I was thinking of calling this blog entry “Germ Warfare”, because there are striking parallels between the science of evolution and the science of germs. For most of us living in the United States and Western Europe today, it is hard to imagine a time when people did not believe the germ theory of illness, and the fact that people not only did not understand that illnesses were caused by microbes of various sorts, but that they actively resisted the... Read more

In the first few episodes of season 4 of The 4400, a book comes to light that belonged to a religious sect that existed almost a century earlier. The book mentions a Messiah and contains a sketch that looks rather like Jordan Collier, mentions a special elixir, and as we find out in the season’s 4th episode, “The Truth and Nothing But The Truth”, it also has pages written in code, which when deciphered include names of people alive in... Read more

Plenty of people have had flashes of insight while in the bathroom. Others have them because they can’t get into the bathroom. No, this isn’t one of those stories. We decided to get some tiles put into our bathroom, as well as a new sink and toilet. When the workmen started scraping up the linoleum, however, they were in for a surprise. Underneath, unexpectedly, were tiles. So the job expanded, as these needed to be removed (with tools like chisels... Read more

There is a post quoting my on a blog called Toothface. The post’s title alone would make it worth a visit: “Unidactyl Creates the Marshmallow“. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has a piece on Francisco J. Ayala. You can also read the book Science, Evolution and Creationism online for free. I’m presently reading Ken Miller’s latest book, Only A Theory, which I hope to say more about soon, but I can already highly recommend it. The evidence for common descent... Read more

If you get an e-mail that says something like the following, don’t fall for it. If you check, the link in fact takes you to a site in Thailand that poses as the IRS web site, but isn’t. Here’s the text: After the last annual calculations of your account activity we have determined thatyou are eligible to receive a tax refund of $279.30 .Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to process it. A... Read more

“The narrow, local kind of mythic explanation that sufficed when cultures rarely mixed will never work in the emerging global culture. We now need myths that are not only scientifically believable but allow us to participate – all of us. To experience the human meaning of modern scientific cosmology, and to turn it into a working cosmology – a meaningful universe – in which we feel like participants, our culture will gradually have to transform it into myth. However, mythmaking... Read more

Bill Heroman has been posting on the possibility of Matthew having taken notes about things that Jesus said and did during his public ministry. Since I’ve been thinking quite a bit about orality and the Jesus tradition, I joined in the conversation. The subject of how common it was for notes to be taken by individuals in various circumstances (e.g. serving in a royal court as scribe, becoming the disciple of a rabbi, philosopher or other teacher, and so on)... Read more

Last night I watched the first episode of season 4 of The 4400, a show that parallels Heroes in certain respects, but also involves time travel and other elements that are popular on LOST, Doctor Who and a number of other shows. The first episode of the season is entitled “The Wrath of Graham” and is about a teenager who is a loner and unpopular, and thus injects himself with promycin, the chemical that gives the special abilities the 4400... Read more

As we ponder the mysteries of LOST, one major question is how the series could end in a way that ties up the loose ends and resolves key questions, leaving fans satisfied. Here are three possible endings (one serious, two tongue in cheek): Ending 1: Turning the wheel the other way At the end of many generations of conflict between opposing forces that are vying for control of the island and through it of history, two individuals (one male, one... Read more

Mystical Seeker and is just one of many blogging about the recent statistics about doctors’ belief in miracles. Science and Religion Today is another. John Wilkins has been having fun with Christians and worldviews. Jason Rosenhouse is blogging about the Sixth International Conference on Creationism. Scientists may have replicated the evolution of RNA into DNA in the lab. Iyov blogs about translating Genesis 1:1. Ken Schenck has been blogging about first-century Jewish monotheism (his posts are the next best thing... Read more