I know we’ve discussed this in previous threads, which veered off in all kinds of directions, but,…I found this brief article in my email this afternoon, coming from Beliefnet, and it’s bugging me. Instead of going off in all directions as most threads tend to do, I’m hoping for a succint answer from a Catholic who knows his/her stuff. Does this contradict the Biblical and Catholic teaching that we’re literally desended from Adam and Eve?
blog.beliefnet.com/news/?p=4462&source=NEWSLETTER&nlsource=11&ppc=&utm_campaign=Bible&utm_source=NL&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_term=aol.com
Yes, it is true that in general, there is a small percent of Neanderthal genes in Europe and Asia’s DNA makeup. Neanderthals lived in Europe, Asia and parts of northern Africa. However, they were very much human, although larger, stronger, and needing much more calories to maintain their body weight than their smaller cousins. It used to be taught that Neandertals could not speak, however, recent “discoveries” have displaced that long-held theory. We know now that they could speak, and therefore would have had a language as well to communicate. They buried their dead in graves with flowers, and other meaningful items, whereas the other humans did not at that time. There is evidence of interbreeding as well, and it is theorized that Neanderthals were assimilated into what we call “modern man” by interbreeding as well as the dying out of their populous by what some theorize also as “natural disaster”. Climate became colder, food scarce, and because Neanderthals were larger and needed more food to survive, their numbers were decimated.
When we look at DNA of humans, we all share common traits, but at the same time, we all have different parts of our DNA (alleles) that give us our uniqueness - our traits such as blue eyes, brown eyes, height, skin color, etc. Alleles are any of several forms of a gene, usually arising through mutation, and we can have mutations which cause genetic disorders, dwarfism, down’s syndrome, gigantism, etc. Yet, although each “disorder” does not resemble “modern man” – they are still human and of modern man.
Populations of a certain race can be lost to human history by what is called “genetic drift” when one allele that is dominant overides the recessive allele, and through time, you end up with only certain dominant alleles as part of the DNA. People who carry the red-haired gene (allele) are the rarest and it is predicted that given a number of years, this gene will be “lost” and perhaps not found in our human genetic makeup, because dominant alleles will overide this rare allele. This is what is known as “genetic drift”.
Blue eyes are recessive, as is blonde hair, whereas brown eyes and black hair is dominant. We inherit one allele from our father and we inherit the other from our mother. Therefore, if both mother and father have blue eyes (recessive), the child will always have blue eyes. If the father has brown eyes (both alleles having the brown marker), and the mother has blue eyes, the child will always have brown eyes (child will have one blue allele marker and one brown allele having inherited from father/brown, and mother/blue), since the brown allele is the dominant and will always overide the recessive one. Conversely, if the father had inherited one blue and one brown, (father’s eyes will brown), and the mother has blue eyes, (having two alleles carrying the recessive blue alleles), the child could either have brown eyes or blue eyes, since it is possible now to get one brown from the father and one blue from the mother (= brown eyed child) or one blue from the father and one blue from the mother (= blue eyes).
Two recessive will always produce a recessive. This is how Hitler planned to breed his new “race” of blue-eyed, blond-haired humans.
People can be carriers of recessive genes, (alleles), but not exhibit those traits/disorders. Mutations create new alleles, and this is believed why people have differing skin colors - according to the climate they lived in, and over time would have mutated to ensure survival (natural selection).
to be continued…
Can you just say, yes or no, does this contradict the Biblical and Catholic teaching that we’re literally desended from Adam and Eve?