The following passages from the Bible illustrate the special nature of humans:
'Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them' (Genesis 1:26-27)
'... what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet.' (Psalm 8:4-6)
Christians also believe God values human life greatly as they believe Jesus came to die to heal the broken relationship between God and humans.
In other religions the sanctity of life is also taught. Hindus believe that every living thing has the divine soul (atman) in it. Thus all living things are to be respected. As a result of this many Hindus promote ahimsa (non-violence) towards all living things (both human and non-human species) and as such would condemn war and may choose not to eat meat. A similar idea can be seen in Buddhism where one of the Five Precepts (moral codes), says that life should not be harmed. Once again, this means that Buddhists, like Hindus, would want to condemn war and would probably be vegetarian. Both Hinduism and Buddhism are Indian religions. Another Indian religion, Jainism, has such a respect for life that its followers often place a handkerchief over their nose and mouth so that they do not breath in small flies. They also sweep the ground before they walk on it so that they do not kill small creatures by treading on them. Finally, Islam teaches that Allah alone is the one who gives life. Thus any attack on human life is an attack against God (the second greatest sin in Islam).
Those religions which teach that life has come from God also believe that it is only God who should decide when life is to be taken away. Once again the following passage from the Bible illustrates this well:
'The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.' (1 Samuel 2:6)
Despite the fact that religions often teach we are special on the basis of our creation by, and relationship with, God, evolutionary theory promotes the belief that more complex forms of life have developed from lower forms as a result of natural selection. In terms of our own existence, it is believed we have evolved from primates. Atheist evolutionists (those who do not believe God exists yet accept that the theory of evolution is the best way of explaining the origin of life), generally reject the Christian view that life is a gift from God and that we are all created in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27). They would also tend to reject the Hindu belief that we all have the divine soul (atman).
Beliefs that are based on the idea that God does not exist, and that we can explain all aspects of human behaviour through natural means alone, are often a form of materialism. In other words, all that exists is physical matter (i.e. there is no spirit either in us (soul) or beyond us (God)).
Yet if this is so why is human life seen as special? For instance, if we had a pet that developed an incurable illness we would believe it cruel to keep it alive. To stop it suffering and not having a good life we would take it to the vet to have it 'put down'. Yet surely if humans are nothing more than 'cleaver apes' why not 'put humans down' when they develop incurable illnesses or when their quality of life deteriorates? Why do we hold human life special in that we want humans to be treated differently to the way we treat animals?
Has evolutionary theory left us with a problem? On the one hand some people want to reject the idea that God exists, and is the creator of humanity, yet on the other hand they want to say that human are different to other 'animals'. Yet is it possible to reject God whilst retaining the view that human life is more valuable than the lives of other 'animals'?
What makes human life special?
