Dogs in Heaven? Pope Francis Leaves Pearly Gates Open

[moonbladem]

Pope Francis has given hope to gays, unmarried couples and advocates of the Big Bang theory. Now, he has endeared himself to dog lovers, animal rights activists and vegans.

Trying to console a distraught little boy whose dog had died, Francis told him in a recent public appearance on St. Peter’s Square, “Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures

Comments

[scolaro]

I never understood how you could tell small children (or really anyone, for that matter) that animals have no soul and won't go to heaven.
It's cruel and if you're a believer it would be better if you're told that there's some discussion about that and NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE.

But of course that's not what religion is about.

[thelilyqueen]

And, why should animals not having a soul (granting that as true for a moment for the discussion) justify cruelty by those of us who supposedly do, or keep them out of heaven which is supposed to contain all good things?

[scolaro]

Well, I don't know anyone who believes animals don't go to heaven and for that reason thinks it's fine to be cruel to them, so I can't speak to that connection.
And as an atheist, I also cannot say much about why creatures without a soul are kept out of heaven - wasn't that a "compatibility issue"? If you don't have a soul you simply can't get in, like the odd PC game you cannot play on your PS3?

IDK, it's all utterly ridiculous in my book, and incredibly cruel to tell children this sort of BS, ESPECIALLY since the jury is apparently still out on that particular theological issue.

[thelilyqueen]

Yeah. All I know is, heaven doesn't sound like such a heaven if there are no snuggles from happy, purring cats or walks in beautiful places with a canine buddy.

[scolaro]

Exactly. If there are no animals in heaven, what's the freaking point?

[thelilyqueen]

I imagine in heaven we even get along with the less 'cuddly' animals... the spiders don't startle us, the bees don't sting, etc.

[chu_hi]

And according to Mark Twain, everybody is singing and playing the harp.

[blackjedii]

Heaven is the Borg.

(actually this was just the scariest thing I read as a young Internet browser okay not so young I was a teenager but w/e)