What would you change?

Well, if God created all life forms on Earth, why wouldn't everything, even those reptiles you pointed out have souls? I think all living organisms have souls, just some are developed in different ways, like personality traits.

Then why is it wrong for a human to kill another human, but it's okay for us to kill and devour a cow?

(I am in no way a vegetarian or vegan. I'm just using that example as an argument.)

Also, if those creatures have souls as well, then why are they incapable of logic or reasoning? Why are they incapable of collective advancement? And most importantly, why are even the most advanced of animals only capable of an infantile level of communication with human beings or with their own species?

Well many arguements can be made for both sides just as you have done though, but it doesn't make it any less true. Just because our evolution is at a different stage than animals doesn't mean we have souls and they don't. Just because they don't act the same way we do, or use our technology, doesn't mean they don't have souls. Ants for example are extremely efficient, well organized, etc. for what they do. For all we know, their interactions to them are just as devoloped as ours amongst ourselves. Who knows, maybe one day there will be something else out there that is way more capable than our homo-sapien race. These are just things we don't know, and can't predict.

The only reason it is alright for people to kill cows, etc. is because we, the people condoned it long ago, and just accepted it. There was once a time when people would kill other people and not think twice about it or the reprocussion, if there even was one. That doesn't mean that person didn't have a soul, it just means that laws and rules of conduct, ethics, etc. weren't set in stone yet. Times change, that is all I'm saying.

You're making a good argument, but it's still flawed.

The entire concept of the "soul" determines that any living creature in possession of one is capable of more than just instinctive patern and reproduction. Ever seen a bear paint a portrait? Ever heard of a wolf not killing an elk because he knew it was wrong? The reason you haven't seen those things is because animals don't have souls. Simply being capable of building an anthill isn't grounds for being considered a soul-bearing creature. Rivers are capable of carving canyons, does that mean the Snake River has a soul?

OK if we did or didn't have a soul and there was no God, then why would that matter. We would die and drift into oblivion anyway.

That is just my point though. Why does our interaction necessarily make up what it means to have a soul? Just because animals don't recognize our behaviors and speaking pattern, doesn't mean that their behaviors and way of interacting with each other is wrong or flawed. Instinctive patterns and reproduction is just a way we classify animals and their purpose on life. We don't know exactly how they interact, or why they do everything they do.

Example, just because we recognize that playing soccer is a sociably acceptable form of interaction, doesn't mean that animals don't have their own form of fun. It just means that we don't recognize it, and this is simply because we don't interact like they do, so how could we? For all we know, when they see us, in their own mind, they might be thinking, "Wow, what a deprived silly form of life they are. Why would they even want to do something like that when they have obligations to feed themselves and their families?" Of course, this is considered outlandish to us, but who knows?

Again, with the whole elk and wolf example, the only reason that doesn't happen is because they don't think it was wrong. If it wasn't illegal to murder humans, I'm sure people would do it for fun, but like I've stated many times, that is just because our culture, our world we constructed now has rules, laws, etc that we follow. Just because animals don't, doesn't mean they don't have souls.

Rivers don't have souls because they aren't living organisms. A river doesn't show emotion, or behavior patterns, it is just land that hold water flow a certain way.