Articles

Homeless man sleeping on a bench
Sofia, Bulgaria - November 4, 2014: Homeless man is sleeping on a bench in the center of Sofia. Years after joining the EU Bulgaria is still the poorest country in the union.

When “Compassion” is Contempt

Christopher Rufo
March 11, 2019
Economics
The Washington legislature is one step closer to legalizing homeless encampments statewide. Last week, Democratic lawmakers passed through committee legislation, introduced by Representative Mia Gregerson, that would usurp the authority of city governments and legalize camping in all “plazas, courtyards, parking lots, sidewalks, public transportation facilities, public buildings, shopping centers, parks, [and] natural and wildlife areas” throughout the state. Read More ›
Sophia-AI-for-Good-Summit
Photo by ITU Pictures from Geneva, Switzerland via Wiki Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Transhumanism, the Lazy Way to Human ‘Improvement’

Wesley J. Smith
March 11, 2019
Human Exceptionalism

Sometimes you have to laugh. In “Transhumanism and the Death of Human Exceptionalism,”published in Aero, Peter Clarke quotes criticism I leveled against transhumanism from a piece I wrote entitled, “The Transhumanist Bill of Wrongs” From my piece: Transhumanism would shatter human exceptionalism. The moral philosophy of the West holds that each human being is possessed of natural rights that adhere solely and merely because we Read More ›

Chinese Yuan and US dollars on the map of China. Trade war between US and China, economic sanctions

Edging Closer to a Trade Deal

Scott S. Powell
March 10, 2019
Economics

The United States and China are edging closer to finalizing a trade deal that should end the tariff penalties that are at the heart of a year-old trade war. It’s also hoped that the deal will include enforcement and penalties for China’s national security-related intellectual property (IP) theft and espionage, and provide structural changes that would end forced technology transfer and protect trade Read More ›

Ash Wednesday. Lent. Christian religion

Let’s Make Lent Great Again, Together

Jay W. Richards
March 5, 2019
Religion and Civic Life

On Sunday, the Twitter user “⫷ † SavedGrace† ⫸” complained that since she couldn’t find Lent mentioned in the Bible, she doesn’t observe it. To which the Catholic website Rorate Caeli replied, “Cannot find ‘bible’ in the Bible either.” I piled on by noting that “Trinity” and “Incarnation” aren’t in the Bible either. It’s a silly argument. Just because something Read More ›

Silhouettes of satellite dishes or radio antennas against night sky. Space observatory.
Silhouettes of satellite dishes or radio antennas against night sky. Space observatory.

What Is Intelligent Design? A Thomistic Perspective

Michael Egnor
March 1, 2019
Intelligent Design
All of nature manifests design. Design is everywhere — in the laws of physics, in quantum mechanics, in biology, in relativistic cosmology, in every crevice of nature. There is little in the universe that is not designed. Accidents do happen, but even accidents are the conjunction of designed events. Two cars colliding at an intersection are designed vehicles driven by intelligent drivers on planned roadways. Chance itself presupposes a framework of design in which chance occurs. Read More ›
Artist’s impression of exoplanet orbiting two stars
This artist’s impression shows a gas giant planet circling the two red dwarf stars in the system OGLE-2007-BLG-349, located 8 000 light-years away. The planet — with a mass similar to Saturn — orbits the two stars at a distance of roughly 480 million kilometres. The two red dwarf stars are a mere 11 million kilometres apart. The artist's impression is based on observations made with Hubble that helped astronomers confirm the existence of a planet orbiting The two stars in the system. The system is too far away for Hubble to take an image of the planet. Instead, its presence was inferred from gravitational microlensing. This phenomenon occurs when the gravity of a foreground star bends and amplifies the light of a background star that momentarily aligns with it. The particular character of the light magnification can reveal clues to the nature of the foreground star and any associated planets. The Hubble observations represent the first time such a three-body system has been confirmed using the gravitational microlensing technique.
An exoplanet (artist’s rendering), by ESA/Hubble [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Exoplanets and the Fermi Paradox

Guillermo Gonzalez
February 22, 2019
Intelligent Design
We are living during a golden age of discovery in astronomy. Arguably, it began with the dawning of the space age in 1957. By 1989 our probes had visited every planet in the Solar System (in 2015 New Horizons visited the former planet Pluto). Then, in 1995 we discovered the first planet around another star (an exoplanet). Read More ›
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Monument near Keystone, South Dakota on July 26, 2013.

Presidents Day: Washington and Lincoln as Relevant Today as Ever

Scott S. Powell
February 18, 2019
Citizen Leadership
Presidents Day is unique among American holidays in providing the opportunity to remember and appreciate why George Washington and Abraham Lincoln — whose birthdays fall in February — were the two greatest U.S. presidents. While Washington was the founding father of the United States, Lincoln would later save the nation from division and collapse — bringing an end to the Civil War and the scourge of slavery. In short, Lincoln saved the republic that Washington made possible. Read More ›
image
John West participating in post-screening discussion at First Baptist Church, Athens, TX.

Seeking Racial Reconciliation in the Heart of Texas at a Screening of Human Zoos

John G. West
February 18, 2019
Intelligent Design

On a cold but sunny Sunday afternoon on Martin Luther King Day weekend, I found myself deep in the heart of Texas. I was visiting the town of Athens, 73 miles southeast of Dallas, for a screening of my documentary Human Zoos at First Baptist Church. The film has just been posted to YouTube after previously being shown on cable television and released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Amazon Prime. Human Zoos communicates Read More ›

Responses to Criticism of Michael Behe’s Darwin Devolves

The Center for Science and Culture
February 15, 2019
Intelligent Design, Research & Analysis

With the release of Michael Behe’s Darwin Devolves, the scientific dialogue between its detractors and defenders continues. Here we collect some of the most noteworthy criticisms and responses by Michael Behe and others. Find the most comprehensive coverage and most recent responses of Darwin Devolves at Evolution News. Re: Lenski at Telliamed Revisited Regarding Richard Lenski’s series: 1. “Does Behe’s “First Rule” Really Read More ›

Theistic Evolution

Defining Theistic Evolution

Stephen C. Meyer
February 1, 2019
Faith & Science, Intelligent Design
In this introduction to the book Theistic Evolution, Stephen Meyer explains what is meant by the term "evolution" and the term "theistic evolution." He also previews each essay in the volume and explains briefly where the theistic evolutionary perspective falls short. Read More ›