This week a news article caught my interest as proof that it’s possible for the theory of evolution to be right. The problem is a police officer and not a scientist discredited the proof.

To set the record straight, I do not believe the theory of evolution is true and I do not like our school systems teaching this idea as fact, but the reality is it was taught when I was in secondary school and it is being taught to my children, and unless science advances enough to disprove the theory, it will continue to be taught.

If you want to believe in a scientific theory instead of an intelligent designer creating the universe, that is your choice — a choice God gave us. A differing opinion in this society does not make you any less of a human being than the next person. And so as I get to my evolutionary proof, I want to make sure that you understand that God loves everyone and it’s your choice as to whether or not you want to love Him back.

This creation-believing pastor reveals to you the proof of evolution came from the Rock of Gibraltar, which borders Spain off the southwestern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. It is here that a 23-year-old British tourist took a day trip to see the famous Barbary macaques.

Two of these monkeys began to pull at her clothes and many tourists watched and laughed as these monkeys pulled her bikini top off and pawed at her most intimate areas. In the opinion of Melissa Hart, the tourist in question, she was sexually assaulted.

The police officer on duty explained to her how sorry he was for her ordeal but made the claim that wild animals cannot legally commit a crime. And therein lies the problem, especially since a monkey is a close relative of ours on the evolutionary scale. If the theory of evolution is found to be true, then I would suggest that it is quite possible for a monkey to be criminally responsible for sexually assaulting a human.

At the same time, a trial is taking place for an incident last year at the Costco store on Wellington Rd. in London. In this case, a woman is charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing death when one of those deaths included a baby who was injured while still inside the womb.

Many believe life does not begin until someone is born and since that baby was inside the womb at the time of the accident, it brings into question whether this woman can be charged with ending a life.

I believe life starts at conception and that, yes, she can be charged with injuries that happened to someone who was still in the womb. But I am sure there are others who may think differently.

Regardless of our thoughts, when it comes to the beginning of life and the evolutionary process, these two incidents challenge our thought processes and the way we look at the world. And they challenge many topics that have been taught in the school system for years.

It starts with evolution and it continues with the idea of when life begins. Soon it will be a change in sex education. When are we going to begin to trust the school system to simply teach the facts and leave things like theories, beliefs and sex education to the parents?

I hope that it will be soon. I fear for the next generation as they grow up in a confusing and diverse world and I pray that God will somehow intervene and make a difference.

Pastor Jamie Greenwood is lead pastor of Faith Pentecostal Assembly in Glencoe.