Mans Place in the Universe a6k 



Man and Evolution 



It is particularly in relation to man's place in the scheme 

 of things that opposition to evolutionary doctrines has flour- 

 ished. It is not merely that personal sensitiveness resents the 

 implication, " How would you like to be descended from a 

 monkey? " There is genuine alarm lest the whole race be 

 abandoned to the powers of darkness. And it is easy to get 

 the desired reaction by asking, " How would you like to 

 have your child taught that it is beastly, or related to beasts? " 

 The arguments are in spirit, in effect, and in soundness 

 identical with the objections to Galilei's announcement of 

 his observations on the moons of Jupiter: " It is impossible, 

 for the very simple reason that the heavenly bodies are de- 

 signed to testify to the glory of God; and how can any of 

 them testify if they are invisible? " Down with the telescope! 

 If we are not the immediate and ultimate objects of God's 

 earnest and personal care, what is going to happen to us? 



Whatever the rocks and the microscopes and the test- 

 tubes may yet reveal regarding man's origins and history, 

 there are already millions who are concerned about what they 

 can best do with themselves today and tomorrow, rather 

 than about what might have been yesterday. Much of the 

 solicitude about the demoralizing possibilities of the " de- 

 basing doctrine of man's descent from low forms of life " 

 seems to be an expression of rage and disappointment about ; 

 the inhibitions exercised under fear of hell, and the pleas-/ 

 ures missed; or perhaps a certain envy that those with the^ 

 new teaching may get more out of life. 



With the growth of knowledge we are learning, among 

 other things, that it is possible for people to be decent with- 

 out the help of fantastic doctrines regarding the nature of 

 man and his kinship with devils, and without reliance upon 

 fairy tales. Man's spiritual potentialities are what they are, 

 and subject to study and cultivation, regardless of what we 

 think about Dryopithecus, or about the embryonic gill slits. 

 What people think is certainly important, but it is not one's 



