@ Chimp

Theists run a mile at this sort of question it sets up all sorts of inner conflict that they just do not want to face. Cognitive dissonance at its very finest. They, in the main, respond by not responding, metaphorically curled on the floor sucking their thumbs.

The occasional psycho tells the truth that according to their own theology (in the abrahamic religions) no, animals cannot have souls or carry the sin of "adam" .

So few say that because many will look in the eyes of their dog/cat/parrot/ferret/cow/donkey /horse etc and see the life force (they call soul) staring right back at them, mirroring their own.

Just another conflict theists have to face every day.

I have had dogs all my life. Molly, my pug, used to be jealous (is that trait reserved just for humans?) and if I was paying any attention to my other pug Cuddles, she would go to the toy box and pull out a squeaky toy, and start biting down on it, thus attracting the attention of Cuddles, who could not resist a squeaky toy. Cuddles would jump down, and go after the squeaky, leaving Molly to drop the toy and jump up on my lap.

Let us break this down. A dog is capable of jealousy. A dog can take action on that jealousy. A dog can plan ahead (knowledge of time), knowing that a certain action would result in another specific action, leading to a desired result.

This little parable is to lead into the question, that what traits do humans have that are exclusive, and no other animal possesses?

It has been proven in controlled scientific experiments that dogs can have a sense of fair play. Wait, doesn't that fall under the umbrella of morals? Non-human animals can have morals, egos, compassion, loyalty, make tools, have enough intelligence to plan ahead.

And now I get to the sad part of this story, but a necessary action. Cuddles kidney's were failing, and in last June she reached the point where her quality of life went into the very negative zone, and we had to do the only humane thing, to put her out of her misery. For the next few weeks Molly enjoyed all the attention, but she started to change, to search around, to mope, her behaviors were changing. And sadly, almost exactly one month later she went into seizures, and she went the way of Cuddles. They had been life-long companions, all their lives they had each other.

So exactly what general qualities do humans posses that no non-humans lack?

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Look into a dog's eyes, they look right back.

@aperez241 YES

The Old Testament applies certain Hebrew terms in the same way for animals and humans. For example, the phrase nephesh chayah (literally, “living soul”) refers both to humans beings (Gn 2:7) and to animals (Gn 1:30).

Ruach, the Hebrew term for “spirit” (and also for “breath,” as the indicator of life), is also applied to both humans and animals in Ecclesiastes 3:21.

It's those amoral modern Christians that follow the teachings of St. Thomas who was among the first to deny animals admittance into heaven.

Sick monkey that I am, I love spiders. Particularly Funnel-Web Spiders and Redbacks. I have kept huntsmen broods in glass tanks. There is no mother like a huntsman mother. I have appalled most of my girlfriends by not being a hero and splatting the 'horrible hairy monsters" that wandered into their houses, catching them instead and releasing them outside. Incredible creatures, unfairly maligned, sadly underappreciated. I blame pesticide companies, for them spiders are, after all, the competition. They have life but even spiders lack souls.

Heaven of course are pet cemeteries in Georgia, Texas, and Florida.

The idea of the "immortal soul" is that the Mind can exist completely intact in the absence of a physical brain. Thinking, remembering, and perceiving will all be completely unaffected by the disintegration of this vital organ. The study of brain trauma however, reveals startling examples that this concept is false.

Prosopagnosia (the inability to recognize faces including your own) is one such example of a mind-brain dependence. Alzheimer's Diesease is another dramatic example of mind-brain dependence. Not only is the brain slowly destroyed neurologically - but the personality contained within is slowly destroyed in corresponding fashion. The creation of multiple personalities in split-brain patients whose brain is severed down the corpus callosum to reduce severe epileptic seizures, is yet another dramatic example. Left brain no longer communicates with right brain and causes the emergence of two independent persons operating in the same body - each unaware that the other exists.

Thus, your mind is not immune to damage and decay. When your physical brain begins to die off, that person known as *you* dies off as well. Your memories, your experiences, your emotions - are directly caused by the dendrites in your head. Destroy some of those dendrites and those memories will be lost forever - never to return. Destroy enough dendrites and you will become imbecillic - unable to recognize family, friends and favorite places. If all of us had "souls", then the only thing that brain damage would do is incapacitate our ability to move the body. Our memories, emotions and experiences should all remain indestructible and able to survive.

This is now known to be false.

Destruction to your brain parts results in the corresponding destruction to the memories and personality it contains. When your physical brain dies, your personhood and everything that makes you *you* - dies with it.