As some of you have noticed, I’ve recently quoted from a book by the molecular biologist Douglas Axe, entitled Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed (New York: HarperOne, 2016).  I read it last week.  I thought it quite interesting.   Dr. Axe, whose scientific credentials seem to be solid — undergraduate work at Berkeley, a Ph.D. from Caltech, postdoctoral research at three laboratories in Cambridge, England — contends that random neo-Darwinian mutations cannot account for observed... Read more

    It seems time, once again, to share one of my very favorite passages in the Qur’an:   And we have sent the Book down to you with the truth, confirming what you already have of the Book and making it sure.  So judge between them according to what God has sent down and do not follow their whims away from the truth that has come to you.  We have made a code of conduct and a path for... Read more

    “I’m reminded of the [Richard] Dawkins-sponsored ads that appeared on the sides of London buses, declaring in bright colors, ‘There’s probably no God.  Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.’  Interesting logic.  You are a meaningless by-product of the circulating ooze in some ancient pond, soon to return to the dead chemicals that burped your ancestors out, sooo . . . go enjoy your life. . . .  Life is meaningless.  Isn’t it beautiful?” Douglas Axe, Undeniable: How Biology... Read more

  إِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلآئِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِّنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ(3:45) “Behold, the angels said ‘O Mary! Truly God gives to you glad tidings of a Word from him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, distinguished in this world and the next, and among those brought near [to God].”  (Qur’an 3:45, my translation)     Read more

    “Perhaps this tendency to idolize the legends of science is connected to a skewed view of the whole scientific enterprise.  Many of us, including me, have bought into the idea that science, though practiced by humans, has managed to rid itself of the human flaws that leave their mark on every other human undertaking.  The purity of science is guaranteed by the rigor of ‘the scientific method,’ we think.   “Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson described this utopian view... Read more

    Nearly — incredibly — a quarter of a century after it was first published, I continue to regard this article as something of a small classic.   It was a product of the old Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), the predecessor to the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, back when that organization was in its glory days.     Read more

    But can it be that those things which are most important and most essential for happiness do not call for intelligence, nor have any part in the processes of reason and forethought?  Nobody wets clay with water and leaves it, assuming that by chance and accidentally there will be bricks, nor after providing himself with wool and leather does he sit down with a prayer to Chance that they turn into a cloak and shoes for him. Plutarch,... Read more

    A statement on the passing of Mr. Fidel Castro from the 2016 Republican presidential candidate that I preferred, the Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL):   http://www.redstate.com/jaycaruso/2016/11/26/marco-rubio-statement-death-fidel-castro/   And there’s also this:   “Obama’s Weak Statement on Castro’s Death Elicits Condemnation from Marco Rubio”     Read more

    Another way in which an education at Brigham Young University offers students very good value:   http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/11/law-school-student-debt-rankings.html     Read more

    I published this Christmas-oriented column three years ago in the Deseret News:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865591818/Pleased-as-man-with-men-to-dwell.html?pg=all     Read more