Several years ago I read an interesting article entitled “ A Hidden, Vanishing World. ” I'm always drawn to pieces with such titles because I assume they ’ll be written from a staunch environmentalist ’ s perspective; and, if nothing else, I'll learn something about what and how the tree huggers in our culture think. This article didn't disappoint me.

The author, David Levy, was writing about America's coral reefs and what you and I can do — and according to Mr. Levy, must do to protect them. Throughout the article he makes his case for preserving these natural wonders, including the idea that “ reef byproducts might help us develop medicines to cure serious illnesses. ”

I had already formed an opinion, but the last line solidified my thinking. Levy quotes an employee with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as saying, “ We have learned that there is life in every drop of water. It is life we cannot afford to waste. ”

Certainly there is life in every drop of water — no thinking person would deny that. Certainly we should be good stewards of our God-given environment and the natural resources beneficently given to us by our Creator God. The question begging to be asked, however, is, is the life that is in a drop of water, or in a coral reef, or in a tree, or in a dog or in some other animal, more important than, or even equal to, human life?

For those of us who believe God created all life — human, animal and plant — and that He clearly distinguished each from the other and proclaimed that the creation of mankind, complete with rational thinking and a soul, was His crowning creative act, the answer is clear. Of course, human life is more important, more valuable than any other kind of life. Unfortunately, many people today don ’ t see it that way.

With the now decades-old entrenched teaching of evolution in our schools, many today really do believe humans are simply more highly evolved animals. Consider, for example, the teachings of Professor Peter Singer at Princeton who talks about human and non-human animals and that a human is not a person until he or she can be future oriented. Closer to home, here ’ s what the School District of Edgerton, Wisconsin says in its Human Growth and Development mission statement about what it will teach about the relationship of humans and animals: “ students will understand that some animals hatch and some animals, including humans, are born live. ”

Incidents around the country seem to reflect that indeed animals are at least as valuable, if not more valuable, than humans. In Richmond, Virginia, for example, this past March, some 500 people attended a funeral and mourned the death of two bears that had been euthanized because one of the two, and no one could determine which, had bitten a child. According to the media ’ s report, a Boy Scout troop escorted a color guard and lowered bronze urns containing the bears ’ ashes into a hole. An Episcopal priest offered a prayer, and the mayor of Richmond gave the eulogy and ordered an investigation into the deaths of the bears. Hundreds of people protested the killing of the animals.

What is happening? We must ask: how many mourners attend the funeral of the hundreds of babies who are killed every day by barbaric abortions or whose lives, for scientific expediency, are snuffed out while still in the embryonic stage of development? Who corporately mourns their precious lives? Who demands investigations of their deaths?

Until our young people know the truth of their origin — that they were created as a unique being in the image of God — that they are not animals, we ’ ll continue to get this all backwards, to our peril. The David Levies of the world will convince us that we dare not waste a live coral reef or the life in a drop of water, but that there is no waste in the destruction of pre-born humans. Peter Singer will continue to foist his virtually blasphemous ideas on thousands of college students who have been well indoctrinated in our public schools to believe that that plants and animals, just as humans, have rights and “ feelings ” that must be considered.

Friends, may this be the year we send a clarion message to our elected officials, to the professional educators, to the media and to the culture at large that human life, as created by God, is absolutely unique; and, while we must be good stewards of the environment and of animal life, it is ultimately human life “ that we cannot afford to waste. ”

This is Julaine Appling for The Family Research Institute of Wisconsin reminding you the Prophet Hosea said, “ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. ”