Biskit, as an artist, I cannot deny beauty, nor can I deny the beauty in chance, as I've been practicing it all the time. One does not need to say "Today, I will create *x*". *X* happens, and nature is definitely the most accomplished artist in that field. You can ascribe a higher power if you must, but nature is Chaos and chance, and its results are stunning, I'll not deny it.

Mario, I thank you for being the first voice that *I* have heard along those lines, and I'm glad to know there are more out there. I've been around, and was raised through (by virtue of schooling, mentors or church attendance) damn near every facet of the Western Christian spectrum, including Methodists, Baptists, Mormons, Re-Organized Mormons, Catholics, and good 'ol New Ager/Unitarian/Insert-Progressive-Term-Here types.

On average, people are either of the non-committal "I've got my faith and that's all that matters" bend, or of the rabid, frothing "God created Adam, Darwin be DAMNED!" persuasion. I am THANKFUL that there are people who can vocally accept both in tandem, and that was my point of this post, was to offer that bone for people to chew.

As to Mr. Handy, there are certain things that can be witnessed testifying to nature's inherent changes. Even looking through as little as 3 generations, we're taller, faster, stronger, fatter, women are mestruating sooner, etc...

Now, people may be quick to say "Diet!", "Healthcare!", or "Peace!", and the answer is of course, a resounding "No sh$#%@, Shirlock!" These are factors that change who we are, and we have been reacting to stimulus/circumstances since the dawn of time. Warming climates?, less fur, less meat?, more greens, more greens?, less disease, less disease?, more population... flat teeth win

cool climate?, plants die... need meet, Grog of pointy teeth chew on furry critter, Grog live through ice age, Grog's kid have pointy teeth too, maybe he live, too....

Lastly, there are many evidences to where we came from, and including the DNA Penny mentioned, our bodies have collections of parts that no longer are used, such as wisdom teeth and various internal glands and organs, and the most beautiful example, the embryonic-fetal growth cycle, which take us from our most primitive smimming/gill breathing/tail flapping fish phases through our bi-pedal post-partum phases.

To think of man as anything but an animal is naive.