I am very disappointed that Rick Warren would use the occasion of the horrible tragedy in Aurora, Colorado to make an inane, stupid swipe at evolution. This poster with his tweet in the middle makes the point well:
Humans are observably like other animals on this planet: we are based on the same genetic code, we eat, we procreate, we breathe, and so on and so on.
But humans are also observably unique among animals on this planet: we are capable of writing blog posts and tweets, studying our origins and the deep history of our universe, and unfortunately also of concocting ways of constructing weapons that do great harm, and making laws that fail to address their widespread use in our society, and all of that (and much else besides) illustrates the extent to which we stand apart, unique among the living things on this planet. That some people like Rick Warren think that evolution denies this show just how poorly science is understood by many in our society.
When human beings use wisdom and express compassion, our distinctive characteristics become clear, and knowing the details of how our species got this way does not detract from them.
And when, on the other hand, human beings are mean and use a tragic occurrence as an occasion for trying to score points against those they disagree with, that reminds us just how much like other animals we truly are.
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