Genome Whiz Aims to Reunite God, Science

They're well-credentialed and unafraid of data

(NEWSER) - Today's creationist geologists are not who the secular may think. Numerous and thriving, many hold advanced degrees from top universities, and are making evangelicals more open to scientific evidence. And they are experts for the nearly half of Americans who believe God created the Earth in the last 10,000 years, the New York Times reports. More»

New translation cuts down on the 'he's'

(NEWSER) - God is still the Father in the latest version of the world's most popular Bible, but conservative Christians aren't happy with gender-neutral language elsewhere in the 2011 New International Version Bible. The new translation—which Biblical scholars say is a more accurate interpretation of the original Greek and Hebrew—uses "brothers and sisters" in place of "brothers" and tries to avoid using "he" or 'him" as the default reference to an unspecified person, replacing it with "they," AP reports. More»

Church officials now say evolution theory fits with beliefs

(NEWSER) - The Vatican is clarifying that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is compatible with its doctrine after all, the Times of London reports. The Church never officially condemned Darwin, but his views have been controversial with some because they present a radically different image of the origins of species than what's presented in Genesis. "What we mean by evolution is the world as created by God," said a Church official, apparently leaving wiggle room for Darwin's theories. More»

Prayer movement hopes to touch communities along highway

(NEWSER) - A group of Dallas Pentecostal Christians reading the Bible one day noted that Isaiah 35, Verse 8, mentions a "highway for holiness." That put them in mind of nearby Interstate 35, which runs from Laredo, Texas, to Duluth, Minn., NPR reports, and that, in turn, prompted an unusual prayer movement. Originally set to last 35 days, the idea was to rally the faithful to call God’s attention to “everybody that lives in all parts of this highway,” says its founder. More»

Relativity, theory of evolution top the list

(NEWSER) - Every year, the website Edge poses a big, open-ended question to leading scientists. This year's query— "What is your favorite deep, elegant or beautiful explanation?" —received 191 answers covering a wide range of ideas, with Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution receiving the most replies, reports Reuters . Some interesting responses:

• "Darwin's natural selection wins hands down," writes Richard Dawkins, unsurprisingly. "Never in the field of human comprehension were so many facts explained by assuming so few."