Source: Religion News Service
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 20, 2001: Will the family dog have a heavenly home or be shut out from the streets paved with gold? Americans are split on whether pets will gain entrance to heaven when they die, a new ABC News/Beliefnet poll shows. Forty-three percent think pets will go to heaven while 40 percent think heaven is only for people. The issue came up in the 1996 movie version of “Robinson Crusoe.” In one scene, Crusoe explains to “Friday” that Crusoe’s dog would not go to heaven, according to Christianity. Friday, supposedly the primitive pagan, consoled Crusoe and told Crusoe he’d take care of Crusoe’s dog in his non-Christian heaven.