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| Image shows the replication cycle of a retrovirus. |
This is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) from creationists about the case for common descent from endogenous retroviruses (ERVs).
These are specific markers that establish, beyond any reasonable doubt, the truth of common descent. Only unreasonable doubts remain.
Yes, we know that certain components of certain ERVs perform useful and even vital functions for the organisms that carry them. We don't avoid that fact. What creationists avoid is the evidence that ERVs descend from retroviruses - because the clear and obvious conclusion from the facts bursts their bubble.
Each question links to its answer. If there is anything you don't understand, just ask. Any new questions welcome.
0. This looks hard. Do you have a simple introduction to the subject?
1. What is the "case for common descent" from ERVs?
2. Why do virologists and geneticists think that ERVs come from retroviruses? Isn't that just supposition on their part?
3. Isn't this just circular reasoning, assuming evolution to "prove" evolution?
4. How many ERVs are shared, in common locations, in the genomes of humans and chimps?
5. Don't retroviruses target particular locations in the DNA? Doesn't this explain corresponding ERVs?
6. ERVs do stuff. Doesn't that prove that they didn't originate from retroviruses, but were designed?
7. ERVs promote the transcription of host DNA. Doesn't this prove they are designed?
8. ERVs are essential in reproduction (syncytin and the formation of the placenta). How can this be?
9. Aren't the same ERV genetics in the same places in different species because they have to do the same job?
10. But how can you rule out design as an explanation?
11. How could a species survive a massive invasion of retroviruses into its genome?
12. How could ERVs survive programmed cell death (apoptosis)?
13. The same retrovirus or ERV has been found in two species that evolutionists say are very distantly related. How is this possible?
14. What if we find an ERV in a common location in chimpanzees and gorillas, but not in humans?
15. David DeWitt at AiG says ERVs do not line up with the expected evolutionary progression. What gives?
16. What's all this about the Phoenix Virus? Sounds like a Michael Crichton science fiction story!
17. Hasn't the evolutionist's story about ERVs been debunked by "scientists" such as Dr. Yingguang Liu and Dr. Georgia Purdom?
18. Could you have this backwards? Maybe retroviruses come from designed-in variation inducing genetic elements (VIGEs)?
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