Say Hello to Auntie Ida

Say hello to Auntie Ida. Don't stare at her tail, it makes her uncomfortable. Remember she's part of the family so let's treat her with some respect. If it wasn't for that team of amateur fossil hunters who found her in the Messel Pit in Frankfurt, Germany in 1983 your Auntie Ida wouldn't be here. So be grateful and go and give your Auntie Ida a big hug and kiss and tell her that you love her.

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I bet Darwinian's, Atheists, and other believers in evolution are celebrating today after Tuesday's proclamation of Ida being the missing link to our evolutionary history. Isn't it great to dig up old relatives and display them for all the world to see? Of course it would be embarrassing if she wasn't related to us and we found out she was somebody else's aunt, Sylvester Stallone's maybe?

Click here and here for the news stories on Ida and click here for her official website. She also has a book coming out, and a TV documentary? She must have a great promotional team to be treated as a celebrity after being stuck in a crater for 47 million years. Of course all this hoopla could be a bit premature and over the top but let's say that she IS the missing link. Although it may not be ironclad proof that we did evolve from monkeys (she is actually the missing link that higher apes, including us, have descended from) what would the implications be if it were a strong piece of evidence for the theory of Evolution? Does that mean that the New Atheists (Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, etc.) are right in saying that the search for truth lies in scientific study of the world around us and not in religion and faith? (I'm assuming that's their view since I have yet to read anything on their view on religion.) Are God and religion pointless now that we have science to lead us into truth? Science be praised.

I'm sure the Creationist people will swarm all over this and say that the scientists are using this as a publicity stunt to push their agenda or that they're severely mistaken on Ida's relation to us. The Creationists may be right but either way this has no affect on my spirituality and my beliefs of the Divine. Whether we were created intact in Eden or evolved after billions of years Evolution does not affect my yearning for the Divine or for understanding and brotherhood. Is my yearning for the Divine just a chemical reaction in the brain and I'm just delusional? Maybe, but if my delusions cause me to love my brother then it is a delusion I wish to live with till the day I die. Could I be just as happy as an Atheist? Possibly, but it seems awfully lonely and disconnected from the rest of the universe. With a Creator God you have that reassurance that our Creator loves us, and with a Pantheistic God we have that reassurance, love, and connectedness to all of reality. Can I overcome this fear of disconnection and have a fulfilling life as an Atheist? Yes, but I feel that I would better understand my fellow man if I didn't disregard God altogether. God is still an important part of the human psyche and to disregard it completely is a terrible mistake. Am I afraid that Evolution is right and I have it all wrong? No, because it's not about being right or wrong it is about connectedness, relationships, love, and understanding your brother even if that brother is a fossilized ancestor.