Ritual behavior in animals

Animal faith is the study of animal behaviours that suggest proto-religious faith. There is no evidence that any non-human animals believe in gods, pray, worship, create artefacts with ritual significance, celebrate festivus or many other behaviours typical of human religion. Whether animals can have religious faith is dependent on a sufficiently open definition of religion. Thus, if by religion one means a “non-anthropocentric, non-anthropomorphic, non-theistic, and non-logocentric transpecies prototype definition of religion,” ritual behaviour can be interpreted in the actions of chimpanzees, elephants and dolphins and other animals.

The study of proto-religions in modern animals is relevant to the study of the development of religion in modern humans and their recent ancestors.

Ritual behaviour in apes

Biologist Oliver Putz notes that, since chimpanzees are capable of moral agency, it is possible for Christians to understand them as sharing in the Image of God. Furthermore, Nancy R. Howell suggests that “chimpanzees and bonobos may have the precursors for culture and spirituality, such as connectedness, interdependence and sociality’ and a level of ‘symbolic capacity’”. Primatologist Jane Goodall goes further, noting that some chimpanzees may “dance” at the onset of heavy rain or when they come across a waterfall. She speculates that “their “elemental” displays are precursors of religious ritual.” However, theologian Christopher L. Fisher believes that Goodall anthropomorphizes chimpanzees. While Fisher admits that chimpanzees are capable of "intense emotion", they cannot experience spirituality because "there is no meaning without language."

Ritual behaviour in other animals

Ronald K. Siegel has studied the precursors of religious faith in African elephants and concludes that “elephants are aware of natural cycles, as they practice “moon worship,” waving branches at the waxing moon and engaging in ritual bathing when the moon is full.”

Funeral rites in animals

While grief is common to many animals, funeral rituals are not. However, they are well documented in African elephants.

Ronald K. Siegel writes that: “…one cannot ignore the elaborate burying behaviour of elephants as a similar sign of ritualistic or even religious behaviour in that species. When encountering dead animals, elephants will often bury them with mud, earth and leaves. Animals known to have been buried by elephants include rhinos, buffalos, cows, calves, and even humans, in addition to elephants themselves. Elephants have observed elephants burying their dead with large quantities of food fruit, flowers and colourful foliage.”

Attention to the dead is not unique to elephants. Dolphins have been known to stay with recently deceased members of their pod for several days, preventing divers from getting close. However, the reasons for this remain obscure. While scientists can observe their actions, the thought processes that motivate them are beyond current study.

Relevance of animal faith to the study of early modern humans

The ritual lives of animals are of interest to paleoanthropologists, as they provide a convenient insight into how religious belief systems may have developed in our ancestors. “The skeletal remains of Cro-Magnon man are found buried in the foetal position in line with the primitive myth that such a position facilitates rebirth. The study of allied behaviours in non-human animals provides an opportunity to understand their nature and function in man.” Indeed, some have seen superficial similarities between the funeral rituals of African elephants and the burial rituals of Neanderthals.

Evolutionary psychologist Matt Rossano has theorised that religion evolved in three stages. In the pre-Upper Palaeolithic religion was characterised by ecstatic rituals used to facilitate social bonding. Later, shamanic healing rituals developed in the Upper Palaeolithic. Finally, religious expressions developed over time to include cave art, ritual artefacts, ancestor worship and the development of myth and moral structures. If this is true then the behaviour of chimpanzees witnessed by Goodall may be interpreted as similar to pre-Upper Palaeolithic Human religion. However, De Waal notes that bonobo chimpanzees show no evidence of ritual behaviour yet are extremely peaceful and demonstrate moral agency. This casts doubt on the co-development of morality and proto-religion.

References

• James B. Harrod, The Case for Chimpanzee Religion Journal for the Study for Religion, Natural and Culture (8.1) 2014
• Oliver Putz, Social Apes in God’s Image: Moral Apes, Human Uniqueness, and the Image of God, Journal of Religion and Science, August 2009
• Jane Goodall, Primate spirituality. In The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Nature. edited by B. Taylor. Thoemmes Continuum, New York. Pp. 1303-1306
• Christopher L. Fisher, Animals, Humans and X-Men: Human Uniqueness and the Meaning of Personhood in Theology and Science Volume 3 Issue 3 2005 pp.291-314
• Ronald K. Siegel, The Psychology of Life After Death, in American Psychologist, Vol. 35(10), October 1980 pp.911-931
• Mark Bekoff, Grief in Animals in Psychology Today, October 2009
• Behaviour Responses of Rough-toothed Dolphins to a Dead Newborn Calf, in Marine Mammal Science April 2007 pp.429-433
• K.M. Dudzinski, M. Sakai, K. Masaki, K. Kogi, T. Hishii, M. Kurimoto, Behavioural Observations of Bottle Nose Dolphins Towards Two Dead Conspecifics, Aquatic Mammals, 2003, 29.1, pp.108-116
• Ronald K. Siegal, Accounting for ‘Afterlife’ Experiences, Psychology Today, January 1981 p.4
• Robert M. Sapolsky, Monkeyluv: And other Essays on Our Lives as Animals, Scribner Book Co. 2006, p.189
• Matt J. Rossano, The Religious Mind and the Evolution of Religion, Review of General Psychology, Vol 10(4) December 2006 pp346-364
• Franz De Waal, The Bonobo and the Atheist, (W.W. Norton & Co., 2013)