An ABCNews/Beliefnet poll conducted in 2001 found that 43 percent of people believe that pets go to heaven. Slightly fewer – 41 percent – said all animals, not just pets, go to heaven.

Pollingreport.com posts results of surveys about animals, including a May 2008 Gallup Poll which found that 97 percent of Americans support some rights for animals but that 64 percent reject a ban on all animal testing in laboratories. Sentiment about buying and wearing animal fur has shifted slightly in recent years, according to Gallup, but a […]

The Humane Society of the United States Faith Outreach program engages people and institutions of faith with animal protection issues, on the premise that religious values call upon us all to act in a kind and merciful way towards all creatures. The program provides information on the major religion’s statements about animals, as well as educational materials for different ages […]

Lisa Sideris is an associate professor of religious studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. Her research interests include religion and nature; environmental and animal ethics; science and religion; evolution controversies; religion and bioethic; and environmental history and literature. She wrote Environmental Ethics, Ecological Theology and Natural Selection, which looks at Christian environmental ethics and its […]

Frans B.M. deWaal is the C.H. Candler Professor of Primate Behavior at Emory University, and he directs the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta. His renowned research with primates has looked at the evolution of human emotions and morals, and he has studied whether apes can feel sympathy. He has studied how nonhuman primates reconcile […]

Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is executive director and head scientist at Great Ape Trust of Iowa who has studied how youngsters learn forgiveness from caregivers.

David Buchanan is an associate dean for academic programs, and animal sciences professor and geneticist, at North Dakota State University in Fargo, S.D.

Steve Rissing is a professor at Ohio State University’s department of evolution, ecology and organismal biology.

Russell W. Carlson is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Georgia in Athens and a fellow of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design.