what religons think that ensoulment begins at conception?

Answer 1

Catholicism is one. I'm sure there are others.

Answer 2

Christian Theology is one.

In Christian theology, ensoulment refers to the creation of a soul within, or the placing of a soul into, a human being—a concept most often discussed in reference to abortion.

Some theologians have believed that souls are newly created within a developing baby, while some believe that souls were created before time and are added to babies while the body develops.

There is considerable debate about the timing of ensoulment during fetal development, with some claiming the moment of conception, some the moment of implantation, some the formation of the heart, some the formation of the nervous system and brain, some the development of viable lungs, and still others the time of quickening. Others place the time of ensoulment at the moment of birth (post-fetal). The presence or absence of a soul is factored into considerations of the moral nature of abortion, particularly whether it is or is not morally equivalent to infanticide and murder.


In the Roman Catholic Church since the Middle Ages, ecclesiastical penalties for abortion have differed based on varying views of ensoulment. In the early thirteenth century, Innocent III stated that the soul enters the body of the fetus at the time of quickening when the mother first felt movement of the fetus.

Answer 3

The Catholic Church teaches that human LIFE begins at conception. However, it has never dogmatically defined when the soul enters the body. The Church welcomes debate and study on the subject, but so far God has not revealed the answer.

Therefore....it logically follows that since we do not know the exact moment ensoulment occurs we must protect life from the beginning (i.e. from conception).

The Church "errs on the side of caution."

Pax Vobiscum+

Answer 4

You might be interested in Baha'u'llah's teaching on this issue.

"Know, verily, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel...

"Verily I say, the human soul is, in its essence, one of the signs of God, a mystery among His mysteries. It is one of the mighty signs of the Almighty, the harbinger that proclaimeth the reality of all the worlds of 7 God. Within it lieth concealed that which the world is now utterly incapable of apprehending." [P-5]

Nevertheless, a study of Bahá'u'lláh's Writings is enlightening. We learn from the Writings that the soul, being an emanation from the spiritual worlds of God, comes into existence at the time of conception, when it becomes associated with the body. The belief that the soul exists before conception is therefore contrary to the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith, states, 'the soul or spirit of the individual comes into being with the conception of his physical body'. [P-6] The soul, being exalted above entry or exit, ascent or descent, cannot be physically placed inside a body or have any connection with material things.

Bahá'u'lláh declares in the same Tablet to Abdu'r-Razzaq:

"Verily I say, the human soul is exalted above all egress and regress. It is still, and yet it soareth; it moveth, and yet it is still. It is, in itself, a testimony that beareth witness to the existence of a world that is contingent, as well as to the reality of a world that hath neither beginning nor end." [P-7]

Answer 5

All Christians should believe this because it is the Word of God.

God told Jeremiah, "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb."

The Bible says, "there is life in the blood." The blood comes from the father at conception.

All Christians should be fighting against the Abortion Law of Roe VS Wade. This is an abomination to God because abortion is the shedding of innocent blood.

Answer 6

The confusion comes because people fail to recognize that they are the soul, not the body.

A soul simply chooses to see it's self as a body for a while. When it gleans the necessary understanding from a particular lifetime it moves on dissolving the idea that it was the body.

This is a difficult concept and no religion has it quite right.

Love and blessings Don