Amos appears to use the word "soul" to describe being self-aware. However there is plenty of evidence that other animals show self-awareness, and the more intelligent ones show signs of mental analysis and learning from experience that he describes.

So far so good - it is, as he says, just a question of semantics. However religions, not just Judeo-Christian ones, credit the soul with additional qualities, in particular its continuance after death. This seems to me entirely a matter of faith and/or wishful thinking with no evidence to suggest this might even be possible.

I am insterested in GfS's reference to a spiritual experience. I have to admit that I don't understand what he means by this - which I think is his point. Perhaps it is, as someone said, like describing orgasms to a virgin. However virgins can experience orgasm through non-sexual stimulation, and if they are unaware of sex they won't think of it as a sexual experience. In the same way I wonder whether a 'spiritual experience' is actually a commonplace experience which those inclined to a religious view interpret spiritually, while those who are not interpret it differently.