If my kid came home thinking humans evolved from apes, I'd be mad.

^^^ Need I say more, people? This is the level of ignorance of the US *voting* public.

Not only are we 'evolved from apes', we are, literally, members of the group called 'apes': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape

Apes (Hominoidea) are a branch of Old World tailless anthropoid catarrhine primates native to Africa and Southeast Asia. They are distinguished from other primates by a wider degree of freedom of motion at the shoulder joint as evolved by the influence of brachiation. There are two extant branches of the superfamily Hominoidea: the gibbons, or lesser apes; and the hominids, or great apes.

• The family Hylobatidae, the lesser apes, include four genera and a total of sixteen species of gibbon, including the lar gibbon and the siamang, all native to Asia. They are highly arboreal and bipedal on the ground. They have lighter bodies and smaller social groups than great apes.
  
  
• The family Hominidae, known collectively as the great apes, include orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and humans;[1][2][3][4] alternatively, this family clade is also known as the hominids. There are seven extant species of great apes: two in the orangutans (genus Pongo), two in the gorillas (genus Gorilla), two in the chimpanzees (genus Pan), and a single extant species, Homo sapiens, of modern humans (genus Homo).[5][6]
  

wct...you can't police thoughts or opinions. No matter what a person believes under the first amendment as long as he carries out no actions that imperatively harm that person, you can do nothing against him or her in holding that belief.

Good. Less stupid religion = better life

+1 Jai

Also, Christmas was originally a Pagan holiday. Do your own research.

No it's Christian. This is argumentable.

If my kid came home thinking humans evolved from apes, I'd be mad.

^^^ Need I say more, people? This is the level of ignorance of the US *voting* public.

British voting public*

Wct, you should present evidence for the theory that man evolved from apes if you want to convince Colonel, not just quote people saying humans are apes.

Humans are apes, because the word "ape" has been defined that way. Do you ask people to prove that cats are Felidae?

Edited 12/27/2015 01:34:09

Colonel said that he'd be mad if his child was taught that people evolved from apes, and wct quoted a few people stating that people are apes. If wct wants to convince Colonel that people have evolved from apes then he should provide evidence then stating something over and over again through quotes.

And yes, if I did have serious doubts about whether cats belonged to that group or not, then I'd ask for evidence of that.

Edited 12/26/2015 22:46:00

you don't get it. You can ask for evidence that cats and lions evolved from a common ancester, you can't ask for evidence that cats are Felidae, because they belong to the group felidea by definition of the word felidae. Just like human are hominidae and by extention Hominoidea (apes). This is just words to help scientist classify species. It is called Linnaean taxonomy, set up by Carl Linnaeus, who actually was a christian creationist and a scientist. His system of classification is still used today (adapted)
Carl Linnaeus lived before Darwin, and had classified humans along with other apes in the "homo" genre. He also had a classfication for supernatural beings like god, angels, demons, etc...
I guess my point is it is hard to show evidence of something when you don't even understand that your question doesn't make sense. You should learn by yourself a little bit on the matter before coming asking for evidence and look like a fool in the process

Edited 12/26/2015 23:45:34

None of this crap is about what the terms for humans are, Colonel said he didn't believe that humans were descended from apes and wct said that humans are classified as apes. I said that instead of just saying their classification he should provide evidence for man descending from other apes. You should stop trying to make a thing about something it's not about, before you start insulting people by calling them fools.

While I agree that it's disgraceful that there are people who find evolution improbably, I agree with Smedley, wtc answered a question different from that asked.

What if evolution was a mechanism created by God? This is a compromise (although not evidenced) that gives me comfort in the apparent contradiction between my dual belief in God and Science.

what wtc did was pointing the fact that we are classified as apes, and then proceeded to copy/paste the definition of the word "ape" as proof to that, and therefore the sentence "if my kid came home thinking humans evolved from apes" doesn't make any sense. It is like saying "if my kid came home thinking that we are homo sapiens, i would be mad". It is stupid and ignorant. And how can anyone have a productive conversation about evolution when some people in the discussion don't even have a basic understanding of the matter?

@Jai

I think you'll like this video, and probably think that it makes sense :)

intelligent design and evolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxOEz9aPZNY&index=3&list=PL7A9646BC5110CF64

Edited 12/27/2015 00:05:17

I've recently become enamored with the concept of Deism. Since I myself prefer the scientific explanation to most things, but was always frustrated that a few things seemed to slip out of reach. The concept is that there was once a god, and he created the Universe long ago, and set up all the little things, like scientific laws and theories. But then he left. He didn't pay any more attention to his creation. Maybe he had better things to do. Maybe he felt no need to interfere. Kind of like how a watchmaker never needs to mess with his watches, because if he made it right, it should work perfectly without him. So while there might be some higher power, and certain things could be attributed to him, he has no concern with us, and therefore it's less likely we need to pray, or really do any religious work at all, because he doesn't care. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

wct...you can't police thoughts or opinions.

What's your point? Do you think I'm trying to police thoughts or opinions? If you do, you are mistaken.

No matter what a person believes under the first amendment as long as he carries out no actions that imperatively harm that person, you can do nothing against him or her in holding that belief.

Um, I can ridicule them and hold them up to public scrutiny for their public statements of their ridiculous beliefs. That's also protected under the first amendment in the US, BTW.

British voting public*

My bad, I should have checked his profile. Still, it is actually a common attitude in the US. [ETA: Also I apologize to Col. for insinuating he's American; not that there would be anything wrong with that! ;-) ]

Edited 12/27/2015 00:54:43

Wct, you should present evidence for the theory that man evolved from apes if you want to convince Colonel, not just quote people saying humans are apes.

What makes you think I'm trying to convince Colonel?