The appendix

The other day I was think about the evolution/creationsim debate and it suddenly occred to me, if humans didn't evolve from animals why do we have an appendix?

The appendix is actually for digesting things like grass and leaves that our system can't cope with (that's why hourses have three stomachs). But we have evolved not to need one. Mostly now what it does is make people ill.

So if God dsigned us why do we have this piece of anatomy which is useless for anything except for killing a few people?

Like most vestigal organs, the appendix has aquired another secondary function.
It has become a hive for immune system activity in the lower bowel.
i state this only because someone may try to use this adaptation as evidence against evolution by stating it was designed for this purpose when it obviously was not. Comparison with standard lymph glands will confirm this.
As a side note, did you know that some snakes still have vetigal hind legs? they have completely lost the shoulders but can still have a rudimentary hip.....
There are plenty of examples of this nature for evolution, and i for one would be interested in a creationists response.

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"We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further." - Professor Richard Dawkins.

"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." - Mark Twain

"The inspiration of the bible depends on the ignorance of the person who reads it." - Robert G. Ingersoll

Here's some very recent research on the appendix,
published after the above discussion I think:

"Long denigrated as vestigial or useless, the appendix
now appears to have a reason to be - as a "safe
house" for the beneficial bacteria living in the human
gut."
I cannot post links, so search for:
"dukehealth.org" + "appendix"

What I do not get is why, if only humans have them
(or did the journalist misunderstand?), the thing was
seen as vestigal and declared too originally meant
for digesting grass and leaves?
Do apes have appendices or something that was
supposed to be the forefather of the appendix?
And btw, I think a creationist would tell you Man was
explicitly created a vegetarian (Eden), and only after
the Fall started to eat meat. And in micro-evolution
(and degeneration) within baramins (ca. genus, I think)
they do believe.

So perhaps the poor bodypart should be set free
from the whole evolution-vscreation debate?

Pierre

Sapphos, I had a lecture yesterday on the appendix. It is true that it serves as extra breeding ground for intestinal bacteria, but as for evolutionary theory, check this out.
In herbivorous animals like a rat, there is a very large caecum present. In fact, almost every herbivorous animal has an enlarged caecum. It's purpose? Fermentation of vegetable material. Even apes have a more pronounced caecum and large intestine, and thier diets mainly consist of bugs and plant material.

On the other hand, carnivorous animals such as the cat have a very simplified digestive tract, almost devoid of the enzymes or other phyisological features needed to properly deal with cellulose. In other words, a cat will have a hard time digesting plant matter. Thier digestive system is short, and is geared for getting meat in, extracting nutrients, and crapping it straight out, much more simple to deal with than plants.

Anyway, you could say with reasonable conviction that our diets used to be exclusively vegetarian, or marginally omnivorous at the most. As we have learnt to make use of more types of food and diversified our diets, the need to specialise for plant matter has become less and less important, less of a necessity. Thus, you have a little bit of intestine that manages to serve a secondary purpose, but is ultimately redundant. It is just bad design on God's part to put something that can get blocked so easily.

The tonsils are also useless. I got mine out as a child. I would think, if our bodies evolved into something higher, there might be parts of our body that aren't needed now. This doesn't disprove God at all, nor does it try. It simply means our bodies have parts that aren't necessary to live on.

How about the eyes of the Marsupial Mole? They certainly are vestigial, not only are they greatly reduced in size and function, but they totally lack any connection to the brain - no optic nerve. Can anyone argue that useless eyes are not vestigial?

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"We’ve been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture," Pastor Ray Mummert speaking out against teaching evolution in Pennsylvania schools
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