's just humans are highly evolved and are leagues ahead of any mammal in terms of using thier brains.

Animals can communicate with each other, they can solve thier own lifes puzzles etc.. If they couldnt then they would have no soul and just sit there brain dead like a retard.

 

[Kibbies]

I am going to say that animals do not have souls. Is there any basis for saying that they do? And if there are souls, an immortal part of us, then there must be an afterlife that you are willing to accept exists as well. Whether it be just existing or a Heaven/Hell scenario, there must be a continuation for souls.

 

[Shenorai]

Of course animals have souls. As stated before, all living things bear a soul.

The main reason I can think up as to why the Christian Bible states that they do not bear souls is because we do not bear the same means of communicating with and understanding each other. Thus, we cannot instill specific religious beliefs into anything outside of our own species. Of course, if you don't have Christian faith, you cannot be saved by the Christian God. Or at least, that's the general message I've heard as far as Christianity goes.

Not all animals can understand the human tongue. Sure, you can teach a pet how to pull off a certain trick upon command, but that's because it recognizes your tone rather than the words themselves. As far as chimpanzees go; you can teach them sign-language and they can express their thoughts through that, but that is their only (current) means of breaking the language barrier between animals and humans.

Animals understand human emotion better than words. Say, you're trying to get your dog to get back inside the house. If you shout and yell at it in anger, the dog will run off because you sound threatening. A little kid wouldn't want to come to you either if you were angry because it sounds to them like you want to hurt them. It's natural to most species to avoid getting hurt. But if you sounded all happy and encouraging, the dog will come to you because the tone sounds safe. Same goes with children.