The story?…struck me as very creative writing.

Speaking only for Christians, there are at least 2 types. (There are more, but this is sufficient.)

One group is the Fundamentalists. These have a real suspicion of science already, and tend to believe (very much like a lot of cryptozoology fans) that there is a vast scientific conspiracy to hide the evidence for creation in 144 hours some 6000 years ago. If a Bigfoot were produced for them as a “missing link” (which Patty at least is certainly not), they would almost certainly dismiss it as either (a) a human trick, perhaps achieved through genetic engineering, or (b) a deceit of the Devil, like when the Jannes and Jambres turned their staffs into serpents. Regardless, since Fundamentalists maintain their faith in spite of all the fossil and genetic evidence, one would have to have at least as much naive faith as they do (though in a different direction) to think that a living or dead Bigfoot would disturb their beliefs.

The other group, on the other hand, knows that, as a friend of mine likes to say, the Bible is a book written by and for grown-ups. People have ALWAYS, not just after Darwin, had trouble understanding Genesis when giving it a naive interpretation. This is what kept Augustine of Hippo from becoming a Christian — until, that is, he met St. Ambrose of Milan, who showed him the proper way to read Scriptures. That was fully 1600 years ago, and many of the ideas are centuries older than that. This group does not see the evolution of humans from apes as being either more or less dignified, or in fact meaningfully different, than being created from slime, as Genesis records. Like most people, they would probably be surprised if a living or dead sasquatch were to be found, but their surprise would not be for religious reasons, let alone precipitate a crisis of faith.

Your example only works if the only religion you know is the Primitive Baptist Church down the street.

This is what happens when science cedes a field to the amateurs. Some of them are, kinda, well, amateurish.

If the sasquatch is real, the only people whose worlds it will overturn are those who were flat convinced this was all hooey (as witness reports of sightings by converted scoffers who haven’t been able to sleep or turn the lights out since).

The preponderance of the evidence says:

There are critters in the fossil record that if you saw one tomorrow, you’d say you saw Bigfoot.

I think The Holy Bible will survive it. I’m betting on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, too. What the hell, toss in the Talmud.

I do not see the impact on religion being relevant, as people who take religion so literally as to assume there is no room for the idea of evolution or that we are the only humanoid species that isn’t relegated to the wild, are so brainwashed that they would be unlikely to change their minds even if G-D him/her self came to earth (or them personally) and told them otherwise.

You made my point with your examples.

Religion believes we were created by a God, and a God created all the animals as well. Science says we came from the Sea and eventually descended from primates.

Lloyd Pye claims we were genetically engineered by beings from other worlds…and much of his DNA and chromosome examples support his claim

Science has always searched for the “Missing Link” between man and apes, Religion states there is no such thing as a “Missing Link” as we are not linked to apes

If Bigfoot, Yeti, Orang Pendek, Almas, are all following the genetic rules of science with 48 chromosomes as with all other primates, then why do we have 46 if we descended from primates?

If we did not descend from primates then we were in fact “Created”.

If we were “Created” by God 6000 years ago or by beings from other worlds 250,000 years ago would impact Religion, science, and history.

Then there is also the possibility that is Bigfoot, Yeti, Almas, Orang Pendek, would have the DNA Markers that show they are Human…Homosapien. I am sure that would “impact” most all Sundays at Church