Todd's Blog

I'm just now getting a little bit settled from the big Colorado trip, and I wanted to update everyone on the major announcement from the Origins2014 conference.  We've planned out the next three conferences, and here they are: Origins 2015 July 23-25 Truett-McConnell College, Cleveland, GA Origins 2016 July 21-23 Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA Origins 2017 July 20-22 Venue TBD The 2017 venue is still up for grabs, and we are considering proposals now.  If you'd like to host a conference in your area, email me and I'll tell you what we need to know.  We'll make our final decision on 2017 at the next conference.  God willing, we'll keep this pace up and start planning two years in advance instead of just one. The 2015 call for abstracts will be available shortly. Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

I'm at the Origins 2014 conference right now, and I wanted to let everyone know that the geology and biology abstracts are published now at the JCTS website.  Check them out! Origins 2014 biology abstracts Origins 2014 geology abstracts Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

We've got two weeks left before Origins 2014, and there are still tickets available.  The full schedule is online , and we will have a great time Saturday touring the Garden of the Gods.  The conference is being held at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, July 23-26. Register Here Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

Well, I didn't see this coming, but maybe that's my own unfamiliarity with the denomination.  According to an article by Michael Zimmerman at Huffington Post , a committee at the 2014 general assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted overwhelmingly (47 to 2) against a measure that would have designated an "evolution Sunday" wherein the denomination would have advocated evolution.  In essence, the proposal would have approved  The Clergy Letter Project , which claims to be about the compatibility of science and religion, but is more about advocating evolution, as even a cursory glance at their website will tell you. I'm surprised, because I've always understood the PCUSA to be the sort of "liberal" wing of Presbyterianism.  Again, I confess that I'm not really up on my Presbyterian politics, so I might be unduly influenced by all my conservative friends who know more about Presbyterians than I.  Nevertheless, given what I've heard in

I'll just leave these right here: A fully functional vestigial organ? Senter strikes again! Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

There are three new papers on created kinds published today in a special issue of the Journal of Creation Theology and Science Series B: Life Sciences .  Each provides an important new perspective on biology, apologetics, and creationism.  See them all at the JCTS website for free! What's the deal with created kinds?  Genesis 1 records the origin of creatures during creation week, and the phrase "after its kind" (and variations thereof) is used to describe the creation of all plants and animals.  Creationists have long understood these "kinds" as something like categories of species.  Within each kind, species descend from those originally created organisms, but there has been (and indeed could be) no evolution from one kind to another.  Creationist biologist Frank Lewis Marsh coined the technical term baramin  for the created kind, and Kurt Wise introduced baraminology  as a coherent method of identifying baramins. Baramins and their members are very much