Dear Friends of the Kolbe Center,
Glory to Jesus Christ!
I recently received an email from a devout Catholic who had been convinced that the human body evolved from lower life-forms by the “fact” that humans have a broken, misspelled remnant of an egg-laying gene. This claim has been widely circulated by Dennis Venema, one of the scientists associated with the theistic evolutionist think-tank, Biologos. In the words of molecular biologist Nathaniel Jeanson:
Venema claims that humans have the broken, misspelled remnants of an egg-laying gene. Normally, this vitellogenin gene participates in yolk formation in creatures like chickens that actually lay eggs. In humans, where babies are nourished in the womb, it’s no surprise that egg-laying genes do not exist. However, Venema claims that the dilapidated remains of this once-functional gene exist.
The problems with his claim are manifold. The egg-laying “pseudogene” in humans is only 39% identical to the functional vitellogenin gene in chickens. Furthermore, since the DNA alphabet has only 4 letters, a random match does not result in 0% identity; rather, a match between two completely random sequences produces 25% identity (an average match of 1 in 4). In other words, a 39% identity is more like a 20% identity on a 100-point scale.
By analogy to words, this level of identity is almost meaningless. For example, we could find two words that match in only 20% of their letters. As an illustration, the word zebra is a 5-letter word; since only 1 of its 5 letters matches the word quota, these two words are 20% identical. Is zebra a broken, nonfunctional relic of the word quota? By Venema’s logic, it is. Obviously, this claim for an evolutionary relationship between zebra and quota is nonsensical. How much more so in the vitellogenin example that Venema cites.
If this were the only problem with Venema’s analogy, his vitellogenin example would be very poor. What makes his example even worse is the multi-year history that precedes its inclusion in the book. Since 2010, Venema has been flaunting the vitellogenin pseudogene example in the face of creationists, publicly laying down the gauntlet. However, Venema’s published challenges have grossly exaggerated and misrepresented the actual level of identity between the human and chicken sequences.
In 2015, a creationist discovered and published the actual (meaningless) level of DNA identity between the human egg-laying “pseudogene” and the functional chicken gene. Venema then publicly misrepresented the new discoveries, contradicted his earlier statements, and misrepresented the level of identity in yet another way.
Creation-Believing Scientist Breaks New Ground
In the article quoted above Dr. Jeanson refers to the work of geneticist Dr. Jeff Tomkins who decided to do what Pope Pius XII asked all natural scientists to do in regard to alleged evidence for the evolutionary hypothesis. He examined the claims of Dr. Venema and discovered that they were completely overblown. In an article at this link he summarized his findings:
The supposed transition from an egg-laying reproductive system to a placenta-based system is notoriously difficult for evolutionists to explain. In egg-laying creatures, a class of proteins called vitellogenins (vtg) plays a key role in either transporting or providing the nutritional substrate for proteins, lipids, phosphorous, and calcium in relation to formation of the egg yolk. It is believed that somehow during the course of evolution, the role of vtg proteins was replaced by the placental interface for nourishment during gestation and, after birth, by the mother’s lactation. Based on this idea, some evolutionists believe that mammalian genomes contain DNA remnants of their ancient egg-laying past.
One study claimed to have found genetic evidence of an ancient vtg gene in the human genome. Because the actual data for this discovery were questionable, the evolutionary community in general did not actively popularize the alleged finding. However, BioLogos, a religious group of evolutionary scientists and liberal Christian theologians, has been promoting the so-called egg-laying pseudogene discovery as evidence of evolution. Because this type of propaganda is targeted to the Christian community, the claim should be more thoroughly investigated.
The main piece of evidence for the vtg pseudogene is the presence of a 150-base human DNA sequence that shares a low level of similarity (62%) to a tiny portion of the chicken vitellogenin (vtg1) gene. However, the chicken vtg1 gene is actually quite large at 42,637 bases long, so a 150-base fragment of 62% similarity represents less than 0.4% of the original gene if the evolutionary story were true! But this miniscule amount of questionable data isn’t the only problem for the evolutionary egg-laying fable.
In a detailed research report recently published in a technical journal, I show that the alleged vtg fragment in humans is not a pseudogene remnant but rather a functional feature called an enhancer element toward the end (fifth intron) of a genomic address messenger (GAM) gene. This GAM gene produces long non-coding RNAs that have been experimentally shown to control the function of other genes, a majority of which have been implicated in a variety of human diseases. The RNA products from this GAM gene are also known to be expressed in a variety of human brain tissues that span from infant to adult.
As an enhancer element, the 150-base alleged vtg sequence contains a variety of highly specialized sequences that enable the binding of specific protein machinery that controls the activity and function of the GAM gene. These specialized sequences are also associated with a wide variety of epigenetic marks—chemical modifications in the DNA. The specific types of biochemical data associated with these marks also tells us that this DNA feature is not only active but important to the overall three-dimensional structure and function of the GAM gene in a process called long-range chromatin interaction.
Upon investigation, we see that this 150-base sequence is not an ancient egg-laying “fossil” in the human genome. It’s a functional enhancer element in a GAM gene expressed in brain tissues. Once again, when we examine the genetic data more closely, the evolutionary scoreboard shows nothing but a big zero—a “goose egg,” as the saying goes.
Denigration of Theology and Philosophy Leads to Disaster for Natural Science
Dr. Tomkins has demonstrated that the degree of similarity between the human alleged “egg-laying” gene and the functional chicken “egg-laying” gene is so slight as to be meaningless as an argument for human evolution. But even if the two genes had been very similar—or even identical—this would not have constituted any solid proof that humans are descended from egg-laying ancestors. Indeed, Dr. Venema’s argument exposes a common weakness in the arguments of evolutionists who exalt their interpretations of the facts of empirical science above the facts of Divine Revelation—namely their illogical reasoning.
A man who makes empirical science the gold standard of truth often displays contempt not only for theology but for philosophy as well—and especially for logic and metaphysics, the branch of philosophy that concerns first principles. In former times, natural scientists were trained in philosophy and they knew how to interpret empirical data in a logical way. For example, they knew that the fact that organism X of one taxonomic family and organism Y of another taxonomic family shared a common gene did not “prove” that they came from a common ancestor. Their training in logic put them on their guard against the logical fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc—that just because common ancestry COULD be the cause of the same characteristic in organisms of two entirely different families, such as X and Y, it did not follow that it necessarily WAS the cause.
Natural scientists who received a classical education were trained to see that the same outcome could result from a variety of causes, so that it was never sufficient to argue that, because a certain cause would result in a certain outcome, that specific outcome was necessarily the result of that specific cause. By holding philosophy, as well as theology, in contempt, popular champions of theistic and atheistic evolutionism, like Richard Dawkins and Dennis Venema, blind themselves to the illogic and downright absurdity of many of their claims.
Meanwhile, most Catholic young people, especially in the so-called “developed” world, are taught that the “facts” of Divine Revelation set forth in the sacred history of Genesis are just details of an exalted myth. In place of the inerrant historical facts in the sacred history of Genesis they are taught the fantastic myth of molecules to man evolution. Indeed, one of the greatest drains on the resources of the traditional Catholic community around the world is the cost of higher education which literally siphons off tens of millions of dollars from the Kingdom of God into the coffers of institutions most of which are hell bent on destroying the last vestiges of Christian civilization and building a godless secular humanist New World Order. It is high time that faithful Catholics began doing an end run around these godless institutions and developing our own ways of educating and training our youth so that we can keep them and the rest of our precious resources out of the kingdom of Satan and inside the Kingdom of God.
Build Up the Kingdom of God with Every Transaction
Sadly, it is not only secular humanist colleges and universities that undermine the Kingdom of God. Almost all of the Catholic colleges and universities in the western world teach the principal dogma of secular humanism - molecules-to-man evolution - as if it were a proven fact. In this way, they join forces with the godless secular universities in teaching students to embrace what St. Pius X in his encyclical Pascendi called "the principal doctrine of the modernists," thus weakening the foundations of their faith and making them vulnerable to all kinds of attacks on their moral and spiritual lives.
One of the ways that the Kolbe Center has tried to put a "Kingdom vision" into practice has been to help launch the Christ the King Service Network so that faithful Catholics can obtain and provide the goods and services they need within the Family of God. The Network is still in the embryonic stage but with the help of your prayers, it will not be long before it is fully operational. In the meantime, if you or other faithful Catholics you know, would like to advertise goods or services on the Network, please go to the website and sign up as soon as possible.
In the meantime, our webmaster Keith Jones has made an important contribution to this movement by developing Cor1312.com, a Catholic alternative to Zoom and other secular companies that provide on-line conferencing. Keith takes his company name from 1 Corinthians 13:12 which reminds us that “We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face,” and that on-line communication is a poor, but sometimes necessary, substitute for face-to-face personal communications. Please encourage your friends and family to use Cor1312.com for all of their on-line conferencing from now on. You can sign up easily at the Cor1312 website.
Another way that you can help to build up the Kingdom of God is by taking the necessary and easy steps to write a legal Catholic Will. In this way, you will ensure that your support for the building up of the Kingdom of God continues after your death. You can make a lasting gift to your family and to the good works of your choice by completing your Will through this simple online tool. To write your will FREE of charge, visit MyCatholicWill.com. But please also visit Dr. Paul Byrne’s Life Guardian Foundation website to make sure that you do everything necessary to protect yourself and your loved ones from being euthanized against your will.
With gratitude for your prayers and financial support, I am
Yours in Christ through the Immaculata in union with St. Joseph,
Hugh Owen
P.S. The faithful Catholic CPA who has been handling the Kolbe Center's finances is going to retire. If you know of a faithful Catholic accountant who would be willing and able to handle Kolbe's financial reporting and who is familiar with the requirements for 501c3 corporations, please let me know as soon as possible at howen@shentel.net.
P.P.S. I have been invited to give some Kolbe presentations in Portland, Oregon, and in Tacoma, Washington, beginning the last weekend in September and ending the first weekend in October. If you believe you can arrange any additional venues in the Seattle-Tacoma-Portland area during that period, please let me know as soon as possible at howen@shentel.net.
