Letters to the Editor
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Sidestepping teleology doesn't mean life is pointless
There can't be any conflict between valid science and valid philosophy, spirituality or religion. Truth is truth however it is arrived at. A belief in the existence of a supernatural aspect to the world is either an oxymoron (the supernatural can't exist - it's just unexplored regions of a larger "nature"), or is a tautology (regard a flower - all nature has a supernatural essence). To feel otherwise is to reject the fundamental unity of reality. There is one universe, so there is one nature, so there is nothing outside of nature.
It may well be that we don't fully understand the subtleties of nature as yet. I certainly hope so, because how dull the world would become with no mysteries yet to delve.
We shouldn't look for aspects of humanity in the Great Apes. Rather, our own nature contains elements of "ape-ishness". Many characteristics we regard as defining human nature may be found in our animal cousins, near and far. See, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtLzvOsQ80k