>There is no such thing a RACE in a biological sense! This is not just some
"liberal
>idealism" it is reality.
This is not quite true. While it is true that in general we define
"species" as those populations that recognize each other as the same but
not other, similar populations, that does not always hold true. There are
populations (or subspecies) that form a geographic ring and that interbreed
in both directions around the ring except at one place where the two
subspecies act like species (Mayr, 1970, Populations, Species, and
Evolution, p. 292-293). The McGraw-Hill Dictionary of the Life Sciences
defines RACE as " 1. A distinctive human type possessing characteristic
traits that are transmissible by descent. 2. An infraspecific taxonomic
group of organisms, such as subspecies or microspecies." There is a
biological reality to race. The key is having populations with unique
suites of inherited traits but which have not developed reproductive
isolation.
>The most recent genetic evidence from Human Biodiversity project
>confirms what most biologists and anthropologists have thought for a
>long time now: races just do not exist because the genes are almost
>identical in all people.
The whole discipline of physical anthropology would never exist if there
were not human populations with measurable, genetically different traits.
This is the basis for the original definitions of human races. They are
also biological realities, even though there is no reproductive isolation.
Races exist as biological realities. Whether or not "fitness" values or
moral values should or should not be attributed to races is another
question altogether. As Christians, we have a different calling to
integrity, both scientific and moral. No Christian can justify saying the
he or she is better that another individual, let alone another whole
population. But to deny that races exist biologically, I believe, is
untenable.
Yours in Christ,
Lee A. Spencer, Ph.D.
Vertebrate Paleontologist
Earth History Research Center
Southwestern Adventist University
Keene, TX 76059