What if Homo erectus was alive today?

I would guess it would depend, in large part, on how "different" they looked. Most people would judge them based on gut reactions, and if they looked to far from the norm for Homo sapiens, they'd be treated as different or "other." If, however, they could pass as humans in a dark, smoky bar, then maybe they'd be afforded more "human" rights.

Hi Bluejay, I don't think we could interbreed with them, otherwise, they'd be the same species as us, definitionally. Though, I suppose, we could have infertile children, like horses and donkeys do...I could all but guarantee, though, that there would be a website dedicated to sapiens/erectus sex, and it would become a fetish pretty quickly.Fundamentalists would definitely consider any sexual interaction to be an abomination, and there would be debate even among the more liberal religious groups as to whether they had souls and could be saved, or baptised, or whatever. But, if you consider that there are still people who consider black or asian or middle eastern people to be little better than animals, perhaps more would consider erectus to be so, and it could become a heated debate leading to violence, potentially.

Wouldn't this also go against the doctrine of "The Fall" which purports that the only change that can occur is a downward one? Wouldn't most people living, including creationists, consider our current state as being "better" than that of Homo erectus?

While the possibility exists that we are the same species, or at least interfertile, I would guess the probability is low.This was brought up recently on one of the threads dealing with whether humans are still evolving. I would think the amount of time that has elapsed since humans split from Homo erectus, coupled with any changes that would have accumulated in an isolated group of H. erectus living presently would be enough to make them at best minimally compatible, in the same sense as lions and tigers.