When an animal uses a tool, people applaud. Using tools is a sign of advancement. Intelligent beings use tools. Humans use tools like crazy because we are the most advanced species. We’re pretty smart.

If, for example, an ape uses a tool to accomplish some task, we tend to think it is being like us. We might remark, “See how intelligent that ape is? See how close it is to being like us?”

The same holds true when animals seem to communicate with us in various forms. From the tail wagging of dogs to apes learning sign language, we hold ourselves up as the standard to shoot for. “If we can get them to use language like we do, it will show how intelligent they are.”

If humans are the most advanced species, why do so many people disparage and criticize a human behavior that sets us apart from all the animals? I’ve never seen a monkey worship. Yet, worship is often dismissed as a primitive, superstitious, backward thing to do.

Worship is much more intellectually advanced than using a tool. A monkey can figure out how to break open a coconut with a rock. In fact, doing so is similar to the trial and error ways of the scientific method. But, monkeys don’t seem to want to contemplate the existence of God or reflect on their own mortality and virtue. They can do some “science” but they can’t do any theology. Theology is a uniquely human endeavor that requires a high degree of thought and reason.

Perhaps those that place science on a higher plane than religion and theology ought to reconsider. Perhaps the behavior that would make any intelligent animal the most “like us” would be the ability to worship, not the ability to use language or tools.

Faith and reason work together in achieving the pinnacle of human existence. Science is good and so is faith. If we abandon human spirituality in favor of pure science, we reduce ourselves to being glorified coconut smashers. That would be backwards indeed.