[QUOTE][b]Humans and chimps have some of the same DNA because humans have 4 limbs and chimps have 4 limbs, Humans have 5 fingers and toes, chimps have 5 fingers and 5 toes, Humans have 2 eyes, 1 nose and 1 mouth, chimps, the same.[/QUOTE]
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I'm not going to answer your other points but you can find rebuttals to the Creationist Laundrey List quite easily. I choose this one because it's a less common criticism and it gives me an excuse to bring up a remarkable principle of genetics most people don't know about it. The DNA code is degenerate (you can designate the next amino acid to be inserted into the polypeptide chain using more than one sequence). If I were writing a code to build a new protein, I could build exactly that same protein hundreds of different ways using different codons and get the same results. The same protein would come out the end, but there are thousands of different genetic codes I could have used to make exactly that protein.
In fact, if we had the technology and the inclination, there is no known reason why we could not build an entire living human being that is chemically identical to the rest of humanity but with DNA that shows essentially no similarity to any other human. He would be more different from other people than a chimp is from us.
Considering this, even if we were the product of special creation, we're still modified chimpanzees. Therefore the "moral difference" between Creationism and Evolution boils down to whether there is a direct birth lineages to chimpanzees, or a direct "birth lineage" to a clump of dirt instead.
[This message has been edited by gene90, 03-01-2002]
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