Do any animals recognize God's existence, believe or pray?

[Palehorse]

So monogamy suggest souls how?

I would say monogamy suggests holy spirits rather than spirits.

 

[Father Heathen]

I would say monogamy suggests holy spirits rather than spirits.

So what about humans who don't practice monogamy? Are they without a soul?

Also, I'm not sure how the Native American Zodiac correlates with monogamy, or Catholicism for that matter.

 

[Palehorse]

So what about humans who don't practice monogamy? Are they without a soul?

Also I'm not sure how the Native American Zodiac correlates with monogamy, or Catholicism for that matter.

No, they have souls. Their hearts beat like animals though (see redtube). When natives take an animal to eat, they eat the heart and offer tobacco to receive the spirit of the animal. Although I am Catholic I am also part German. Germans are tribal. Some Germans believe a native guides them throughout their life, espeacially in the spirit world. Sorta like the indian in the cupboard.

 

[ShivaFan]

In India, Thailand, Cambodia, Italy, Japan, Ethiopia, China, Mexico, Louisiana, California, other places - there are elephants, snakes, rats, doves, birds, turtles, dogs, parrots, ravens, monkeys and such who have prayed or worshipped God or Goddess in temples and church. Now I suppose someone will ask for a URL or such, just believe me over my 60 years I have seen and heard the truth.

Yes, not only animals, but even insects, and even ghosts.

But there is one thing I find interesting. Deer show up in many religious art and symbols. Yet I have never seen or heard or read of an UNPOSSESSED deer praying or worshipping God(s).

However there have been children, toddlers, who soon after being born have done so.

Doves appear in front of Goddess, especially if Goddess is worshipped by children who see Her.

Snakes are very religious, actually

 

[Rakovsky]

Dwila R. Funk takes the view that animals have souls in her book "Animals as Seen through God's Eyes". She writes that the story of the Ark in Genesis says the the Ark's

"animals were 'of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life'. Now we ... know the breath of life signifies a living soul. The passage we read clearly states that animals have the breath of life. ...this phrase 'the breath of life', is used three different times in the story about Noah and the Ark. All three times it refers to both humans and animals.

In Animals in Heaven- Fantasy or Reality, Arch Stanton argues that putting animals in heaven is no difficulty for God and that there is no serious reason for God not to do this, and concludes that God will put them in heaven.

In Thoughts Regarding the Future State of Animals, John Frewen Moor and Edith Carrington argue that God will bring animals to heaven.

We are told of the praises wherewith the lower animals glorify their Creator; why should we not believe that these praises, like those of good men, will be be carried on in a future state? We know also that some, at all events- and therefore probably all-of the lower animals pray to God. 'If the young lions (Psalm cxiv) do seek their meat from God,' and (Psalm cxlviii, 9) 'He feedeth the young ravens that call upon Him."

In Heaven Is for Animals Too: Hope and Comfort for Believers and Skeptics, Melinda Cerisano argues something similar:

"And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls,... And God crated... every living soul that moves with which the waters swarm..."(Genesis 1)
...
Remember when Jesus was born in the manger, he was surrounded by animals. When he went to the wilderness after being baptised, he spent those forty days and forty nights living peacefully among the wild animals.

We know that animals are sentient beings, and sentient beings have understanding. As John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, said in Sermon 60....

"What then is the barrier between men and brutes? It was not reason. Set aside that ambiguous term: exchange it for the plain word, understanding: and who can deny that the brutes have this? We may as well deny that they have sight or hearing."​

Thomas Aquinas writes on animal prayer in Commentary on the Sentences (the Sentences being a book by Peter Lombard). He takes the view that animals do not "pray":

It appears that even brute animals pray:
Psalm 146:9 it says that God "gives the beasts their food and the young crows that call upon him". And calling upon God is praying to him. Therefore even irrational animals pray. Prayer is an appetite declaring itself. And the brute animals, in their own way, desire the good which is God. Therefore they pray.
On the other hand: Prayer is made only to God and God cannot be known except by intellect, which brute animals lack. Therefore they cannot be said to pray.

...we must say that praying is in no way attributable to brute animals... they have no apprehension of the God to whom prayer is offered.
As Augustine says, brute animals are said to obey God's commands, not as if they understood his instructions, but inasmuch as they are moved by god by their natural instincts, in the same way they are said to call upon God in an extended sense, inasmuch as they have a natural desire for something which they obtain from God.

 

[Rakovsky]

Prasanth Akurathi writes in Is Jesus Really God?

Are humans the only creatures that are aware of God? Before we boast anything about this, we should ask ourselves, "How well do we understand what animals feel?" Without being able to give proper proof that we can understand animals thoroughly, we have no right, whatsoever, to state that animals which like us feel pain and happiness, have no insight into divinity. There were many instances where animals expressed devotion. For example, there was one dog that attended church every Sunday. This is not some mere training by the master, like we tell a child to go to church. It was its own choice, the depths of which are unknown to humanity. God is omniscient and omnipresent, so why not in the heart of an animal. .... True devotion can exist in the least of the expected places and only the particular person/animal can really know what they feel about God.

Loyal Dog Attends Church Every Day for his Deceased Owner
Tommy is a dog who has had his heart broken. His owner died over 2 months ago and he has been patiently waiting for her to return to him. He is a seven year old dog and he was adopted by Maria Margherita Lochi when she found him in the fields by her home when he was younger.

Every day, Maria would walk to church with Tommy. They would attend services together, with him patiently sitting at her feet.
After Maria's funeral was held at the local church they attended daily together, Tommy has been making a special solo journey every day. He has been traveling to the church just to wait for her, hoping she will some day return.

Father Donato Panna said: "He's there every time I celebrate Mass and is very well behaved - he doesn't make a sound, I've not heard one bark from him in all the time he has been coming in.
"He used to come to Mass with Maria and he was obviously devoted to her - I let him stay inside as he was always so well behaved and none of the other parishoners ever complained to me.

"He's still coming to Mass even after Maria's funeral, he waits patiently by the side of the altar and just sits there quietly. I didn't have the heart to throw him out - I've just recently lost my own dog so I leave him there until Mass finishes and then I let him out."

http://www.godvine.com/read/dog-mass-141.html

That story reminds me of this next one about a dog's love for its owner:

The dog that ran away from home to find his dead master's grave - and has stayed by its side for six years

A faithful dog has refused to leave the side of his dead master's grave for six years. German shepherd Capitan ran away from home after the death of Argentinian Miguel Guzman in 2006. A week later Mr. Guzman's family went to pay their respects and found the heartbroken pet sitting by his owner's grave, wailing.

Since then the grieving dog has rarely left the spot at the cemetery in the town of Villa Carlos Paz, in central Argentina. Mr. Guzman bought Capitan as a present for his 13-year-old son Damian in 2005.

Although the dog often leaves the cemetery to spend a short period of time with his family, he always returns to the gravesite before dark.

I am really confused how this story about tracing the owner to the hospital is possible though:

The husky who tracked owner to hospital

A husky missed his owner so much that the canine somehow tracked him to a hospital two miles away in the middle of the night. Zander the white husky was a shelter dog who was rescued by John Dolan five years before. When Dolan was hospitalized in a Long Island, New York hospital with a skin condition, Zander became very depressed and was moping around the house. So the dedicated husky snuck out at 3 a.m. and amazingly found Dolan at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip.

A hospital employee found the dog on the street outside of building where Dolan was being treated. The nurse called the number on Zander's collar which turned out to be Dolan's cell phone number; he answered the phone from his hospital bed. Dolan's wife later came over and retrieved Zander. The dedicated dog even made a second trip to the hospital later.

http://www.oddee.com/item_98538.aspx

 

[atanu]

The Bible has a verse about all living things praising God, and another verse, I think in the book of Job, asks where animals' souls go to.

Several articles have come out speculating on whether animals have belief in God like this one:

http://religiondispatches.org/what-if-animals-believe-in-god/


Elephants have funerals where they bury their dead, and one essay claims dolphins are conscious. There are many photos of mammals in prayer poses, but that itself doesn't mean they are praying.

Scriptures that I know of praise birth as human animal as conducive for moksha (liberation from cycle of birth and death). From that I deduce that, in general, human animal form may be better suited for contemplation-meditation etc.

But there are also scriptures citing examples of living forms (other than humans) that undertake acts of devotion.

 

[Smart_Guy]

In Islam it is believed that yes, they do. However, it also says that we do not realize or recognize the nature they do it and it's different than that of us humans. I'm not debating this, I'm just sharing the belief.

 

[DawudTalut]

The Bible has a verse about all living things praising God, and another verse, I think in the book of Job, asks where animals' souls go to.

Several articles have come out speculating on whether animals have belief in God like this one:

http://religiondispatches.org/what-if-animals-believe-in-god/


Elephants have funerals where they bury their dead, and one essay claims dolphins are conscious. There are many photos of mammals in prayer poses, but that itself doesn't mean they are praying.

Peace be on you
Holy Quran
[17:45] The seven heavens and the earth and those that are therein extol His glory; and there is not a thing but glorifies Him with His praise; but you understand not their glorification. Verily, He is Forbearing, Most Forgiving.

The Holy Prophet (sa) was extremely kind even to animals. Once on a journey, he heard cries of a small bird in distress. He turned to his companions and asked what had happened to the bird. One of them said that he had taken two eggs from her nest. The Holy Prophet sa said: "Return them immediately." In another narration of the same incident it is said that two chicks and not eggs had been taken, and the Holy Prophet sa said to his companions that no mother should ever be pained on account of her offspring.

(alislam.org)

 

[Rakovsky]

Smart Guy and Dawud, thank you for your input.

I would like to research this question more, but don't know what the best search term is to use.

 

[Rakovsky]

In Thoughts Regarding the Future State of Animals, John Frewen Moor and Edith Carrington argue that God will bring animals to heaven.

In the same book, Moor also writes: "I have come to the deliberate conclusion that many animals are undoubtedly possessed in high degree, with the powers of memory, comparison, and reflection. ... The divine impress is upon man, and I cannot doubt that a similar impress, though in a lower degree, is upon the lower animals."


He quotes:

we know that the "whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now", waiting "until the Lord shall save both man and beast" Psalm xxxvi, 7