FOXSYLVANIA

There are those who would assert that one cannot believe in God and evolution at the same time; well, I certainly do! As Paul Little once observed, being a Christian does not mean kissing your brains goodbye! I believe that God created the world and all that there is in it, but that he operated through the mechanism of evolution. To myself, thinking of divine intelligence as continually operating to refine creation is far more wonderful than thinking of all life as the product of a single static creation. The fact that evolution is a theory doesn’t make it any less of a viable explanation. One cannot see the wind, but its effects are seen and felt. I do not regard belief in God and belief in evolution as mutually exclusive.

“Scientific Creationism” and its more recent cousin, “Intelligent Design” are not science, but are religious doctrine masquerading as science. They do not belong in the classroom. — How many times must the Scopes “Monkey Trial” be re-played?!

Roughly 65 million years ago, an asteroid is thought to have impacted with the earth and caused global climatic changes that brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs and the elevation of mammals to dominance.  It is fascinating to consider that had this event not happened, you might currently be a highly evolved reptile rather than an evolved primate; such a scenario was considered in science fiction works such as West of Eden by Harrison.  It is entirely worthy of consideration that higher sentient life forms on other worlds might be non-mammalian, perhaps like the reptilian Gorn of the Star Trek universe.  If we were reptilian, there wouldn’t be the endless obsession with how one’s hair looked…and rather than the breast fixation of human society, tails or coloration might be a drawing card in a reptilian-dominated world…

Those of us who are furry each possess a distinctive animal spirit that defines us, and gives us particular characteristics.  I am a vulpine, a fox, specifically a red fox, Vulpes fulva in scientific nomenclature.  The notion of guiding animal spirits is rooted in Native American culture, and in the mythologies of many other people as well.  In my mind’s eye, I have reddish brown fur with black fur on my limbs and white fur running from my chest to beneath my chin.  If I allow my fox spirit to dominate me, I may enjoy the heightened senses and physical capabilities associated with the fox. 

We who are furries are not possessed by our animal spirits, but rather coexist with them in a complex , mutually advantageous relationship.  We recognize that there is no such thing as a “dumb animal,” and that every animal is more than the sum of his parts…

There is another world existing side-by-side and within this world…the furry world!  We are to external appearances people like yourselves, but within we are furries, those who think of themselves as animals and have a strong sense of animal identity.  This is my world, and welcome to it!  In the times which follow, I shall try to share it with you…