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Science and the Sacred

Source: sualk61 / Flickr / All Rights Reserved How did the modern domesticated house cat — beloved pet and subject of countless art works, movies, and internet memes — evolve from its more wild brethren?  The June issue of Scientific American seeks to answer the question using a mix of archaeology, genetics, and good old…

The University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne recently objected to the suggestion that humans might actually be a part of God’s creative plan. Like most of the so-called “new atheists,” he denounces the idea that evolution — all by its lonesome, blind, purposeless, unguided self — would ever find its way to such an improbably…

With the exciting announcement of the Darwinius massilae fossil this week, evolution has been a popular topic around the internet.  However, a lot of questions and misconceptions about evolution have also surfaced.  Is there any real “proof” for evolution?  Can a single fossil act as the “missing link,” tying all past and present speicies together?…

Source: Celestial Photography / Flickr / All Rights Reserved With science becoming increasingly more capable at explaining both us and our world, what place is left for religion?  After all, as many nonbelievers assert, doesn’t the church continue to exist only because of the indoctrination of children, who eventually should grow up and desert their…

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 The destructive power of sin is a painful and constant reminder of the Fall, the breaking of mankind’s perfect relationship with God.  In the Genesis story, the Fall comes from Adam and Eve’s…

Source: Public Library of Science journal Could the fossil above, revealed to the public today at a news conference, be the long sought after “missing link” for evolution that some news outlets are claiming?  In actuality, the idea of a missing link is somewhat of a misnomer.  Evolutionary relations are more like a complex family…

Source: finsbry / Flickr / All Rights reserved My granddaughter Sara is six years old. About six months ago, her mom called to tell me Sara wanted to talk about some theological concepts. She put Sara on the phone, and I was peppered with questions like, “Who made God?” and “Where is heaven?” Our discussion…

The complexity of life extends even to the smallest of creatures, including bacteria.  In this TED lecture Bonnie Bassler, a molecular biologist from Princeton, discusses her discovery of quorum sensing — the chemical mechanism by which all bacteria are able to communicate with both among their own species and outside of it.  Through this system,…

Source: National DNA Day / Flickr / All Rights Reserved For 20 years, the question of how nucleotides, the building blocks of both RNA and DNA, could have spontaneously formed during the beginning of our planet has beguiled researchers.  The problem seemed so insurmountable, in fact, that in 1999 two leading researchers, Gerald Joyce and…

The computer animation above shows the replication of DNA.  Despite their undeniable beauty, to some, such images can be a fearful thing.  After all, if life can be broken down to a series of chemicals, messengers, and physical laws, doesn’t this lessen the power and divine mystery of God’s creation? Not at all, says Dr.…
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