The Origin and Sanctity of Human Life

Christian beliefs about where human life comes from

Christians believe that God is the ultimate source of human life. This belief connects two questions: where humans come from, and why human life matters. If life is God's creation, it is more than a biological occurrence: it has a relationship with its creator.

The opening chapters of Genesis contain two creation accounts. In Genesis 1, humans are created after the other living creatures and are made in the image of God. This does not mean that God has a human body. It means that humans reflect God's nature and have a special relationship with him, giving them dignity and purpose.

Genesis 2 describes God forming Adam from the dust of the ground and breathing life into him. Eve is subsequently formed from Adam's rib. Christians connect God's gift of life with belief in a soul, the spiritual aspect of a person that connects them with God.

Why Christians interpret Genesis differently

Christians agree that God is the creator, but disagree about how the creation accounts should be read.

Some creationist Christians interpret Genesis literally: they believe God directly created different kinds of living things, including humans, as the accounts describe. They reject evolution where it conflicts with this reading. For them, accepting an alternative account could undermine the authority of the Bible and the special status of human beings.

Many other Christians read Genesis as expressing religious truths rather than giving a scientific description. Its central message is that creation depends on God and has meaning and value. They can therefore accept theistic evolution: God works through evolution to bring about living things. Some understand God as guiding the process; others emphasise that God established the natural laws through which it happens.

The Catholic Church accepts that evolution can be compatible with faith, while maintaining that the human soul comes from God. These Christians distinguish a scientific explanation of how life developed from a religious explanation of why it exists and has purpose.

Darwin and evolution by natural selection

Charles Darwin set out his explanation of evolution by natural selection in On the Origin of Species, published in 1859. Evolution explains how populations change over generations and how different species develop; it is not, by itself, an explanation of how the first living organism appeared.

Individuals within a species have variations, some of which are inherited. Organisms compete for resources such as food and suitable habitat. Those with characteristics better suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. Their offspring can inherit those characteristics, so the characteristics become more common over many generations. This process is natural selection.

For example, the different beaks of Galápagos finches are suited to different food sources. A useful beak shape can help a bird obtain food and successfully reproduce. ‘Survival of the fittest’ therefore means success in a particular environment, not necessarily being the strongest animal.

Dawkins and non-religious explanations

Many Humanists and atheists accept evolution because it is supported by scientific evidence. They understand the development of life through natural processes without appealing to a divine creator.

Richard Dawkins, a biologist and atheist, argues that natural selection explains why living things appear designed. Complex adaptations need not be evidence of a designing God: they can develop through the accumulation of useful inherited variations over many generations.

In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains evolution from the perspective of genes being passed on. The title does not mean that genes consciously make selfish choices; it highlights the persistence of inherited genes through reproduction. Dawkins also challenges the designer argument by asking who designed the designer. In his view, introducing God does not solve the problem of explaining complexity.

Accepting evolution does not automatically make someone an atheist. Dawkins concludes that a creator is unnecessary, whereas Christians who accept evolution believe that natural processes can be God's means of creation.

Why human life is sacred for Christians

The sanctity of life is the belief that life is sacred because it comes from God. Human life has value in itself, rather than gaining value only through someone's health, abilities or usefulness to others.

Two important biblical passages support this belief:

• Genesis 1:31: ‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.’ Christians understand creation, including human life, as fundamentally good and valuable because God created it.
• Jeremiah 1:5: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.’ These words are addressed to the prophet Jeremiah. Christians draw from them the wider belief that God knows and values people before birth and has a purpose for their lives.

Together with the teaching that humans are made in God's image, these passages support respect for every person. Catholics teach that life must be respected from conception to natural death. Anglicans also affirm that life is sacred because it is created by God, while Quakers emphasise the divine in everyone. These beliefs can encourage care for sick and vulnerable people, including support for hospices.

Humanists can also value life deeply without calling it sacred in a religious sense. They ground respect and care in human experience, reason and empathy, rather than divine authority. For them, the fact that this is the only life we have makes living meaningfully and helping others especially important.

Does evolution conflict with Christian belief?

A literalist Christian can argue that evolution conflicts with the biblical account of direct creation and threatens the Bible's authority. Dawkins offers a different challenge: if natural selection explains the appearance of design, there is no need to introduce a creator into that explanation.

A Christian who accepts evolution can respond that explaining a natural mechanism does not settle whether God exists or gives life purpose. Genesis can teach the meaning and value of creation without describing its biological development.

A justified conclusion therefore depends on what is being compared. Evolution conflicts with some literal readings of Genesis, but not necessarily with belief in God as creator. Scientific explanations of development and religious claims about purpose are different kinds of claim, although people disagree about whether both are needed.