Animals and souls

No, animals do NOT have souls.

Animals don't go to heaven like humans do, because humans don't go to heaven in the first place. The reason humans don't go to heaven is because of their treatment of animals. Another reason why humans don't go to heaven is that there is no such thing as "heaven" (in the supernatural sense of the word).

That of course, is your opinion. I believe there is life after death.

I think this is less a question than a debate starter.

Perhaps you are interested in the official stance of religious leaders on the subject. Good luck there. There are many religions that include the concept of 'soul' and many differing opinions on whether they are possessed by animals. The Catholic church long denied it but Pope John Paul II decreed otherwise. Hindus believe that all living creatures possess a soul.

What really matters is what YOU believe. Do you believe that humans have souls? If you do then you may as well apply the same delusion to animals, though I don't know why you'd want to doom cows to an eternity of cud-chewing and being tipped by mischievous cherubim.

Well you have obviously contradicted yourself when you made this statement : "What really matters is what YOU believe. Do you believe that humans have souls? If you do then you may as well apply the same delusion to animals:

In one breath you state "what really matters is what YOU believe" in the next you make it clear it's all a delusion anyway. Would you please clarify?

I state that it only matters what you believe because I am not so deluded that I believe my impolitic statement of your delusion would alter your beliefs. Not to say that your beliefs can't be changed. They can be and they will be. Your convictions may grow stronger, they may bend to serve your needs, or if you are the rare person that accepts and reviews new information it's possible you'll perform a philosophical 180.

I only demand logic and reason in my own life. You are free to believe as you choose (assuming Ohio doesn't secede from the Union and form a Catholic Theocracy).

Any contradictions that you perceive are the result of my holding an unpopular and contrary position while maintaining a deep-seated need to be liked.

P.S. You can't accuse me of saying any of this in one breath for I have no more to spare. Peace, Love, and Understanding. 

Humans are the highest of all creation. It is due to virtue
(Punya) aquired through lower births that a soul is given
human birth.

Plato believed that gluttons and drunkards may become asses
in future lives, violent and unjust people may take birth as
wolves and hawks, and blind followers of social convention
may become bees or ants. After some time, the soul again
attains the human form and another chance to achieve.

According to the Vedas, there are 8,400,000 species of life,
beginning with the microbes, rising through the fish,
plants, insects, reptiles, birds, and animals to the humans
and demigods. According to their desires, the living
entities perpetually take birth in these species.

http://www.harekrishna.com/col/books/KR/cb/chapter1.html

The Monad which was imprisoned in the elementary being- the
rudimentary or lowest astral form of the future man - after
having passed through and quitted the highest physical shape
of a dumb animal - say an orang-utan, or again an elephant,
one of the most intellectual of brutes...

http://theosophical.ca/IsReincarnationTrue.htm

one's birth in a human body should not be wasted... But this
is very difficult and requires an immense amount of merit.
Human birth is "rare" (durlabh)...

http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft8v19p2qd&chunk.id=d0e475

When the animals die, the soul takes birth again to earn more virtue.

Haven't you ever seen the movie "All Dogs go to Heaven"?  I believe that.