animals + souls + consciousness + religion ?

I would agree that animals are conscience and I also believe they have souls. I go to church often, and I too have been told by one of the teachers that animals do not have souls. Here is my argument, you can do what you like with it:

I, like many other people on earth, love animals and I could not imagine being happy in a world without them. If it is true that Heaven is the most wonderful place anyone could ever experience, then it MUST have animals there because many people enjoy the company of a critter, therefore, animals must have souls if you need a soul to get to Heaven.

Maybe it isn't the best argument, but that is what I believe and why I believe it. Do what you like with it. The church can try to tell you what to believe, but I think it's a silly idea to try and tell someone their INTERPRETATION is wrong. It's like staring at a painting in an art museum, the ones splattered with paint splashes or riddled in different colored dots. One person may see a face in those paintings, while another will see a dog. I say, share your interpretations and give each other a nod, but you make yourself look like a fool if you try to say "Your view of this artwork is wrong. There is no dog there, only a face." When you were able to find the dog and they were not.

Open minds are always good to have. I can take and appreciate someone else's interpretation of the Bible, but whether or not I want to adopt their interpretation will always be up to me. God will sort it all out after we die anyway, so there is no use fighting over this. I hope I helped. :)

Well, the question you ask is indeed complex.

Firstly, animals definitely feel pain. We know this based on their response, as well as their nervous system. It's why a dog yelps when you step on its paw.

Animals are conscious, although we don't know if they are self aware. Some seem to be, but there is such little direction involved in those experiments. They are hard to perform because we don't know what reactions or observations warrant self-realization. Many animals seem to know themselves in reflection. Even birds have a great sense of identification (heck, have you ever been able to tell one crow from another? well, they can).

Emotions are also exhibited by animals. Many animals show signs of gratification, jealousy, anger, spite, fear, and even love and lust.

As for religion, no where does it say in christian texts explicitly that animals don't have souls. In fact, the patron saint Francis of Asisi used to preach to animals in hopes of them believing in God and getting into heaven. So there is no conflict, it all fits together.

I do believe animals can feel pain, do have emotions, but I doubt they do have personal opinions. Why wouldn't they feel pain and emotions?But some animals will prefer some foods over others, or be picky when it comes to mating. Actually, a study shows that ants are self aware. Here is an article that mentions it :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13815182

Some animals are more intelligent than others, however.For example, crows are able to spot themselves in mirrors, while butterflies wouldn't be able to do this.

I do believe this fits in to religion as well, as all living creatures have souls.

Animals can feel pain or they wouldn't cry. They have souls or when they are depressed and beaten, the light wouldn't leave there eyes. This is a good question. they have emotions. they have to have opinions or my dogs would eat what we give them instead of what they want(they hate that BLUE brand hard dog food)

The New World Translation bible sez animals do have souls.