The Left Doesn’t Know If We’re Animals Or Not
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
When Donald Trump’s controversial “animals” tweet hit the news, I really had to wonder what the fuss was all about. Secularists have been calling everyone animals for a long time. Not every secularist, of course, but a lot of them, including some with considerable influence. It leaves room to wonder whether any of them really know what they’re talking about.
I had just started reading Richard Weikart’s book The Death of Humanity and the Case for Life at that time. One chapter deals with this humans-as-animals theme in depth. (Here are the articles he’s written for The Stream.)
It goes back a long, long way, as Weikart explains it. Following the 1859 publication of Darwin’s Origin of the Species, one of Darwin’s “leading German apostles” said Darwin had unveiled to us that humans “a natural product like any other creature.” Animals, in essence.
Evolution Means We Really Are Just Animals
It makes sense, really. If Darwin were right, and if we’re products of the same evolutionary processes as every other organism, what makes us any different from them? Nothing.
If you learned about “higher” evolved creatures in school, your science teacher taught you wrong. If evolution is a purely unguided natural process, then it isn’t progressing in any particular direction, not up, not down, not sideways or anything at all. It knows nothing about “higher.”
Humans have no right to claim we’re anything special. We’re animals. That’s straight evolutionary teaching.
So the transition from apes to humans wasn’t from lower to higher, just from one animal to another. Humans have no right to claim we’re anything special. We’re animals. That’s straight evolutionary teaching.
Some evolutionary thinkers have understood that. Unsurprisingly, most of them are atheists or secularists. Biblical thinking leads another direction, as we’ll see shortly.
Secularists Who Get It
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I’ll be interacting on this topic live by video next week on The Stream’s Facebook page — Tuesday, June 5, at 8 pm Eastern time, in the 6th edition of “Contentious Questions (Because some questions are just that way).”
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Weikart tells of David Strauss, a mid-19th century German theologian famous for his highly influential writings — now discredited — undermining the gospel accounts of Jesus. An avid follower of Darwinism, Strauss “argued that humans were not distinct from animals.”
But we need not reach back so far into history. Princeton University philosopher Peter Singer said in a 2004 interview, “All we are doing is catching up with Darwin. He showed in the nineteenth century that we are simply animals.”
The London Zoo in August 2005 featured a four day exhibit of homo sapiens in its primate area. Weikart quotes a spokesperson: “Seeing people in a different environment, among other animals, teaches members of the public that the human is just another primate.” One of the “primates” on display was a 26 year-old chemist, who said, “A lot of people think humans are above other animals. When they see humans as animals here, it kind of reminds us that we’re not that special.”
The Copenhagen zoo had presented a similar exhibit 9 years earlier, and the Adelaide zoo followed with a month-long human exhibit in 2007.
Scientists at the Texas Academy of Science gave University of Texas, Austin evolutionary ecologist Eric Pianka a standing ovation for his 2006 speech suggesting it would be good for the world if something like the Ebola virus would wipe out 90 percent of humans. Humans are no better than bacteria, he said.
But When Trump Said It…
A lot of them objected when Trump said members of MS-13 were “animals.” They thought he was saying “These people are sub-human.” He said it only metaphorically, and it was to their political advantage to ignore that. Trump can’t get away with calling anyone an animal metaphorically, while secular thought leaders can — and do — call everyone literally animals.
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Yet I find something heartening in their inconsistency. It shows they understand somewhere deep inside that we’re not mere animals after all; that we really can claim to be something higher. Evolution gives no basis for thinking that — yet we all know it’s true anyway.
Meanwhile we’ve got to hold on to humanness. That’s getting harder these days. The animal issue is only one piece of it. “Transhumanism” says we’re about to “evolve” into something else, and soon. The euthanasia movement denies the essential dignity of human life, making function or comfort the higher value.
Abortion proponents can’t deny that an unborn child is a unique human life, so they resort to saying that being human isn’t what matters; one has to be a “person,” which is apparently one step up from being human. Or down; since courts and legislatures around the world are now granting “human” rights to rivers and such.
Hold On to Humanness
Some secular people truly want to be genuinely human. There’s only one way we can hold on to humanness. Just one way. That’s knowing we’re specially created by God, in His image, for a special purpose given to no other animal.
Nature has no power to do that. But God can, and the Scriptures tell us clearly He has.
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Claims that Trump was making a scientific statement in regards to human and animal life on the planet is moronic and dishonest.
Oh I have no doubt that Trump was not using the word animals in a scientific manner. I am absolutely positive he was using it in an insulting manner implying that a person is less than human.
Scientifically speaking, humans are animals. We're members of the animal kingdom, H. Sapiens. That's simple scientific fact. Of course, from a metaphorical or even emotional standpoint, calling people "animals" usually has the intent of insult or denigration behind it.
Usually yes, But when your partner says you're a tiger or a tigress in the bedroom I take it that's ok ?
Now that's when its ok to be called an animal.
good. I was correct then, I never considered it as an insult.
lol
How about super predators?
Do you have a point?
I Didnt say he didn't have a point. I asked what his point was. He's the one trying, I assume, to make a point. I'm still waiting for it. Or at the very least, a clarification would be nice. Besides, considering you can't even prove any of the BS claims you make, you're hardly in any position to demand proof of anything yourself.
It wasn't a point. It was a question.
Do you not understand what a question mark is?
The reference was to give you an example of where the term super predator was used just incase you didn't know.
The question was, do you have a point (I thought that was clear)? Especially since Hillary Clinton is not the topic of discussion.
You sure do have a hard time at understanding don't you.
I asked you if you felt the same way about someone calling a class of people super predators as you felt so offended that President Trump called gang members animals.
Hillary was the reference to the term being used not the subject.
Guess I'm done with you if you can't answer the question I posed to you but instead can only spin and sputter a bunch of nonsense.
Have a nice day.
I guess Strawman arguments is all you have to offer.
All life is interrelated. All life forms share a common ancestor. We have a common ancestor with vegetation let alone the other great apes. This is an undeniable fact, conclusively proven with modern genetic knowledge. The only way all life can share a common ancestor is if it all evolved from simple, early organisms.
Arguing against proven facts will do nothing but discredit any hypothesis you wish to espouse. Human beings are part of the earth's biosphere, like every other biological life form, we KNOW this. Just fit your god into the gaps like god believers have been doing for our entire human history.
Or if we were all formed by the same force, entity or being that could explain it as well.
I call it "Created by GOD". Many others do as well.
Did god kickstart life? Perhaps. Perhaps an actual being put the strands of RNA in the primordial oceans that morphed into the DNA that formed the first organisms. Congratulations Steve, you are properly fitting god into the gaps in our knowledge, but understand the history of doing this.
Throughout man's history, everything we did not understand has always been contributed to god. Early humans understood next to nothing about our planet, so hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, pestilence, destructive fires, volcanoes, day, night, tides, EVERYTHING was attributed to a magical, angry being that we needed to placate with total subservience. As we gained knowledge, we discovered the real explanations behind these phenomena and god belief took one step back after another, again, and again, and again.
One of the latest steps back was over heliocentricity. Staunch god believers were the last to accept that the earth and planets orbited the sun, and no wonder, the bible describes the earth as flat, stationary, and supported on pillars. Today the fight is over evolution, and many religions are already accepting it, soon, all will have to in order to have any credibility at all, and god belief will step back yet again.
Does any of this 'prove' there is no god? Well, no, you can't really prove a negative, but after being so wrong, so many times, for so many centuries, you would think the god believers would just SHUT UP! Happy Sunday Stevo...
you can't really prove a negative true so I dont try to prove there is NO GOD. I also can not prove there is a GOD.
From what I observe and know, logically it appears the earth at least has an overall design of matter working together for the benefit of the whole. To me that signifies there just may be something beyond what we know and that something could be what I refer to as my GOD, My God is simple defined by whatever arranged to atoms to be what they are.
No more no less.
True. We are animals. We just happen to be at the top of the food chain.
In the wild I'll bet there are some big bad wild animals who would disagree with that whom I wouldn't want to argue with about it. Some smaller ones as well, including some viruses and insects.
Of course. I am not suggesting that a human can go toe to toe with a 1,300 pound grizzly bear and win, nor would I suggest jumping in the ocean with a great white shark and 5 of his 2 ton buddies. But evolution has given us humans the ability to reason, rationalize and out think creatures many times our size. We have the ability to create too, as in weapons that more than level the playing field with regards to sharks and bears. It's though evolution that our intellect has become what it is today and what puts humans at the top of the food chain. And thank goodness for that because I bet life towards the bottom of the food chain SUCKS.
And that equalizing force is our intellect. Down and dirty example? Bee keepers. Wear clothing that is thick enough, or has small enough holes which prevent the bee's from stinging them.
when faced with an out of control bear in the wild I'd trade my intellect for a bear rifle anytime.
lol
IMO: Goodness is a term describing a interpretation. We "classify' using terms like goodness, badness, horrible, great, all describing an interpretation of how the individual sees what they consider reality. Goodness it's a great day.
Where did it come from? mankind.
The rifle was created with human intellect, and requires human intellect to operate. That's kind of the whole point Steve, we even dominate animals much more powerful than ourselves. That's not to say we win in EVERY situation, but we rule.
true but I dont have time to "intellectually" instantly produce that protection equalizer. I'd better have one with me instead of just my intelect to "imagine" it.
We're splitting hair here and its been fun but I must run.
lol thanks
You seriously don't know the difference between the words, "good", and, "bad"?
Of course HA doesn't. By definition whatever his sky fairy does is "good" (like murdering all the innocent first-born sons of Egypt), and whatever it says is bad is therefor "bad" (like treating women with the same rights as men, or gays with the same rights as straights).
That's nice. Prove it! Besides, what has Satan done that is so "bad," especially compared to the evils god has committed?
Prove it.
Human beings are a type of ape. I don't think a person even needs science to tell them this. Ever watched apes at the zoo, or video clips of apes in the wild, interacting with other apes and their children? It's startling how human-like they are.
We are a furless ape with weak upper bodies and huge heads that hold a highly developed brain. Humans have the most difficult childbirth of any animal, due to our huge heads. Let that sink in for a minute. We are not so intelligent because "god' created us, we are simply the animal with the most highly developed brain. The only reason we believe in a god and an afterlife is that we are able to conjure up these ideas in our minds. Other animals can just be.
Anyone who doubts the fact of evolution should read read "The Ancestors Tale" by Richard Dawkins. Life got going on Earth early on and has survived many extinction events.
Dawkins rocks, he is very good at explaining complex things in simple terms.
Clearly you have never met my brother.
Lol, my buddy Ken kind of casts doubt on that too!
Me too, that's why I shave daily...lol
My son, too. At 14, no less.
The reason I believe in GOD is I believe the universe, the earth and even everything on earth work together to integently and too well to be anything short of a "designed" world.
Whatever designed the earth and everything by arranging the atoms to be all that is, is what I consider to be what others call GOD. For me God is nothing more or less until proven to me to be otherwise. So far I see No proof of anything else and shaky proof of what I do believe of GOD at this point even at best.
But I dont see how the magnificence of organization and cooperation of the planet's nature and life is all just one big damn accident !
So I'm left with whatever "caused" earth and its inhabitants MAY have arranged it as well. right or wrong, that is what I call GOD.
Classic theistic argument that puts the cart before the horse. There is life on earth, BECAUSE the conditions happen to be right for it here.
So who or what made this "god"? And if it doesn't need a first cause why would the universe need one?
Good question. Another god question is why is there anything.
Good questions I dont pretend to know the answers to. Do you ?
Nope, I just know that the notion of a "god" needlessly adds a layer of inexplicable and unexamined complexity, much like postulating that the universe was created by a committee of invisible pink unicorns who used PowerPoint presentations to hammer out the details.
Nope to me it simplifies everything.
It certainly a simplistic explanation which literally explains nothing. It's all just magic performed by an invisible sky fairy but ultimately that's not a satisfying explanation for anyone with the intellectual curiosity to look behind the curtain and ask what's the mechanism to that "magic", how it interacts with matter, and who pays the magician's salary.
I dont know What it is that I call GOD. To me it is whatever, could be "a force" (of nature) (of mathematical equations) (of chances) it could be "an entity" without mass, it could be a "spirit" it could be "a being" with a physical body.. Hell I have NO idea ( "a sky fairy" ) well perhaps however surely not necessarily. BUT simply whatever arranged the atoms of the universe to be all it is is what I call GOD. No more,no less.
That to me seems logical and simple. Beyond that: I dont know and dont believe any one alive does either. so why worry or fight, I'm secure in what I believe if others choose not to be or question me that's not really my concern I'm not required to have the answers.
I share what I believe and try to be open to new knowledge that either supports or refutes it.
However, to the best of my knowledge NO ONE has all the answers.
I have no problem with anyone who wants to do all the looking they desire. I just am not that interested in the whys and what fores I have other interests. but, to each their own.
That's somewhat synonymous with Spinoza's "god" which was the "god" of the Enlightenment.
I came to those "believes" on my own. After I had read the old testament, the new testament, the Book of Mormon and parts of the Koran, I asked myself what I BELIEVED ABOUT GOD. That is what I came up with.
Everything is made of atoms, Whatever arranged the atoms to be all they are is what I call GOD.
period
other than that I dont believe anyone alive knows anything more for sure. I also believe that if GOD (who arranged everything to be what it is) had wanted us to have a "Rule Book" IT would have written IT and not left it up to falibal man to do so.
years later I discovered about the closest "Religion" I saw was diest. So I figure that's what I am.
To me the issue depends on the whys. Why would god create a person to have free will if all he wants is obedience. That makes no logical sense at all, unless this god entity is a small child playing with his toys. Even the idea of freewill is limited...Try willing yourself to sprout wings. Free will is a lie in that in order to have value to this god, one has to do what one is told. The map for eternal life is included. Seems ridiculously unnecessary to have any human have to prove themselves worthy when that entity is supposed to be all knowing and all powerful creator of said humans.
All in all the ID idea doesn't work for me either. That leads to all sorts of questions. Like why would we need to age or eat, sleep etc. An intelligent designer would most likely eliminate unnecessary functions or features like pain, humiliation, death. What do these features add to to the process of making people obey?
The older I get the more goofy the concept of god or intelligent design becomes to me. Religion seems to be a tool to keep people in line rather than to serve an all powerful entity.
Humans are animals, specifically we are apes.
And we're primates. Meet my cousin the Loris.
LOL Well freak everyone out will ya ? LOL
Here's a couple of untouched real pictures of the "beast" I had to go see....lol
Cute little venomous buggers, aren't they?
Yep until someone photo shops in a third eye then they are freaking looking as all get out. LOL That damn picture took me by surprise and my jaw probably even dropped. I had to check it out to see.. my minds going.... that cant be fuckin real... it wasn't. !!! LOL
lol woo thankfully, natures weird enough as I know it
You did get my attention that's for damn sure.....lol