Hi @swamidass,
I had a look at the article, and I must confess that disputes over polygenism and original sin appear peripheral to me nowadays, as they miss the main point at issue: is there, or is there not, a clear-cut distinction between humans and other animals? Your 2016 article, Are we just Apes?, argued for an affirmative position:
…[A]n honest look at human evolution, even from a strictly scientific perspective, reveals that humans truly are exceptional. A “singularity” in our planet’s history has occurred. Nothing like us has ever arisen on the planet before. Something beautiful and unique has happened here. (Bolding mine - VJT.)
The real problem, as I have pointed out previously, is that the scientific evidence does not support your claim that a singularity occurred in human evolution. From a strictly scientific standpoint, the evidence supports a gradual emergence of human beings. And that holds, regardless of whether we look at hand-axes, fire, aesthetic objects, geometrical designs, stone-tipped spears, Mode III tools, symbolic behavior, language, altruistic self-sacrifice or belief in the supernatural. The evidence is summarized in a table here. All of these behaviors emerged gradually, over tens or even hundreds of thousands of years. This is a finding that should be giving theologians and apologists king-sized headaches. Instead, the theologians are in denial: they simply refuse to recognize the problem. One hears irenic suggestions that the distinguishing hallmark of human beings is either scientifically unobservable (how convenient!) or that it left no archaeological traces (despite the fact that archaeology can tell us quite a lot about our forebears’ intellectual, moral and spiritual capacities). So far, there has been a massive failure to engage with the evidence, on the theologians’ part. And that troubles me.