Reader Question – Gabrielly Faccinelli, São Paulo, SP
Second chance
Catholicism believes that animals were created with the same breath of life given to man and, therefore, have a soul. According to Mattias Grenzer, professor of theology at PUC-SP, biblical texts do not speculate about where they go after death. But recently, Pope Francis said that “paradise is open to all the creatures of the Lord”
under judgment
Islam proposes an afterlife similar to that of man. “The animals will be judged by Allah in the Last Judgment, according to whether or not they fulfilled their purpose on Earth”, says Sheikh Juma, from the Center for the Promotion of Islam for Latin America. Then Allah will turn both the good and the bad to dust and their souls will return to his company.
in memory
For Judaism, after an animal dies, its cycle is finished and therefore it does not go to any specific place. “But love transcends death. If you preserve the memory of the little animal, you will keep it present”, proposes Cecília Ben David, pedagogical coordinator of the Jewish Culture Center (SP)
See too:
+ How do the great religions mourn their dead?
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Evolution theory
Marta Antunes, vice president of the Brazilian Spiritist Federation, explains that all beings, including animals, are reborn in a continuous cycle until the spirit reaches a new, higher plane. Although there is no precise data on the subject, an animal could even be reincarnated as a human being, but it would take a long time.
Pause for reflection
Umbanda also preaches that they die and are reborn. “Each being reincarnates in the same group of animals to which it belongs”, says Pai Guimarães, president of the Brazilian Association of Umbanda Temples. But, before this return, there is an interval for the energy of the being to go through a period of reflection and improvement
at a snail’s pace
According to Buddhism, animals also seek enlightenment, with several deaths and reincarnations at higher or lower levels, determined by their virtues in the previous life. “But for them, this evolution is more difficult, since they do not understand their own actions”, says Priscila Veltri, practitioner of the Odsal Ling Temple