I have recently been reading George McGhee’s Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful. McGhee’s book is a gripping read, and it favorably cites the work of both Michael Denton and Douglas Axe, ID-friendly scientists well known to readers of ENV. The book documents a multitude of cases of convergent evolution (homoplasy), […]
I have previously outlined a few of the key mechanisms undergirding flagellar assembly, and the remarkable process of bacterial chemotaxis by which bacteria change direction in response to chemical signals. There are, of course, a number of different variants in those systems. If you thought that these remarkable mechanisms bear a strong […]
A correspondent recently referred me to an article in the TalkOrigins Archive responding to the argument that “Complex life forms appear suddenly in the Cambrian explosion, with no ancestral fossils.” TalkOrigins is a popular online resource that collects attempted answers to some often-heard challenges to Darwinian evolutionary theory. The article […]
I recently read The Evidence for Evolution by University of Utah professor of anthropology and biology Alan Rogers. The book is certainly concise, only 102 pages long. Christina Richards, of the University of South Florida, has praised it for presenting its arguments “in a respectful manner that is accessible to a […]
On an almost weekly basis, new research floods in documenting previously unidentified functionality of many different classes of non-coding DNA elements. This consistent trend renders untenable the dogmatic claim that our DNA is mostly junk.
A paper was recently published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research that identified a previously unknown function of […]
I often get asked to recommend apologetics resources for kids. Our friends at Ratio Christi have put together a list of recommendations by age group, all the way down to elementary school. Click here for details.
The ontological argument is widely thought to have been first clearly articulated by St. Anselm of Canterbury, who defined God as the greatest conceivable being. Anselm’s reasoning was that, if a being existed only in the mind but not in reality, then a greater being was conceivable (a being which exists […]
My guest on the radio program today was Dr. Tim McGrew, Professor of Philosophy at Western Michigan University. He provided five lines of evidence that Jesus is ALIVE:
A Appearances to his followers (1 Cor 15, Mt 28, Lk 24, Jn 20-21, Acts 1, Josephus and others)
L Low status of women […]
Previously on ENV, I have described several remarkable features — and the finely tuned characteristics — of the genetic code found in nature. A new study, published in the journal Nature and conducted by a research team at the University of California, San Francisco, identifies an additional, hitherto uncovered, layer of information […]
A post at Uncommon Descent offers an innovative way of illustrating the concept of irreducible complexity — one that is likely to be more resistant to Darwinist misrepresentation than Michael Behe’s well-known mouse trap analogy.
The illustration is intended to address the common misconception that irreducible complexity entails that (a) the individual […]
Writing on his “Rationally Speaking” blog, internationally acclaimed evolutionary biologist turned philosopher Massimo Pigliucci has weighed in on a recent paper published by Addy Pross entitled “Toward a general theory of evolution: Extending Darwinian theory to inanimate matter.” What was of particular interest to me was Pigliucci’s comments on Theodosius Dobzhansky’s […]
Muslim apologists often contend that the Qur’an is free, in its entirity, from contradiction, inconsistency or historical inaccuracy. I have seen many Muslims assert that the historical and scientific accuracy of the Qur’an was what impressed them about this book and convinced them that Islam is true. Previously, I have […]
The concept of cosmic fine tuning relates to a unique property of our universe whereby the physical constants and laws are observed to be balanced on a ‘razor’s edge’ for permitting the emergence of complex life. The degree to which the constants of physics must match precise criteria is such that […]
This Saturday, March 24, on the National Mall in Washington D.C., atheists and secularists from all over the world will gather for a day of entertainment from guest speakers, comedians and musicians. The Reason Rally, which claims to be the “the largest secular event in world history,” features such notable figures […]
Readers may recall my exchange with British geneticist Robert Saunders (here and here) following Stephen Meyer’s lecture at the Lord McKay dinner in London (which you can now watch here). At the time, Saunders admitted that he had not read Signature in the Cell, nor had he attended the lecture. It was, therefore, not entirely […]
This is an article on my I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist presentation that a homosexual group protested last night at Ohio University. Notice one student said that I shouldn’t be speaking because anyone opposed to homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage is “hateful.” The people who say they are fighting […]
From here:
“Richard Dawkins, P.Z. Myers and other New Atheists are planning a “Reason Rally” in Washington, D.C. on March 24. They’re billing it as “the largest gathering of the secular movement in world history,” and they’re using it to trumpet their message that reasonable people reject belief in God.
We disagree.
Together, we represent Christians from the United […]
Throughout the Old Testament, we routinely encounter the mysterious character who goes by the title “The angel of the Lord.” By looking at the numerous appearances of this individual, we can piece together clues as to His identity. The first time the angel of the Lord is introduced, he makes an […]
L-gulonolactone oxidase (GULO), the final enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), is a subject that comes up often in discussions of common ancestry. The functioning GULO gene allows most plants and many animals to produce vitamin C from glucose or galactose. In some taxa, however, the GULO […]
Previously, I have given a number of reasons for my opposition to same sex marriage. Since then, a debate has broken out on a thread on this blog. Here, I offer a brief rebuttal to some of the points raised there.
Two main objections were raised with regards my previous remarks. In Stephen B’s own words:
1. […]
Two years ago, I had the tremendous opportunity to travel to Seattle, Washington, and take part in Discovery Institute’s yearly summer seminar for undergraduate and graduate students. Truth be told, it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I had the chance to interact […]
The historicity of Adam and Eve is a question which strikes at the heart of the Christian faith. If the primordial pair did not exist, then the historical and Biblical doctrine of the fall becomes extremely difficult to maintain. The apostle Paul clearly linked God’s redemptive plan […]
An interesting paper was recently published by David Depew and Bruce Weber in the journal Biological Theory. The paper bears the title “The Fate of Darwinism: Evolution After the Modern Synthesis.” Its abstract summarizes the article’s contents:
Click here to continue reading>>>
In Luke 18:18-29 (and the parallel account in Mark 10:17-31), we read the narrative of the rich young ruler coming to Jesus and asking, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds by saying “Why do you call me good? No one is good — except God alone.”
Jesus […]
In a recent post, I explained and defended the historical Christian concept of the Trinity. In this blog post, I want to consider the conception of the Trinity held by the writer of the Qur’an — whom I presume to be Muhammad — and examine whether this individual properly understood the […]
My friend and best-selling “Bonhoeffer” biographer Eric Metaxas brilliantly wove wit and humor through a speech against dead religion at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. Calling on the heavenly witnesses of Wilberforce and Bonhoeffer, Metaxas courageously defended life and natural marriage before about 4,000 people and with President Obama and Vice President Biden sitting […]
Commenter Stephen B has offered a response to my previously published article concerning same sex marriage. Stephen writes,
“Sorry Jonathan, but this is not a category error, and your objection doesn’t work.
Here’s the comparison:
White man marrying black woman / man marrying man.
If you want to describe it in terms of ‘actions’ then […]
[Note: This is an exchange which took place between myself and an anonymous correspondant regarding a recent article I published on Blogos.org (and also posted here). The correspondant’s comments are appended below and immediately followed by my response.]
Dear Blogos Editor,
First of all, congratulations on your new site. I’m glad and excited for […]
The British BBC News last week reported on research conducted at the University of Essex finding that “Britons are less honest than they were a decade ago.” According to the article, “the survey of more than 2,000 adults found that people were apparently more tolerant of lying […]
One often hears the claim, made frequently by skeptical scholars and laypeople alike, that we have no grounds on which to think the four canonical gospels were actually written by the people to whom they are ascribed. The original documents, we are told, were written in anonymity, the attributions being added […]
The doctrine of the Trinity has come under increasing attack over recent years from a variety of groups. Some of these groups (such as Muslims and Jehovah’s witnesses) deny that this doctrine is even found in Scripture. They are often quick to point out that the word “trinity” […]
I have followed with interest the discussion (“Is James Shapiro a Design Theorist?”) initiated by Bill Dembski and now involving James Shapiro, Ann Gauger and Douglas Axe. The nub of the issue seems to relate to conflicting conceptions about what constitutes a legitimate scientific explanation (what philosophers call […]
The British Guardian newspaper reports on recent developments in UK governmental policy on teaching evolution in free schools (which, though state funded, are normally not required to follow the national curriculum):
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With regret, ENV recently noted the passing of biologist Lynn Margulis. Margulis, a scientist whom I admired greatly, was never a stranger to controversy, going so far as to call neo-Darwinism “a complete funk” and asserting that “The critics, including the creationist critics, are right about their criticism. It’s just that they’ve […]
Frank Turek and Bob Cornuke (the REAL Indiana Jones) will be leading a “Footsteps of Paul” cruise in July 2012! Our ship will be Oceania’s beautiful “Regatta.” We’ll present evidence and insights about the New Testament while we tour the Biblical sites of:
Ephesus (Ephesians, Paul’s home for three years, and his confrontation with Diana worshipers […]
One line of evidence for common ancestry, which lies among the stronger of the relevant arguments, is the phenomenon of parallel phylogenetic patterns thought to indicate host-parasite codivergence. Consider, for example, this diagram — or “tanglegram” as it’s called — excerpted from Legendre et al. (2001).
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Cosmologist Alexander Vilenkin wrote a book in 2006 (Many Worlds in One) in which he refers to a theorem he developed with Alan Guth and Arvind Borde. Although not a believer in God but the mulitverse, Vilenkin says that their theorem proves that even if other universes exist there was an absolute beginning of […]
An often-heard criticism of intelligent design claims that it is exclusively an American phenomenon, since presumably the rest of the world is too smart to fall for the stuff. Of course this is nonsense. ID is making impressive strides in Europe and Asia. As I can report from personal experience, the […]
My father was recently invited to speak at a church. When it came time for him to speak, he announced that he was going to read a story about a couple giving birth to a baby in Bethlehem. With everyone expecting him to turn to the story of the nativity in the gospel of Matthew […]
This is an excellent conversational debate between two Oxford professors, Dr. John Lennox and Dr. Richard Dawkins. Hope you enjoy it!
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