Everyone knows the story of Charles Darwin. While at Cambridge University, Darwin signed up to go as a naturalist around the world on the HMS Beagle. Talk about a golden opportunity. Darwin’s mindset was a precursor to George Santayana’s contention, “A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.” Darwin went to class for five years on his educational journey.

Locations for learning

Darwin’s going to school overseas changed the basic understanding of nearly everything from humans to bugs and all the creatures in between. He created a seismic change that rattled many. It took a couple of decades before most people in science were on the same page. Many Americans who doubted science were upset with Darwin, and it all came to a head in Dayton, TN, at the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925.

Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan

Darrow defended Scopes, while Bryan argued the case against Scopes, who taught evolution in a public school in Dayton, TN.

In the century after the Scopes Monkey Trial, new scientific data has emerged. Today, most people have accepted that humans branched off from chimps and bonobos 6-8 million years ago. Early humans evolved from their predecessors 550,000 to 750,000 years ago. Finally, Homo sapiens emerged 300,000 years ago, and some left Africa between 100,00 to 200,000 years ago to populate the rest of the world.

Archeological findings forced the reluctant observers to accept that human beings have evolved. Some of these new converts to evolution have come up with the belief that humans are at the top of evolutionary development. We are not only the crème de crème in evolution but also have a soul. What makes us different from other animals? The answer is that we possess a soul. Some humans say they possess a soul, but no scientific evidence supports it.

We are better than other animals because we have a soul. When we die, our souls remain. Additionally, we are unique and can relate to a deity via our soul. That raises the question, if souls exist, did Neanderthals or Homo erectus possess souls, or are we just special? Merely assertion of an assumption doesn’t prove anything.

While we ponder a long list of questions about who we are in the grand scheme of things, we must look at how we act in our 21^st-century world. Pick animal. Compare your choice with humans. How does your choice behave? Are we ethically better than a giraffe or a panda?

As you ponder your place in this world, consider how you fit into the grand scheme.

Pause for a moment.

This video is of someone who has faced a litany of trials, was found guilty, and/or is facing an even longer list of indictments and charges. What is his place in the grand scheme of things?

He claims that he is your voice, your warrior, your justice, and your retribution. However, despite his hot air, he realizes he is the fool on the hill.

This short video contains actual scenes of the Scopes Monkey Trial.

This video is the timeline of evolution.

This video is the poster of evolution.