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"Who made who? Who made you?" As I sit and listen to AC/DC, I can't help notice
how appropriate this song is. I'm sure you've questioned, as I have many times,
human origins. Where do we come from? How did we get here? Did humans really
evolve from apes? Well, if you're looking for answers, you may not find them
anytime soon.
Charles Darwin is considered the father of evolutionary theory. He came to believe that
natural selection (also know as survival of the fittest) happens in nature as a
response to changes in nature. If the environment does not change, neither do
the animals.
Two examples that back Darwin's theory are the shark and the peppered moths that
are found in England. The shark has always lived in the ocean, which has never
suffered a drastic change; therefore, the modern shark is very similar to its
ancestors. Peppered moths, on the other hand, have always lived in England. For
the most part the moths were white with black spots, but small groups of their
black cousins could be found. When the industrial revolution began to take
place, the trees in England were covered in soot and the white moths were no
longer camouflaged. Because the unlikely melanosis of the black moths helped
them survive, over a few short generations, the white moths gradually turned the same color to adapt to their
habitat.
And what about humans? Many people argue that we started out as stardust, seeing
as three million potassium atoms explode inside each one of us every single
minute. Did we really evolve from apes, though? Molecular biology tells us that
we share 99% of our DNA with the chimpanzee. Just because our DNA is so closely
related does not mean that we are descendants of apes or Neanderthals, but
rather that we shared a common ancestor.
This is what science tells us, but how many of you went to Christian Sunday
School when
you were younger? Many Christian fundamentalists and evangelists believe that
the evolution theory is contradicting to the bible. Because such a large number
of people (57% of the U.S. population, according to the most recent Gallup
poll) believe in "creationism" rather then evolution, there has also been a
battle with the public school boards across the country. If the evolution theory is discordant with
your religion or beliefs, should you learn about it in school?
In 1999, after the Columbine shootings, Conservative Republican Representative
Tom DeLay, of Texas was quoted saying, "Our school systems teach the children
that they are nothing more then glorified apes who are evolutionized [sic] out
of some primordial soup." He said this while claiming that American teenagers
are losing their sense of morality, and then linked it directly with the
teaching of evolution in schools.
At Jefferson High School, in Lafayette, Indiana, a petition was started in 2000
which asked for a ???special creation??? class to be taught. Most of the students
supported this, but the school's biology teachers opposed it. Many efforts are
still being made to try and get this class started, because it was rejected by
the Public School Board a couple of years ago.
While there are still plenty of people who are against the evolution theory,
more and more people are coming to except it. Pope John Paul II and Piaus XII
have both supported Catholics in accepting evolution. And, in the most
recent Gallup Poll, 37% of people say that humans evolved over millions of
years, but they were guided by God. Hopefully, one day, everyone will reach a
happy medium such as this.
Sources
Dermer, Dr. Gerald B. The Immortal Cell. Avery Publishing Group, Inc.: New York.
?? 1994
Schwartz, Dr. Jeffrey H. Sudden Origins. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.: New York. ??
1999
Liebes, Dr. Sidney; Sahtouris, Dr. Elisabet; Swimme, Dr. Brian. A Walk Through
Times: From Stardust to Us. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.: Toronto. ?? 1998
"Roundtable: Science and Faith." PBS Television. [Online] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/religion/faith/index.html
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