Do animals have souls?

The monotheistic religions are generally quite firm about humans being special and different from other beings. The belief is that humans are made in the image of God and only humans have souls. Therefore only humans have an afterlife which can be in heaven or hell. Some Christians believe there's a space called purgatory where lesser sinners suffer for a while until they qualify to enter heaven. 

But it looks like all three faiths have not taken into account one common theme in their scripture - the forbidden fruit and the banishment from Paradise. It is only humans who disobeyed, ate the forbidden fruit and were banished. Presumably, all the other beings are still in Paradise. If that is true, how can humans be the special ones?

Religions that subscribe to reincarnation accept incarnation in other lifeforms as a natural part of spiritual evolution. They should not consider other lifeforms to be lower. The belief is that humans who are unable to grow above their animal-like desires are reborn as that animal so that those desires can be fulfilled. There could be other reasons for souls choosing to incarnate in animal bodies.

The challenge with taking a scientific approach to this subject is that we have no scientific apparatus to detect and measure phenomena that occur after death. Our science is entirely rooted in this material realm but the afterlife is in another realm. There are two channels into that other realm available to us but which are treated as dubious by the mainstream scientific community. 

An out of body experience (OBE) is when a person's astral body (or soul) leaves the physical body and the person can recall the experience. Some claim that this happens every time we fall asleep and enter a dream state. Others claim to have an OBE when under the influence of certain drugs. It is believed that some people in a deep meditative state are able to will themselves into an OBE. The only way to prove the validity of an OBE is if the person is able to gather information not physically available to the static body.

A special case of OBE is the near death experience (NDE). This is when a person suffering a mortal medical condition is recorded by the monitoring equipment as having died for a while and then recovered and resumed living. Such persons have reported what they experienced during that period when they were clinically dead. People who have been very ill, sometimes in a coma, have also woken up and recounted an OBE. Again, if the person was able to gather information during the OBE which could not have been available to the physical body, the legitimacy of the claim must be taken seriously.

There is a third channel to the other realm which is even more controversial. Some people claim the ability to communicate with beings in the other realm! Such people are called mediums. If we are willing to suspend our disbelief and examine the evidence provided by some of the credible mediums, it seems plausible that the people who have died and left their bodies still have personas and are able to communicate as individuals. And here is where the controversy of animals having souls emerges.

I have dedicated a Page to this subject, providing claimed evidences and links. If this subject is of interest to you, then Read More.