Why do many Christians think that humans are somehow special?

Question

That is why do they think humans are superior to animals when in reality humans are made out of the very same atoms that make up other animals.

For example, some of the atoms in your body today may have been part of a dinosaur's body several million years ago.

Answer 1

You may not be superior to animals, but I am. And since I am superior to animals, and you seem to not be, I must be your superior. And Christianity has nothing to do with this.

Answer 2

For the people who said that animals don't have minds, where exactly do thier thoughts, emotions and personalities come from?

And there is no proof that humans have souls, either. The basis of Christian superiority is on a compilation of old stories.

Personally, I have to say that the idea of human superiority is simply the function of opposing thumbs coupled with development of ridges in the grey matter of the brain that allow higher thought functions. I'm not sure it's superior, but we do seem capable of greater complexity than animals.

Answer 3

It's much the same reason that every single individual regards his or herself as special... it's a sort of innate arrogance and disregard for others. It's the psychological basis for generalizations and dismissing others as stupid based on a couple actions. This is called the Fundamental Attribution Error and it applies even moreso to how we look at animals.

The reality of course is that we're not all that special, we just have evolved complex brains. We also tend to think that we're the only ones like us and because we can't communicate with animals they must be inferior, based solely on instinct, they're stupid and unable to communicate and so on...

However that's not at all true. Gorillas who've been taught sign language are capable of expressing abstract thoughts and are aware of concepts such as death even though we never taught it to them (we formerly thought only we were capable of abstract thought - and most people ignorantly believe this still). Other intelligent animals have demonstrated critical thinking and puzzle solving skills. Other animals are even using tools... We've even found chimps that have invented and crafted spears!

Further, animals are much better at communicating than we give them credit for! Sure we have our language and words, but that only makes up about 7% of what we're communicating. Animals can read voice tones/cues, our posture, our gestures, our eye movements, (dogs can even read facial expressions!), our pheremones (even most humans lack this now), and virtually all of our nonverbal signals. Indeed animals are better at reading body language than most humans are!

Also it has been repeatedly demonstrated that animals experience the same emotions and psychological states that humans do. Indeed they also express this with body language cues of their own, and studies have shown humans are rather adept at deciphering these, as if we have some lingering knowledge. We can identify when an animal like a dog is sad, most people can distinguish a happy bark from an angry bark, and animal eyes are generally as communicative as our own.

Plus humans behave remarkably similar (identical in many cases) to social animals (particularly primates). We have many of the same social mores and taboos, many of the same status struggles and so on. Our civilization and language is just another medium through which we do the same things. Our instincts and genes still control our emotions which drive all our behaviors. We are really are not very special or superior, we just evolved into technology first.

Or I like Douglas Adams in Hitchhiker's Guide where he points out that man is only the third smartest creature on the world, with Dolphins being smarter. He goes on to say that man considers himself smarter becuase he invented cars, television, new york, war, etc. while dolphins just muck about and play in the water. The dolphins consider themselves smarter for the same reasons.

Answer 4

We are to have dominion over the beast of the earth, that is not to say to have any disrepect towards other aspects of Gods creations
Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.
Animals are entrusted to man's stewardship; he must show them kindness. They may be used to serve the just satisfaction of man's needs.

Answer 5

I'm sorry to disagree with you but, your all wet on that one, where did you get that hypothesis from anyhow? our atoms are part of dinosaurs from fifty million years ago? wow!

Can you think of any other animal that can talk and carry on a conversation? or think, add, subtract and divide, make their own meals.
Now tell me, humans aren't special?

Answer 6

Ask yourself - if your house is on fire and you're running around saving the plants you have in your kitchen but you're leaving your wife and kids trapped inside...boy...see where I'm going with this??? I'm puzzled why I've got 4 "down" thumbs on this one - my point was, of course, humans are more important than animals/plants/bacteria/flies, etc. My statement made that point, I thought. If you're dragging a dog out of a burning car but leaving the family burning inside, you have issues with knowing what's more important!!

Answer 7

Well, let's wait until you have a child and a pet cat & one of them falls into a river in order to see which one you will try to save first before we answer this question.

Answer 8

They're taught in the bible that man was supposed to dominate the earth.. the inference is that man is somehow superior to all other living things.

I disagree with that, but it's what they believe.

Answer 9

Everyone is so quick to say that we're the most intelligent... but, you know, the way we act sometimes, I'm not always so sure of that.

Answer 10

They can't look beyond their ego and see that there are many intelligent lifeforms that are just as fascinating.