CrossExamined Blog
Tackling today’s toughest questions, these posts explore topics on God, morality, science, and culture.
Whether you’re a skeptic or believer, each article challenges your worldview and sharpens your thinking. Engaging, thought-provoking, and unapologetic, this is a place to dig deeper and follow the truth wherever it leads.
Does Luke Have The Date Of The Nativity Wrong?
4. Is the NT True?In reading — as one does — the popular atheist material on the Internet with regards New Testament scholarship, I recently came across a very old argument which is often trotted out by people who don’t know any better with regards the dating which the gospels assign to the the nativity and Roman census. Matthew’s […]
Why the "Onion Test" Fails as an Argument for "Junk DNA"
CrossExaminedBriefly stated, the often cited “onion test” observes that onion cells have many times more DNA than human cells do. And since the onion is considered to be relatively simple as compared to us, this discrepancy — it is argued — can only be accounted for if the preponderance of its DNA is, in fact, […]
Fact-Checking Wikipedia on Common Descent: The Evidence from Biogeographical Distribution
CrossExaminedWe have now reached the fourth part of my series on Wikipedia and the evidence for common descent. In previous entries, I discussed Wikipedia’s arguments for common descent based on comparative physiology / biochemistry, comparative anatomy, and paleontology. Now I am going to address the arguments from biogeographical distribution. Biogeography is essentially the study of […]
Fact-Checking Wikipedia on Common Descent: The Evidence from Paleontology
CrossExaminedPreviously in this series, I have discussed the arguments for common descent presented by Wikipedia in the areas of comparative physiology/biochemistry and comparative anatomy. In this third installment, I will discuss the arguments from paleontology and the fossil record. Wikipedia’s page on the “Evidence of common descent” contains only a brief section on the fossil […]
Kortney Blythe Gordon: Short Life, Timeless Impact
Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Radio ShowThe measure of a life is not its length but its impact. Kortney Blythe Gordon made a timeless impact in her 28 years here on earth. In fact, she did more in 28 years than most people even think about in 80. Kortney was a fearless Christian and abortion abolitionist who saved souls and […]
A Whale of a Problem for Evolution: Ancient Whale Jawbone Found in Antartica
CrossExaminedMSNBC.com is reporting on the discovery of a jawbone of an ancient whale in Antarctica: the oldest fully aquatic whale yet discovered. The news story reports, The jawbone of an ancient whale found in Antarctica may be the oldest fully aquatic whale yet discovered, Argentine scientists said Tuesday. A scientist not involved in the […]
Fact-Checking Wikipedia on Common Descent: The Evidence from Comparative Anatomy
CrossExaminedIn my previous article, I presented a critique of the first of Wikipedia’s eight lines of evidence for common descent: the evidence from comparative physiology and biochemistry. In this article, I will discuss the second of those lines of argument, namely, the evidence from comparative anatomy. Click here to continue reading>>>
If God, Why Suffering? Thoughts on Theodicy
CrossExaminedAnyone who has been doing Christian apologetics, for any significant period of time, knows that the most frequent objection to the Christian faith is the problem of evil and suffering. Indeed, this paradoxical conundrum has resulted in probably more people abandoning their faith than any other challenge to the Christian worldview. The logical structure of […]
Thoughts on the “C-Value Enigma”, the “Onion Test” and “Junk DNA”
CrossExaminedThis morning I was observing some of the recent comment thread activity on Uncommon Descent?, and my attention was drawn to this comment by Nick Matzke on the subject of the “onion test” argument for junk DNA: Click here to continue reading>>>
Fact-Checking Wikipedia on Common Descent: The Evidence from Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry
CrossExaminedI recently read the Wikipedia web-page on the “ Evidence of Common Descent.” The page comprises a succinct, yet comprehensive, description of the most frequently cited arguments for the proposition of universal descent with modification. Since this is a subject that interests me, I decided to take it upon myself to write a review of the […]
YouTube’s “C0nc0rdance” Reassures Us That The Evolution Of Chemotaxis Is Well In Hand
CrossExaminedI recently published an article on the marvelous design and engineering which undergirds the bacterial chemotaxis system. Since then, a notorious atheist who posts regular videos on YouTube under the alias “ C0nc0rdance“, as well as “ agentorange20” (under the latter, he identifies himself as Zachary Moore), has posted a rebuttal. This is a brief response to that rebuttal. […]
180: The Best Pro-Life Question Ever
Culture CrossExamined, Legislating Morality, Culture & PoliticsRay Comfort has done a masterful job with this video. With one question, he will help change minds and save the lives of many. Yes, I know it is 33 minutes long, but it is well worth your time.
NCSE's Eugenie Scott Reassures Scotland: There's No Scientific Controversy on Evolution or Climate Change
CrossExaminedLast week in Glasgow, Scotland, Centre for Intelligent Design (C4ID) director Alastair Noble, David Swift, and I attended a lecture presented by Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education. The event was organized by Glasgow Skeptics, who previously hosted a talk by PZ Myers back in June. Click here to continue reading>>>
Staying Out of the Ditch
Theology and Christian ApologeticsOccasionally we run across a philosophical or theological difficulty that threatens to drive us into a ditch, causing us to “ditch” our search for the truth in a particular matter. Common road blocks include the apparent contradiction in the Trinity, a Good God allowing evil in the world, and the list goes on. While evidence […]
Engineering at Its Finest: Bacterial Chemotaxis and Signal Transduction
CrossExaminedID theorists have long urged that the case for design is both a positive and scientific argument, based on standard principles of abductive scientific reasoning. Key to the detectability of design are particular characteristics that intelligent agents often leave behind as hallmarks of their activity. We know that intelligent causes are the only category of […]
Retroviruses and Common Descent: And Why I Don’t Buy It
CrossExaminedThose of you who have been following Uncommon Descent, as well as Evolution News & Views, for some time, will be aware that I have previously discussed, across multiple articles, the phenomenon of endogenous retroviral inserts into the genomes of primates. Those familiar with the debate over origins will also be familiar with the various […]
Peer-Review and the Corruption of Science
CrossExaminedThe Guardian features an interesting opinion column by the renowned British pharmacologist David Colquhoun. The article bears the intriguing headline, “Publish-or-perish: Peer review and the corruption of science.” The author laments that “Pressure on scientists to publish has led to a situation where any paper, however bad, can now be printed in a journal that […]
Meyer and Nelson on a Failed Explanation for the Origin of the Genetic Code
CrossExaminedAnn Gauger has already drawn our attention to the new paper, published just last week, in the journal BIO-Complexity. Authored by Discovery Institute’s Stephen Meyer and Paul Nelson, the paper is concerned with the question of the origin of the genetic code, and seeks to evaluate the efficacy of the so-called Direct RNA Templating (DRT) […]
Who are the Real Gay Bigots and Bullies?
Culture CrossExaminedGeorge Orwell said, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” When you tell the truth about homosexuality today, you can be sure that the central tools of deceit—name-calling and bullying—will be unleashed. I recently was having a respectful conversation with a homosexual activist, but after I made a point […]
Sex at Work?
Culture CrossExaminedAre you supposed to have sex at work? I guess it depends on your profession, but for most of us the answer is “no.” Why then is corporate America obsessed with training about sex? As described in several recent columns by Mike Adams (beginning June 16, 2011), I was fired as a vendor by Cisco […]
A Substantial Conundrum Confronting The Chemical Origin Of Life
CrossExaminedIn ID circles we often discuss the sheer rarity of biologically relevant polypeptides with respect to combinatorial sequence space (and the related conundrum of macromolecular interdependence). It has often been argued that this represents a potent challenge to chemical origin-of-life models of an order substantially greater than the challenge it presents to biological evolution. There […]