'Junk DNA' is bunk! Why the human genome argues for intelligent design



In my quest to learn the ins and outs of the orthodoxy of evolutionary theory (and therefore bring to light its deficiencies), I discovered geologist and lawyer Dr. Casey Luskin, associate director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute.

A proponent, researcher, and advocate for intelligent design, Dr. Luskin has been defending academic freedom for scientists who face discrimination because of their support for ID for nearly 20 years.

Life is very low entropy, meaning it’s very ordered, and yet it’s also very high energy. How exactly does life maintain this seemingly contradictory state?

I’ve written about it here before, but I shared with Dr. Luskin my personal skepticism concerning the religion of evolution. As a layman (relative to him), it seemed to me as if Evolution™ had an “invisible hand of God” problem that’s never been seriously addressed.

Meet me in the middle

The mythology of Evolution™ seems to have a beginning (the Big Bang), an end (modern Homo sapiens), but no middle. And as I came to understand from my conversation with Dr. Luskin, much of the evidence for evolutionary theory amounts to flimsy, tenuously linked assumptions on the verge of being disproved in various fields.

We began by discussing one of the more popular arguments against intelligent design: the concept of “junk DNA."

The argument goes something like this: If everything is intelligently designed, then why does the vast majority of our DNA seem to serve no purpose?

As Dr. Luskin explained, the idea originated in the early 1960s, when scientists mapped out the molecular protein production process: DNA encodes RNA, which then carries that information to ribosomes, which in turn use it to assemble chains of amino acids into proteins.

Because so much of the DNA that had been studied up to that point did not seem tobe doing that, it was tossed in the proverbial junk bin, hence the name.

Selfish genes

The idea really took off with the publications of Japanese geneticist Susumu Ohno’s “So Much Junk DNA in Our Genome” in 1972 and Richard Dawkins’ “The Selfish Gene" in 1976.

Ohno famously asserted that 90% of our DNA was total nonsense. Dawkins piggybacked off that and gave the junk DNA a “purpose,” saying that the only true function of the gene was to replicate itself. Whether or not the gene helps you is of non-substance.

Luskin was one of the first to push back against this idea. As an undergraduate at the University of California, San Diego, he experienced firsthand how the "junk DNA" theory was used to dismiss the burgeoning ID movement.

Luskin would argue with his professors and peers that it was still premature to conclude that most of our DNA could be classified as “junk,” citing the unfinished-at-the-time Human Genome Project as evidence for the lack of evidence.

Luskin seems to have been onto something. In the past few years, the “junk DNA” theory has slowly unraveled.

God don't make no 'junk'

This is in large part thanks to a groundbreaking series of papers entitled the ENCODE Project, published by biologists studying “non-coding” DNA — the goal being to uncover the mysteries of the human genome.

Since the ENCODE Project began in 2010, it has found that at least 80% of the genome has shown evidence of biochemical functionality. In other words — contrary to junk DNA theory — this DNA is transcribing information into the RNA.

And as for the other 20%?

The lead researchers of the ENCODE Project say that many of these non-coding elements of DNA occur within very specific cell types or circumstances, so to catch them in action doing what they’re supposed to be doing is simply very difficult. But they predict that as they study more and more cell types, that that 80% figure will most certainly jump up to 100%.

All this is to say that applying a Darwinian paradigm to discoveries about gene function has led to erroneous conclusions about "junk DNA" — which then, in turn, has been used to justify the same Darwinian theory that spawned it.

Information, please

Meanwhile, Intelligent Design's predictions that we would find function for that junk DNA have been borne out.

As Luskin pointed out, the origin of life is the origin of information. Life, on its face, is a very strange arrangement of matter.

It’s very easy to find things that are high entropy-high energy (think tornadoes or explosions) or low entropy-low energy (snowflakes, crystals). But life is different. Life is very low entropy, meaning it’s very ordered, and yet it’s also very high energy.

How exactly does life maintain this seemingly contradictory state?

Machinery.

Jedi mind trick?

Our cells are full of molecular machines that process and encode information to be used as applicable instructions. That is what our DNA, RNA, and ribosomes are all there for. They’re machines that process information.

Imagine you wanted to watch "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" on DVD. Would you be able to watch it without the DVD player? No.

Imagine if the instructions for building the world’s first ever DVD player were on a DVD. Could you build the DVD player just with the DVD? No.

The information and the information-processing machine are inseparable.

The question then becomes: How did these machines come into being?

Did they build themselves? No, we just showed how that can’t be the case.

The only plausible answer is — intelligence. There needed to be an intelligent designer to create both the machinery and the instructions.

Despite the initial mockery greeting Intelligent Design, the theory is gaining ground as a reliable model and explanation for the origin of life and genes. And that’s simply because the evidence is getting to be a bit undeniable.

Make sure to follow Dr. Casey Luskin’s work here.

America’s Conflicts Are Not Primarily Political Or Ideological, But Religious

Without a civic life shaped by Christianity, there can be no American republic.

Behind Jordan Peterson’s ‘Biblical’ Teaching Is His Own Humanistic Agenda

Sensing a market with Christian evangelicals, Jordan Peterson is leaning into the Bible. The problem is, Peterson is not a Christian.

Dawkins can't believe his atheist ally has become a Christian. Ayaan Hirsi Ali explains the error of his doubt.



Ayaan Hirsi Ali was once a central figure among the so-called "New Atheists." She revealed in a Nov. 11, 2023, op-ed that she had converted to Christianity, both for the meaning it provides as well as for its unifying doctrine, which she wrote can "fortify us against our menacing foes."

Militant atheist Richard Dawkins, her longtime friend and "mentor," penned an open letter to Ali three days later, suggesting the Dutch-American human rights activist, mother, and staunch critic of Islam was insincere about her newfound faith.

"You are no more a Christian than I am," wrote Dawkins. "No, Ayaan, you are not a Christian, you are just a decent human being who mistakenly thinks you need a religion in order to remain so."

It appears Ali's sincerity is just one more thing Dawkins has managed to get wrong.

Ali appeared on stage Saturday with Dawkins for the inaugural Dissident Dialogues conference in New York City, where she identified a number of her past intellectual missteps — apparent missteps Dawkins is alternatively committed to keep making — and made abundantly clear both to the audience and Dawkins that she does, in fact, believe in God, pray, and follow Christ.

The former atheist's profession of faith and admission of past errors electrified the audience, which appeared altogether keen to celebrate both Dawkins' loss of a fellow traveler and Christians' gain of a sister.

Background

Blaze News previously reported that Ali, who lives under a fatwa, was raised Muslim in Somalia. Under what she came to regard as a "nihilistic cult of death," Ali suffered genital mutilation, was denied her artistic loves, and was married off to a distant cousin.

While already chased down the road to apostasy by brutal oppression, the Sept. 11, 2001, Islamic terrorist attacks on the U.S. helped accelerate Ali's rejection of Islam. Ali's antipathy toward Islam apparently prompted her not only to reject the Muslim faith but "to adopt an attitude of scepticism towards religious doctrine, discard my faith in God and declare that no such entity existed."

Decades later, she recognized that atheism is a "weak and divisive doctrine."

Ali explained last year in an article for UnHerd that she became a Christian in part because the faith equips believers to internally and externally fight the evils of the day — battles atheism is at best useless in but more often than not on the wrong side of.

Quoting the Catholic apologist G.K. Chesterton, Ali stressed that "when men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything."

"We can't withstand China, Russia and Iran if we can't explain to our populations why it matters that we do. We can't fight woke ideology if we can't defend the civilisation that it is determined to destroy. And we can't counter Islamism with purely secular tools," wrote Ali. "Unless we offer something as meaningful, I fear the erosion of our civilisation will continue. And fortunately, there is no need to look for some new-age concoction of medication and mindfulness. Christianity has it all."

Ali indicated, however, that Christianity was not simply a sword and a shield for the wars of the age but also a source of ultimate meaning.

"I have also turned to Christianity because I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace unendurable — indeed very nearly self-destructive," wrote Ali. "Atheism failed to answer a simple question: what is the meaning and purpose of life?"

Dawkins loses an ally

Dawkins, now a self-described "Cultural Christian," responded to Ali's profession of faith on Substack with his characteristic disbelief, writing, "Christianity makes factual claims, truth claims that Christians believe, truth claims that define them as Christian. Christians are theists. They believe in a divine father figure who designed the universe, listens to our prayers, is privy to our every thought. You surely don't believe that."

"Do you believe Jesus rose from the grave three days after being placed there? Of course you don’t. Do you believe Jesus was born to a virgin? Certainly not," wrote Dawkins. "Someone of your intelligence does not believe you have an immortal soul, which will survive the decay of your brain. Christians believe in a frightful place called Hell, where the souls of the wicked go after they are dead. Do you believe that? Hell no!"

In his response, the atheist conceded Ali's points that Christianity might have "been the inspiration for some of the greatest art, architecture and music the world has ever known," "is morally superior to Islam," and might be "a powerful weapon" against "Putinism, Islamism, and postmodernish wokery pokery" but suggested that such an understanding does not make one a Christian.

Dawkins further suggested that by embracing Christianity, she had succumbed to "weakness."

In March, Dawkins doubled-down, accusing Ali of being a "Political Christian" and noting, "Let's not agree to differ. Let's agree that we don't really differ."

Soulful showdown

Ali addressed Dawkins' doubts about her faith Saturday, indicated she is far more than just a "Political Christian," and expressed regret for having previously aided militant atheists in their attack on religion, reported UnHerd.

With regards to the sincerity of her belief, Ali made clear that while she regards Christianity as critically important from a secular and political viewpoint, she has connected with the faith on a spiritual level and believes in its supernatural propositions.

"On the personal level, yes, I choose to believe in God. And I think that there, we might say, let's agree to disagree," she said. "I think it's something subjective, and it's a choice and there are things that you see and perceive that a different person cannot perceive."

"I'd say you're coming at this from a place of 'there is nothing,' and what has happened to me is that, I think, I have accepted that there is something," said Ali. "When you accept that there is something, there is a powerful entity, for me, the God that turned me around, I think what the vicar is saying no longer sounds nonsensical."

"It makes a great deal of sense, and not only does it make a great deal of sense, it's also layered with the wisdom of millennia," said the former atheist. "And so, like you, I did mock faith in general, Christianity in particular, but I don't do that anymore, and again, I think that's where humility comes into it."

The former atheist's journey to Christ appears to have not only required great humility but some helpful advice.

"I've come down to my knees to say perhaps those people who have always had faith have something that we who lost faith don't have, and people who have faith also, like the woman who told me, 'You ... fight everything and you've lost hope, you've lost faith. Try it. Pray.' I think just in that one word there is so much wisdom," added Ali.

When Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote that she had become Christian, it sounded political.\n\nBut last night she revealed what happened: a spiritual awakening after suicidal depression. Dawkins probed, highlighting \u201cnonsense the vicar says\u201d and Christianity being \u201cobsessed with sin.\u201d Then:
— (@)

Dawkins recycled one of his go-to smears, suggesting Christianity is obsessed with sin. Ali didn't buy the atheist's premise.

"I find that Christianity is actually obsessed with love," Ali said, eliciting applause from the audience. "The teaching of Christ as I see it — and again, I'm a brand new Christian — but what I'm finding out, which is the opposite of growing up as a Muslim and the message of Islam, but the message of Christianity of love. It's a message of redemption."

"It's a story of renewal and birth," continued Ali. "And so, Jesus dying and rising again for me symbolizes that story, and in a small way, I felt I had died and was reborn. And that story of redemption and birth, I think makes Christianity actually a very, very powerful story for the human condition, of human existence."

When Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote that she had become Christian, it sounded political.\n\nBut last night she revealed what happened: a spiritual awakening after suicidal depression. Dawkins probed, highlighting \u201cnonsense the vicar says\u201d and Christianity being \u201cobsessed with sin.\u201d Then:
— (@)

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Atheist Richard Dawkins now labels himself a 'cultural Christian': Here's why



Famous atheist Richard Dawkins has spent years criticizing religion, but in a recent interview, Dawkins told Rachel Johnson of LBC, “I count myself a cultural Christian.”

“I love hymns and Christmas carols, and I sort of feel at home in the Christian ethos. If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I choose Christianity every single time,” Dawkins continued.

He explained his reason being that Christianity is a “fundamentally decent religion” while “Islam is not.”

When questioned on this belief, he responded that the Quran is fundamentally hostile to women and gays, and he likes “to live in a culturally Christian country,” although he doesn’t “believe a single word of the Christian faith.”

Pat Gray is shocked.

“That seems like a shift in his ethos, if you will,” he says.

“I will say, cultural Christianity from Richard Dawkins [is] pretty interesting. You know why? Because he has seen the decay of society and civilization, that’s why. He sees our very civilization crumbling around us and what keeps it together,” Gray adds.

America was founded on Christian values, and Dawkins is recognizing what happens when the masses reject those values.

“Once you’ve built your foundation on those principles and then people start taking a jackhammer to it, something bad is going to happen. And he understands that now,” Gray says.


Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Christianity is UNDER ATTACK in 'Pagan America' | New Book Out Now!

Christianity is UNDER ATTACK in 'Pagan America' | New Book Out Now!

People Only Want CULTURAL Christianity

People Only Want CULTURAL Christianity

The Decline Of Christianity Means The End Of Neutral Spaces

The fading of Christianity in the West doesn't mean the triumph of secular liberalism but the return of an oppressive paganism.

The next time someone calls you a 'transphobe,' send them this video



What is a phobia?

According to virtually all dictionaries, a phobia is an irrational fear of something. Acrophobia is the fear of heights, aquaphobia is the fear of water, nyctophobia is the fear of darkness, and transphobia is when you disagree with literally anything related to the trans movement.

Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Even stating straight scientific facts banishes one to the category of transphobia.

But that’s not stopping evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and journalist Helen Joyce from discussing the truth.

“Sex really is binary,” Dawkins says. “You’re either male or female, and it’s absolutely clear.”

“You can do it on gamete size; you can do it on chromosomes,” he continues, claiming that the fact that “people can simply declare ‘I’m a woman’” is “distinctly weird” and a “distortion of reality.”

“What we [are] talking about here [is] an intensely linguistic movement,” Joyce says, adding that “there isn’t a sense in which a man can become a woman, except linguistically.”

But if you challenge this movement entirely based on feelings and words, prepare to be met with hostility.

“Very obvious questions like, ‘don’t you think that if we allow people to self-identify their sex, this will lead to, for example, destroying women’s sports or putting rapists in women’s jails?'” will inevitably turn into “you think trans people are predators — you’re a bigot,” says Joyce.


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Thanks To Neo-Atheists, New Zealand Teaches Primitive Pagan Nonsense As Equal To ‘Western’ Science

Atheist Richard Dawkins may wash his hands of New Zealand’s pagan nonsense, but he is the useful idiot who made this all possible.