Opponents of evolution often claim the idea that we are descended from animals is demeaning to humans. They prefer to believe that humans were intentionally created by an intelligent and powerful God.
The fact that humans are descended from animals actually means that humans are responsible for our own accomplishments. All the knowledge we've worked so diligently to develop, all the technology that we have created, the great artistic wonders and the globe-spanning civilization are all human accomplishments.
If you believe that humans were created by a God, in the image of that God, then it seems only natural that humans would be able to do all the amazing things that we have done. From that point of view, they are not even our accomplishments - they are God's, because God gave us the abilities to do what we've done.
Yet, when you realize that we evolved from simpler animals, it becomes very clear that humans have deliberately transformed themselves and their world over a very long period of time. It has been a long endeavor, with each generation building on the previous generation's discoveries and abilities, pushing themselves further, disciplining themselves more, finding better ways to do things. This sustained effort by humans to improve themselves and their situation is worthy of great respect and awe. We are the animals who chose to rise above what we were.
Believing that some God created humans is truly demeaning to our long history of sustained effort and accomplishment. We did this ourselves, and claiming that all our accomplishments are simply because God gave us our abilities, rather than us painstakingly developing them from nothing, is extremely disrespectful to the heroic accomplishments of our ancestors.
The facts of evolution allow us to truly appreciate the monumental struggle of our ancestors, going back for billions of years to our earliest bacterial ancestors. We are in a direct line of creatures who survived for the long term while nearly all others didn't have what it took to survive. We evolved from success, repeated over billions of generations. This understanding actually elevates Humanity and helps us appreciate what we are and the epic struggle it took to evolve to the creatures we are today.
Instead of being the defective toys of a perfect God, we are descended from a long line of successful creatures who rose up out of nothing to become the amazing life that is all around us. Instead of being created by some fantastic God and constantly failing to meet our divine potential, we are constantly exceeding everything that we have done before. After all, we are merely descended from animals, yet look what we've managed to accomplish!
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