The thing we disagree about is whether humans evolved like other
animals or whether we were created. My husband and I have a
humorous agreement about this; I evolved; he was created. When we
see a t.v. show on primates, he smiles and says, "Well there are
some of *your* relatives." I just smile back and say, "Yep."
My husband is not a fundamentalist. But usually when I think of
creationism, I do think of Christian and other fundamentalists. I
think of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert
and Jim and Tammy Baker. I also think of the ignorant white
supremacy groups who are incapable of recognizing their own
feelings of inadequacy so that they must try to feel superior to
whole groups of people and to devalue animals as well. Most
racists would never believe that they are related to animals
because they have no respect for animals. Some of them are willing
to believe that *other* races are related to animals. But
themselves? No, they were created in their man-like god's own
image, and "he" was white and, I suppose, English-speaking, in
their minds.
So, let me sum up by saying I do have a knee-jerk reaction when it
comes to evolution versus creation. I am also quite content to
think of myself as a baby ape and I love feeling related to
other animals. I enjoy my physical nature as much as my abstract
nature. But I do want to get along with others, even if we
disagree on issues that are strongly meaningful to me. I'm also
going through a conflict with my daughter's father about her
religious training, so it's a hot issue for me right now.
Now, another comment is on the Cro-Magnon versus Neanderthal
comments made by someone else. This, indeed, is an area where
science is limited. Since we have no chromosomes from either
Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal, there is no way we could ever theorize
how closely they were related to any modern humans. Honest
scientists at this point would have to admit that they simply don't
know the specifics and any hypotheses would be mere guesses. By
appearance alone and extrapolations about relationships of other
species to one another, we can theorize that Cro-Magnon and
Neanderthal were Homo sapiens, but even that is not a definite
known. The hypothesis mentioned, that attempted to split modern
humanity, sounds way out of line to me. I would scrutinize the
proponents to see if they tend to have racist agendas.
I value science and ethics and spirituality. I have sometimes
thought of Adam and Eve as the first human beings in Europe,
because they were the first Homo sapiens in Europe to have a
spiritual life, a relationship with God. I have thought of Cain as
one of the first people to struggle with a guilty conscious. I'm
not suggesting that people accept insulated contradictory beliefs,
but that figurative, rather than literal, meanings can be found in
oral and written literature.
Krista