Cold noses at the pearly gates?  The status of animals in Christianity is unclear.

Several weeks ago Cif belief ran a series of articles on the question of whether animals have souls. I initially thought it was a joke, or that maybe somehow, somebody had found out about my embarrassing incident with the local vicar and the dead dog. Then I realised that many people have pets they love and treat like one of the family, and others work tirelessly for the welfare of animals. Maybe the idea that animals have souls, is an idea these people would agree with.

My embarrassing incident with the dead dog shows how hope and love of companion animals can be cruelly dashed and dismissed by some Christian clergy. I got caught by the local vicar, surreptitiously, in the dead of night, trying to bury a disabled friend’s dead dog, next to the wall of the village church. The vicar was very angry indeed, so I had to leave with the dead dog and my spade. I returned in the early hours of the morning, and buried the dog by the graveyard fence. As I was digging, I found a cat’s skull and a few bones. So other villagers had surreptitiously buried pets by the fence too! The vicar in question had probably forgotten the story of Greyfriars Bobby – the little Skye terrier who refused to leave his master’s grave for 14 years. Bobby’s grave is within Greyfriars graveyard and a short distance away from that of his owner.

The idea that animals have a legitimate place in hallowed ground, and therefore within the Christian tradition of hope and life everlasting, is contained in two astonishingly popular books, the first being Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates by Gary Kurtz. This book is described as a book of hope for those who have lost a pet. The second, by Mary Buddmeyer-Porter, is Will I see Fido in Heaven? and it’s described as scripturally revealing God’s eternal plan for his lesser creatures. There is obviously a big market for this type of thing though I believe the Bible doesn’t really help much here, being either vague or contradictory on non-human life.  Read Article

By Heather McDougall