According to a recent Pew Research survey of 35 countries, 62% of people believe that “animals can have spirits or spiritual energies.” This includes 57% of Americans, 76% of those polled in Christian-majority Argentina, and 70% in Israel, the world’s only country with a Jewish majority.

According to Pew:

Many people around the world also believe that parts of nature (such as mountains, rivers or trees) can have spirits or spiritual energies. This belief is voiced by nearly three-quarters of adults in Christian-majority Chile (74%)…

The U.S. falls somewhere in the middle of the countries surveyed on these questions: 57% of U.S. adults believe that animals can have spirits, while 48% say the same about mountains, rivers or trees. (Around six-in-ten U.S. adults identify as Christian, and about three-in-ten are religiously unaffiliated.)

I also saw within the last few weeks a discussion on another reddit forum about whether pets go to heaven. It’s certainly not the first time I’ve heard that discussion in a smaller setting, but it was interesting to hear the differing opinions of people in a single setting.

What do you think? Do animals have spirits that go to heaven/will be part of the new earth? If so, are all animals “saved”? Is there any Scriptural support for the position other than the acknowledgement that there will be animals in heaven, or is your opinion based only on tradition and/or reason?