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Leading Georgia Senate candidateHerschel Walkerexpressedskepticism about human evolutionduring an appearance at a local church on Sunday.
“Now think about this: At one time, science said man came from apes. Did it not?” Walker, a Republican, asked his host, Sugar Hill Church pastor Chuck Allen.
“Every time I read or hear that, I think to myself, ‘You just didn’t read the same Bible I did,’ " Allen replied.
“Well, this is what’s interesting, though,” Walker, 60, continued. “If that is true, why are there still apes? Think about it.”
Scientists have thought about it for hundreds of years. They have concluded thathumans, like apes, are primates. Humans share DNA and many traits with other primates, including humans' closest living relatives, chimpanzees. But that does not mean humans evolved from chimpanzees or any other still-existing ape species.
Walker, a College Football Hall of Famer who played for the University of Georgia and was an NFL running back,announced his candidacyfor the U.S. Senate last summer.
“I will stand up for conservative values and get our country moving in the right direction,” he said at the time. “I’m a kid from a small town in Georgia who lived the American Dream and I’m ready to fight to keep that dream alive for you too.”
Walker currently has astrong lead in the Republican primary raceas well as in somepolls for a likely general election contestagainst Democratic Sen. Raphael G. Warnock, a pastor himself.
A rep for Walker’s campaign didn’t address his remarks about evolution at Sugar Hill Church but did email a brief statement to PEOPLE. “The country is unraveling thanks to Raphael Warnock and Joe Biden and the media wants to talk about Herschel in church on a Sunday morning,” Mallory Blount said. “No wonder we’ve got problems.”
Former PresidentDonald Trumpoffered Walker his sought-after and influential endorsement in September, calling Walker a “friend, a Patriot, and an outstanding American who is going to be a GREAT United States Senator.”
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Walker claimed the product, which does not exist, was “EPA-, FDA-approved.”
In 2008, Walker wrote abouthaving dissociative identity disorder, hoping to show a different portrayal of the condition.
At the time, his ex-wife said that he had violent episodes in their marriage, including holding a gun to her head — whichCNN reportedhe did not deny, saying he had blackouts and memory loss.
source: people.com
