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aaronrey
Toucan
Joined: Jul 31, 2007
Age: 28
Posts: 250
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 Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:10 pm Post subject: do you think animals have religions too? |
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| maybe bees gather in their hives and talk about god in whatever way they communicate |
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pezar
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Apr 06, 2008
Age: 33
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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| An interesting idea. Some animals are certainly intelligent enough to have the abstract thought capabilities that would lead to the creation of religion, namely marine mammals and nonhuman primates. They don't have the capability to create artifacts of worship, like churches and religious relics, but they certainly could have dolphin or chimp gods. Some rodents, especially prairie dogs (which have been found to use abstract language), may also be capable of religious thought. I have lived in a urban area with plenty of squirrels, and squirrels seem to me to be rather smart too. Bees are likely symbiotic more than any intelligence humans would recognize. I think that some animals, not cats and dogs but more like dolphins, chimps, and squirrels, may very well have religions. We can only speculate as to what beliefs those religions entail. |
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spudnik
Cheeky Monkey
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 3419
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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Animals are without sin or shame, why would they need religion. If there is a soul, I think animals would have a more pure soul.
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Orwell
Outer Party Member
Joined: Aug 09, 2007
Age: 18
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Location: Room 101
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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| pezar wrote: | | Some rodents, especially prairie dogs (which have been found to use abstract language) |
This is interesting. Source? I'd love to read about prairie dog language.
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Triangular_Trees
What is right is sometimes found on the left.
Joined: Jul 18, 2007
Posts: 2013
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:37 pm Post subject: |
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of course, each cat worships himself because he/she knows that they are god
Each dog worships his owner because he knows his owner is a dog.
Each ant prays every time there is a shadow from a tree.
Each silkworm doesn't because they don't really have a brain. - though that still didn't stop me from feeling bad that i killed one by leaving him in the old box when I transfered the worms to a new box with fresh leaves |
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Awesomelyglorious
Destroyer of worlds, reaver of souls
Joined: Dec 18, 2005
Posts: 5725
Location: United States
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:40 pm Post subject: |
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| I would doubt it, I would bet that religion is a very human-ish trait. At least, I do not think that animals show as many ceremonial traits as people do(which I think would be noted by some animal expert), so I have no reason to suspect them to have religion. It is true that animals can become superstitious like people do though. |
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Triangular_Trees
What is right is sometimes found on the left.
Joined: Jul 18, 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Awesomelyglorious wrote: | | I would doubt it, I would bet that religion is a very human-ish trait. At least, I do not think that animals show as many ceremonial traits as people do(which I think would be noted by some animal expert), so I have no reason to suspect them to have religion. It is true that animals can become superstitious like people do though. |
They could be misinterpreting behaviors though. A dog turning around three times might actually mean "thank you god for letting me lie here. Thank you very much. I am eternally gratefull" rather than something about checking to make sure the area is safe to lie on 
On a serious note I have noticed that cats do have a common language- cats use the same meow when they want another cat to come (you can particularly notice this with mother cats), and they use the same meow when they are asking for food. I've noticed this amongst cats who have never met each other as well. Plus you'll notice that cats put their arm over the neck of another cat and kiss them when they've been separated for a bit. When a new cat comes all the cats line up and one at a time touch noses with the new cat to show acceptance (i saw the barn cats accept every cat but one of my moms - which is no surprise considering that was a mean cat with a history of "stealing" kitten. She likely tried to take their babies) There are a couple of other meows/purrs too but I can't think of them right now. - noticing this is what happens when you have 20 barn cats who prefer to stay on your back porch rather than in the barn |
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oscuria
Verbal Guerrilla
Joined: Feb 01, 2008
Posts: 2033
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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I would like to read their scripture if they did. I'm sure they'd treat humans like demons.
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greenblue
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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I doubt it as well, religion as well as philosophy are human concepts, knowing that some animals have intelligent and some capabilities to do reasoning, I don't think that to be enough for them to be able to make abtract concepts such as the afterlife, soul and to question where do we come from and stuff like that, I could say that religion is one of the things that illustrates the difference between human brain and animals, I also doubt religion could exist with a limited language capacity, meaning, not without human language.
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greenblue
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:56 pm Post subject: |
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| oscuria wrote: | | I would like to read their scripture if they did. I'm sure they'd treat humans like demons. |
Sure, if not demons, at least we are a pest to them and to the planet.
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z0rp
Phoenix
Joined: Jan 05, 2008
Age: 15
Posts: 547
Location: New York, USA
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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.....Is this even worthy of discussion? Of course they don't have religions.  |
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slowmutant
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Age: 29
Posts: 6913
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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Dogs worship man as their god.  |
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Malsane
Toucan
Joined: Jun 30, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 262
Location: Iowa, USA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:26 am Post subject: |
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My cat is a philosopher. She just stares off in deep thought all the time. It's so cute!
Seriously though, I wonder what they think about all the time. I mean, I think about all sorts of stuff, but you wouldn't know it by just looking at me. Even talking to me, you wouldn't know what I'm thinking about. I'd love to know what my cats think about. |
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Josie
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 26, 2008
Posts: 556
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| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:28 am Post subject: |
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I think they have souls. I seem to get along with animals better.
I often wonder what they think about too.
I think my sisters dog understands me. I can just see it when I look into her eyes. |
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Malsane
Toucan
Joined: Jun 30, 2008
Age: 20
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Location: Iowa, USA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:43 am Post subject: |
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| I understand cats better than humans a lot of the time. I just seem to 'hear' them. Honestly, I always thought the question of whether or not animals have souls to be silly. Of course they do. Why would our species be unique in that? |
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