s k a n d a l o n is not dead, just relocated:

skandalon.net

facebook.com/skandalonnet

twitter.com/skandalonnet

This twin study highlights how even genetically identical twins are born different to one another. The significance is that it challenges any sort of deterministic argument that says "X is defined by your genes." Replace X with 'sexual identity', 'religiosity' etc and you see the relevance to the culture wars that rage at present about such matters. Of course finding that 'identical' twins are not born identical does not imply that X is not highly influenced by genes, but it does 'loosen the hold' on the tendency towards genetic determinism. After all that, probably the short article is easier to read than my description of it!
| Difficulty: Medium | Subjects: Science | Reading time: 5 min |

Neil Ormerod from the ACU writes on the ABC Religion and Ethics website about the history of the Higgs (boson) and what the relevance of the recent confirmation of the 'God particle' is for those who believe in God. He includes some discussion of the fine tuning and first cause arguments for the existence of God.
| Difficulty: Medium | Subjects: Science | Reading time: 9 min |

George Monbiot is a significant journalistic voice on big issues. If you think about climate change and the environment—after all, it is God's creation, so why not?—this piece talks about the idea of 'peak oil', the time when oil production would start to decrease due to scarcity. Alas it won't happen: "there's enough oil in the ground to deep-fry the planet" says Monbiot.
| Difficulty: Easy | Subjects: World Issues | Reading time: 6 min |

Here's a talk by John Piper about the fourth century Egyptian bishop Athanasius who was exiled and returned five times. It is largely due to him that we still know and believe that Jesus is truly and fully God. Athanasius defended this truth at massive personal cost, in an age where most of the world had rejected it. You can read the talk or listen to it and it will give you a great view of history and theology of early battles over orthodox belief.
| Difficulty: Medium | Subjects: Church History, Theology | Reading time: 25 min |

Alvin Plantinga, the renowned Christian philosopher, is famous for his 'Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism', which in short says that if evolution is true then we can't trust that our thinking leads to truth. Which means of course we can't trust beliefs such as 'there is no God' or 'naturalism is the true worldview'. If you didn't follow that, don't worry but do read this review of Plantinga's latest book Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion and Naturalism.
| Difficulty: Medium | Subjects: Science & Faith | Reading time: 10 min |

This 9 page article's title describes its content: 'The War that Never Was: Exploding the Myth of the Historical Conflict Between Christianity and Science'. Or you can watch the 3min YouTube version. In short: no educated person in the history of Western civilization ever thought the earth was flat. And Galileo's problem with the Church was primarily about biblical interpretation not science versus faith. The article looks at these two examples plus that of the famous 1925 'Scopes monkey trial' in the US.
| Difficulty: Easy | Subjects: Science/Faith | Reading time: 15 min |