What's up? Dino feathers, the collapse of Christian education, and more
I have a new episode of "Ask a Creationist" up over on YouTube. In it, I deal with the question of dinosaur feathers! Some creationists have called my videos unchristian and dangerous (seriously), which I take as a badge of honor. This one's already got three downvotes, so you know it's gotta be good!
Meanwhile, I've been working hard on a new baraminology paper (easily my biggest ever), and I've started a project on the human genome (took me long enough, I know, I know).
Meanwhile, there's cool new stuff to read. Christianity Today released a piece by Liam Adams on the slow death throes of Christian colleges. I've been aware of the decline for years now, with decreasing enrollments and increasing (costly) regulations. I've watched in disappointment as most Christian colleges have responded by working furiously to become like everyone else, rather than becoming something distinctly and uniquely attractive. There's lots of reasons for what's happening, but I don't see it changing any time in the future. To me, the true future of Christian education is unaccredited, and it must focus on those who want to become better human beings and better images of God rather than those who just want to get a job. Not that there's anything wrong with just wanting to get a job, but education should be so much more than that. Unfortunately, in my lifetime, we've lost a sense of value to that sort of education. It's become all about getting jobs to pay student loan debt, the defaulting of which serves to increase regulations, which in turn drives up costs, which puts students even deeper into debt and more vulnerable to default. Lesson learned: A college degree is not a one-way ticket to lucrative employment. Young people: Think carefully about your future, what you hope to get out of your life, and what your college education will cost.
In other news, there's a new Neandertal mitochondrial genome sequence from Poland this time. It falls within the range of other known Neandertal sequences, thereby reinforcing what I've said for some time: Neandertals are genetically different from modern humans, and those differences aren't just DNA degradation. Cool stuff!
Tomorrow, I'm going to tell you more about the 2020 Creation Celebration. If you haven't heard about that, check out the event page. It's going to be a lot of fun!
Have you read my book? You should check that out too!
