Religion & Ethics: Content from Across the ABC




Date/Time 30 Nov 2015 6:37:55pm


I submit that we are more than animals.

And our behavior and perception of reality far transcends that of any animal on earth.

I list the following reasons:

1. What species other than humans have the ability to create complex technology and systems of learning used to advance its ability to understand the world , have systems of justice that devise laws for the protection of rights of individuals, that can develop a plethora of technology that allows us to communicate through various modes of transmission as well as travel around the world and into space, and to make decisions and reflect on them whether they were right or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable, harmful or harmless etc.?

We are fearfully and wonderfully made says the Psalmist(Psalm 139:14)

2. We differ on what makes us human, and what distinguishes us from the rest of the creatures in the animal kingdom. The debate therefore will inevitably become much wider than discussion on the issue of same-sex marriage and behavior.

3. If, as you say, we share 98% of the genes of chimpanzees, suggesting some close similarityto these primates, does this mean that we should share around 98% of chimpanzee behavior.

The fact is, the lifestyle of humans is more than 98% different, rather than similar, to that of chimpanzees. What chimpanzee can do what humans do even in just one of those general areas listed in point 1 above?

What this means is that our genetic make-up alone, is not sufficient to accurately explain what it means to be human.
If you want to see whether chimpanzees are more, or less like humans, what would be the most efficient way to see that?
By observations of the way they live. Not just in sexual practice, but in all aspects of life to tell us what it means to be human, and what it means to be a chimpanzee.

4. The problem I see with the argument purely from biology is that it is essentially reductionist, whereby every aspect of humanity can be explained by the function of genes and the movement of electrochemical processes in the brain.
And with this method you can reduce the biology of every living creature to its DNA structure and draw apparent similarities to the human gene, and thereby conclude that we are animals like the rest of the creatures around us.

5. Therefore, this debate in human sexual behavior, and determining what is natural or unnatural, in my view, will hinge on our definition of what makes us human and what makes us fundamentally different to the rest of the species in the animal kingdom.