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Science - General

Topsy-turvy world of bats

People have a love/hate relationship with bats. While these animals are interesting and exciting to some, the more common response is very negative, to say the least! This sharp difference of opinion also occurred in my husband’s family. When he was thirteen or fourteen, he worked in the summers harvesting tomatoes in market gardens in southern Ontario. The appropriate strategy, he says, is to feel for the ripe tomatoes as well as to visually examine suitable specimens. Thus at each plant he reached from below into the foliage, feeling the bottom of each tomato. The soft ones he picked; the hard ones were left for another day. On this particular occasion he happened to feel something warm and fuzzy among the tomatoes. Further research showed that it was a snoozing bat. Since he was interested in all natural phenomena, he promptly placed the bat in his lunch bucket, shut the lid, and forgot about the incident. Once home, he placed the lunch bucket on the kitchen table. The story stops with his mother’s discovery of the bat in the lunch bucket. You can well imagine the scene. She might enjoy nature too, but not this kind of nature and not in the kitchen!

If bats were prettier to look at, we might appreciate their amazing talents more. The fact is, bats exhibit some astonishing design features that our engineers and technologists greatly envy.

Three types

Traditionally, scientists have grouped bats according to their food preferences. There are:

1) fruit bats with good eyesight
2) insect-consuming, echolocating bats
3) vampire or blood-consuming bats

Further research has revealed how amazingly these animals are designed for their lifestyles. Such studies have also revealed that the old-fashioned ways of categorizing the creatures, according to lifestyle and physical appearance, do not really work. This has had some serious implications for ideas concerning whether Darwinian evolution could ever arrive at a plausible explanation for bats.

Heat-seeking vampires

The vampire bats all live in the new world (the Americas). There are only three species, each quite different. These ugly-looking creatures need blood meals to live. That means they must find a blood vessel in a victim that will allow blood to flow freely. This is not the easiest of tasks (as some nurses will attest), but vampire bats have a special design feature that allows them to find good blood sources. In their upper lip and modified noseleaf, they have special nerve endings that are much more sensitive than most nerves to body heat. These special tissues in the face allow them to find hot spots on the bodies of their victims. These hot spots are caused by blood vessels located close to the surface. The bat nips the skin with his teeth in order to drink the flowing blood.

The whole situation is horrifying to us, but this ability of vampire bats to sense elevated body heat clearly is an interesting design feature. We may not like what the vampire bats do, but how they do it exhibits great finesse.

Apparently only some snakes and vampire bats have this ability to detect infrared radiation (heat). However, the bats do it very differently from the pit vipers, pythons and boas. Snakes, for their part, make use of receptors on nerves that normally respond to chemical irritants or cold. In the case of these snakes, however, these receptors instead respond to the body heat of victims.

Now many animals have heat receptors all over the body. These receptors are designed to respond to heat that is dangerous to the health of the creature (we can sense the heat of a fire, for example). Vampire bats also have these normal heat receptors. However, in some nerves in the face of vampire bats, the nerves instead respond to a heat source which is much lower – about 30 degrees C.

The ability by bats to detect infrared radiation (heat) is so different from in snakes, that evolutionary scientists consider that there is no connection between the two designs. Either each appeared as a spontaneous or novel feature, however complicated, or each was separately designed in its entirety.

Echolocation is a marvel

But it is the engineering triumph of echolocation (like sonar) that really commands our attention and awe. This system is complex, with many features that must work together precisely. The bat must produce powerful ultrasonic signals which will bounce off objects and travel back as echoes. The creature must know the mathematic characteristics of the sound emitted in order to be able to compare it with the echo. The echo will be much softer, so the creature must be able to hear the incoming signal. Often the tempo of sounds emitted will include intervals between notes so that the incoming echoes can be heard. The bat must be able to judge its own position and speed relative to the returning echo which indicates the position and speed of the target object. This ability requires special mathematical programs in the brain to calculate the differences in speed and constantly changing location.

Although the requirements for the system are so fancy, there still is lots of room for variation in details. Some bats use a constant frequency (narrow band or single tone), while others use many more tones for frequency modulated (broadband) emissions. The tempo of the sounds can vary with the species and differences in intensity (from 120 decibels at 10 cm to 80 decibels at 10 cm) are possible. Many bats make sounds with their larynx, but one species uses tongue clicks. One might imagine that so fancy a sonar system would be found only in a closely related cluster of organisms, if descent with modification (evolution) had taken place. However, we see similar fancy systems in whales, bats, shrews, tenrecs (hedgehog like mammal native to Madagascar) as well as in oilbirds and cave swiftlets (another bird). Obviously, these creatures did not descend from a closely related common ancestor, so either these organisms were designed, or spontaneous processes produced these fancy systems on a number of occasions.

As far as the bats themselves are concerned, one might imagine that the echolocating bats would represent a cluster of creatures with other features in common. Even when the echolocating system is similar however, there are bats which seem closer in their genetics to the fruit bats. In addition, one fruit bat echolocates by means of tongue clicks instead of noise from the larynx. Does this represent a separate group too?

Bats are cousins to… cows?

Altogether, bats represent a fascinating example of evolution theory gone wrong. During the past century for example, scientists considered that bats were related to organisms like lemurs which display similar arm bones used for flight. Such anatomical similarities to lemurs, caused scientists to classify bats with monkeys, flying lemurs and rodents. Then, however, on the basis of more obscure biochemical details which come from the genetic code, bats were grouped with horses, dogs, cows, moles and dolphins. The physical and behavioral similarities to these latter creatures are obscure to say the least. Nevertheless, scientists said this latter group is evolutionarily related through descent from a common ancestor.

When one considers echolocation, scientists now declare that this complex capability arose spontaneously at least seven or eight times. And the ability to detect infrared radiation arose scientists now declare, twice independently in snakes and once independently in bats. Scientists use the word convergence to cover situations where descent with modification is not a convincing explanation for the source of the feature. Thus convergence means separate appearance of the same abilities, for no obvious cause. It was not convincing when the argument was for the spontaneous appearance of a complex system on one occasion, but to suggest that it could happen multiple times really strains credulity!

The alternative explanation for these situations of course is separate designs. God used his tool kit of wonderful design features as he saw fit, conferring them on similar or very different creatures for our interest and delight. What these amazing designs really demonstrate is the action of a mind, creative intelligence, and choice.

Only scratching the surface!

So far we have barely scratched the surface of the wonderful design features in bats. Recently scientists have discovered that the ability of bats to sense their environment is even more sensitive than previously imagined.

In 2010, a team of scientists reported that some echolocating bats can control the width of the ultrasonic beam which they emit. The subject of this study involved bats that release sounds from their larynx, which is by far the most common method.

More recently, another team investigated whether the tongue clicking Egyptian fruit bats are similarly versatile in their ability to respond to variation in the environment. This team found that Egyptian fruit bats simultaneously direct one beam of sound to the left and another to the right. They do this by aiming consecutive clicks in opposite directions. As the environment becomes more cluttered with objects, the angle between the two beams of sound becomes wider (and the beam thus broader). This enables the animal to focus on a particular object while paying less attention to other distracting structures in the environment. Also as the bat closes in on his target, the beam becomes broader and the sound more intense. This degree of sophistication in this echolocating system is a surprise to everyone.

One interesting other characteristic of bats is their wonderful wings. Bats can carry up to 50% of their weight (as we see in pregnant bats) and they execute maneuvers that would cause a bird or plane to crash.

Unlike birds, bats have wings that are thin and flexible. This is the result of more than 20 independent joints in the structure covered by a thin flexible membrane. Bats can curve their wings too, thereby providing for greater lift which consumes less energy.

What is more, bat wings are covered with tiny sensory hairs that provide information to the bat on flight speed and air flow. As one commentator on bats remarked: “The perceptual world of bats undoubtedly has many more intriguing secrets yet to be discovered” (Nature August 4/11 p. 41).

The large number of precision machines or systems in bats which enable them to live challenging lifestyles, surely proclaims the work of God, the creator of all things. We may still not love these interesting creatures, but we can certainly regard them with sympathetic respect. Probably however no amount of talking will make bats welcome in the home!

A version of this article was published in the December 2011 issue

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Interview with an artist

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In a Nutshell

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News

Saturday Selections – Nov. 29, 2025

One reason God gives us each other None of us are God, so we aren't going to know it all. And sometimes we aren't even going to know what it is that we don't know, as John Cleese notes below. That's one reason God gives us the communion of saints so we can support each other (Eccl. 4:9–12), including learning from our brothers and sisters. As Solomon tells us in Proverbs 12:15: "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." Speak, even if they don't listen? Ezekiel was commissioned to speak God's truth whether His people listened or didn't. The results aren't in our hands, but His. Only two-thirds of US Christians believe we've all sinned If evangelizing to non-Christians is intimidating, George Barna's latest study shows there's plenty of evangelism that needs to be done among those who profess to be Christian. The lesbian seagulls that weren't For a while there, Christians who were too afraid or too embarrassed to cite the Bible, would instead try to point out the wrongness of homosexuality by highlighting how "unnatural" it was. And that is certainly true – God designed our parts to interact a certain way, and if you try the other it can result in incontinence. So it was a thing when an island of lesbian seagulls was discovered – look, homosexuality in nature, so it is natural! But now it has turned out, the lesbian birds were probably due to some chemicals being sprayed about, and once that stopped, the lesbianism stopped too. So, disappointment for the LGBT advocates. That doesn't make the "unnatural" argument one to fall back on again. We live in a broken world, so we can be certain that somewhere in Nature homosexuality exists – shucks, as this author notes, some animals eat their young, so Nature shouldn't be our guide for how things should be. And even the world knows that. So let's point them to where guidance can be found, with God, and in His Word. The secular liturgy of Goodnight Moon "Here’s the point for Christian parents. Goodnight Moon reads like a bedtime prayer for a reason. Brown’s experimental writing was part of a modernist movement to shape an alternative moral ecology for children.... The next time you read Goodnight Moon with your kids at bedtime, don’t stop at 'goodnight noises everywhere.' End your routine with bedtime prayers..." The Gray Havens' "Sirens" The lyrics are worth a read too! One taste of the sound From the Sirens in the water And I'm thinking I should get out The sharpest sword and suit of armor So I can be ready to strike But I pause, one more time One last taste of the sound Then I'll cut these Sirens down But as they sang, I forgot They were death, so I brought them my heart To be filled, and I followed them No trace could I find Of any joy the Sirens promised They had found a way with a lie To turn what's good and should be wanted Into what is highest above, all desires and loves Til’ my heart would obey Whatever it wants whatever it takes To feel alive and set free Only bound to the sea Where the sirens are leading me on Hold on, hold on, my heart You once were full and sang of grace Hold on, hold on, my heart You've tasted joy that's more than this Hold on, hold on, my heart You once were full and sang of grace Hold on, hold on, my heart You've tasted joy that's more than this...

Assorted

The evil of simplicity

If ever there was an idol thoroughly ripe and ready for a great heaving into eternal hell fire, it has to be the idol of simplicity. This leapt to ...

Articles, Articles, Book Reviews, Entertainment, Movie Reviews

We are not trashcans: how to analyze stories

Why is it important for Christians to understand stories? Obviously, God loves to tell them. Our world is saturated with His stories and the stories o...

News

Bible labelled as hateful by government MP

Liberal MP Marc Miller serves as the chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. On October 30, 2025, he made these ...

Theology

When God goes to war: holiness, judgment and hope

“Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” – Gen. 18:25 We don’t deny God’s wrath. We just don’t talk about it. In Refor...

News

Saturday Selections – Nov. 22, 2025

Signs and symbols Four rappers team up to take on the tendency among some Christians to look outward for God's direction, rather than turn to His Word. This won't make it onto everyone's playlist, but give it at least one listen-through and you'll find it worth your time. There were no atheists at Nuremberg "When confronted with atrocities of such scale, humanity instinctively appeals to an objective moral standard. Abstract academic debates about relativism sound impressive in seminar rooms. They sound absurd amid the piles of shoes at Auschwitz. Nuremberg stands as a modern vindication of the moral law of God—the natural law.... Atheism and moral relativism are powerless in the face of Nazi atrocities. " Guarding against a conspiracy mindset Christians shouldn't be naive about the reality that conspiracies do happen. We know there is indeed an Enemy working behind the scenes to oppose all that is good and right – Satan is active, and brilliant too. But so often conspiracy theories are akin simply to gossip, tearing down leaders, including godly men in the Church, based on nothing more than mind-reading, what-ifs, and connected dots that could be connected other ways too, if we were charitably evaluating others as we would want to be evaluated. IVF somehow gets worse IVF has far more to do with death than the creation of new life – by some estimates 4 embryonic children are destroyed for every IVF baby eventually born, and another estimate puts that number ten times higher, with 40 babies destroyed for every baby born. And now an already eugenic enterprise looks like it may be more so. As the head of an "IVF screening company" put it: "The vast majority of parents in the future are not going to want to roll the dice with their child’s health. They’re going to see it as taking the maximum amount of care, the maximum amount of love. In the same way that they plan their nursery, plan their home, plan their preschool. … I think it then becomes about stewardship. It becomes about how do I make a responsible choice for my family." She has also said, on many occasions, “Sex is for pleasure...IVF is for having children." Will screening embryos become an expectation? It is sure to become more available and then, for a world already callous about unborn life, it is sure to lead to yet more bloodshed. Christians pro-lifers know that no matter how someone is conceived, they are made in the very Image of God (Gen. 9:6) so we are not dehumanizing children or adults conceived by IVF when we critique how they were conceived. So should Christians have any part in the IVF industry at all? I'd argue, with one exception, no we should not. Even if we use IVF by the least objectionable way possible (and the most expensive, such that it is rarely done this way) in which one child is conceived at a time, never frozen, and implanted no matter what "fitness grading" it might have received, we are still going to be participating in an industry that doesn't normally operate like that at all. This is an industry bathed in bloodshed. The doctors have killed hundreds and thousands, and going to them isn't just akin to having an abortionist as your doctor, it's exactly that. Further, every child who is born by this process becomes PR for the whole process – the children these doctors successfully birth are their legitimization for all the children they destroy. Do we really want to go to abortionists for help with anything? That exception I mentioned? Snowflake adoptions. The callousness of others has led to the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands and quite possibly millions of embryonic children, abandoned by their parents to frozen storage. It is a loving couple who adopts one of these, freeing him or her to be implanted into an adoptive mother's womb for a chance at continuing to develop and grow. May God bless these couples' rescue operations, which reflect God's own greater gracious rescue in adopting us all as His sons and daughters. Does a key verse in Genesis show the Flood was coming in 120 years, or people wouldn't live longer than 120 years anymore? Genesis 6:3 reads: “Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years’...” The controversial answer to the question of "Does child labor help poor children?" When my grandfather was sick, my dad, in his teens, had to work to help support the family. It would have been wonderful if he hadn't needed to – he's a smart guy, and I can only imagine what kind of scholarships he might have earned if he could have devoted himself to just school. But, if a law would have been in place banning him from working, that wouldn't have upped his chances for college. It would only have meant that he and his whole family would have been wondering how they were going to make ends meet. We don't like child labor, but a law banning imports from countries where child labor is allowed wouldn't stop them from working. It would only limit their options, and likely drive them into far less desirable work. The Left acts as if wishing can make things so, on everything from personhood (the mom's decision determine whether it is a child or not) to gender (a boy can be a girl if he wishes it so) to economics (don't judge our jobs program by results, just by our intentions). As Christians we know we have to interact with the world as it is, not simply as we wish it was. And that means that, for countries that aren't yet as rich as we are, families may well need their children to contribute... and we shouldn't hurt those families by getting in the way. ...

Education

If grades are dropping, should we drop grades?

A new trend in Canadian schools ***** Imagine a student who has struggled academically for several years. In the past, their grades would have alerted teachers and parents that intervention was needed. But this student is at a school where there’s been a shift from A’s and B’s to something called a “proficiency scale.” Parents understand percentages and letter grades, but this proficiency scale uses terms that aren’t at all clear. • Emerging • Developing • Proficient • Extending The result? Our imaginary student falls through the cracks in the system instead of being noticed early on. This scenario isn’t just imaginary. I talked to Joanna DeJong VanHof, Education Program Director at Cardus, a Christian think tank, and she explained that this is what’s happening under British Columbia’s new method of assessing students. In 2023, B.C. abolished letter grades for Grades K-9 and adopted a Provincial Proficiency Scale with those four categories. The scale was introduced amid concerns that grades stressed deficits – they emphasized where the student fell short – whereas, with a scale, learning would be regarded as an ongoing process. B.C. is not an isolated case. Their shift was part of a broader trend in Canadian schools away from traditional teaching and grading methods. Schools are replacing quantitative assessments – letter grades and percentage scores – with qualitative approaches, like observations, narrative feedback, and ongoing conversations about student learning. VanHof says this shift is problematic because qualitative assessments measure student performance “relative to their peers” rather than against “actual content.” While intended to support struggling students, the approach raises questions for educators. Is compassion for students being confused with lowered expectations? The BC proficiency scale: a case study Victor Brar, a University of British Columbia professor with expertise in K-12 education, has written on the rationale behind B.C’s proficiency scale. In an article on The Conversation news site, he made a case for the change. He noted that while grades “highlight the deficits of underperforming students,” the scale focuses on the process of learning itself and encourages teachers “to assign equal value to all the learning that happens between tests.” However, eliminating letter grades has left parents confused with what their child’s progress has been. According to the National Post, only 36% of parents could correctly interpret what an “emerging” grade meant. Similarly, educators needed to interpret and translate what the criteria meant, raising concerns around subjectivity. “There's always a sense in which grading is subjective,” said VanHof, but when that subjectivity is taken to the extreme, there are unintended consequences. One of them, VanHof said, is grade inflation where students may have high marks on paper, but “the actual content knowledge that has happened isn’t at the same level as it has been in previous years.” De-streaming: equity or erosion? VanHof drew a parallel between B.C. 's proficiency scale with Ontario’s 2021 “de-streaming” policy, which eliminated separate Grade 9 academic and applied courses for a single course. Previously, the applied math courses focused on the math we need in our every day, like balancing our household budget, while academic courses prepared students for the university level. The goal of de-streaming, like the proficiency scale, was to promote an equitable learning environment. According to Ontario Educators, streaming reinforced economic disparities and racism, disproportionately placing Black and Indigenous students in applied courses and creating a “class system” that perpetuated a “self-fulfilling prophecy” of lower academic achievement. However, Michael Zwaagstra, Senior Fellow at Fraser Institute said that while de-streaming policy “sounds fair,” it does not serve students who may be disinterested in academic coursework, or may be choosing other paths like trades. On the other hand, VanHof criticized de-streaming for the demands it put on teachers to accommodate to a much wider spectrum of abilities. It’s like teaching two classes at once, and to do it properly would require additional resources, like TA assistance, in the classroom. “You can implement a policy. But the capacity and the resources that you have to implement it well is a totally different question,” VanHof said. Since educators were not given additional time or support, the result was that no one was receiving the “targeted instruction and time they needed.” John Wynia, League Coordinator at League of Canadian Reformed School Societies echoed the perspective. “The standards have been lowered in the grade nine class to allow for equity, but then that results in reaching the lowest common denominator.” The bigger picture: declining test scores VanHof’s concern that students are learning less content has been reflected in declining test scores, as seen on the international PISA test (Programme for International Student Assessment). PISA, administered by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), assesses reading, math, and science skills of 15-year-olds. Although Canada has ranked among the top ten countries, since the 2000s its scores have consistently declined. The 2022 PISA test was on mathematics, with Canada’s score falling by 35 points compared to 2003, roughly equivalent to a drop of two whole grade levels according to the Fraser Institute. Some attribute the decline to the COVID school closures, and to the increased screen time kids have had in the last decade. However, B.C. has been restricting phone usage in schools since September 2024, so if phones were a big part of the problem, there should have been a rapid increase in student performance after the phone ban, right? The results are still out on whether that has happened but it will be interesting to see. In the meantime, Canada has experienced a statistically significant decline in all three subjects for over a decade (2012-2022). And that raises questions about our educational policy in the last decade. Is what we’re doing different causing the decline? Math methods matter: what Quebec gets right John Richards, emeritus professor at SFU's School of Public Policy says that the problem extends beyond the shift from numerical assessments and includes a change in teaching methods. For instance, Quebec outperformed other provinces on the 2022 PISA test, and Richards said this was because of how teachers in that province are trained and taught. “Probably the explanation of Quebec is that the math teachers who want to be math teachers in secondary schools have to do a lot more math courses than most teachers.” Richards also referenced Anna Stokke, a mathematics professor at University of Winnipeg. She is a strong critic of “discovery-based education,” where students find solutions on their own instead of being directly instructed. For example, in discovery-based math, a teacher presents students with rectangles drawn on grid paper and ask questions such as, “Is there a relationship between the number of squares in a row and the total number?” Under direct instruction, the teacher explicitly states, “Area = length x width.” Discovery-based learning was introduced with the goal of helping students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills over rote memorization of mathematical formulas. However, Stokke says the approach fails to provide students with the solid foundation students need so they’ll be able to apply critical thinking to complex problems later on. Without sufficient instruction or practice building on concepts – without enough time just memorizing the basics – Stokke says students become confused and fall behind. In response to concerns among educators and parents, the Ontario government promised reforms in 2018 and began implementing a “back-to-basics” curriculum, including direct instruction in math for kindergarteners. Changes are officially in effect since September 2025. However, Fraser Institute has criticized the new curriculum for “doubling down” on its DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) focus, including Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in math where students “work collaboratively on math problems—expressing their thinking, listening to the thinking of others, and practicing inclusivity.” This does not go back to the basics as promised. Meanwhile, declining math scores continue to sound alarm bells for a return to fundamentals in teaching methods. Qualitative assessment: is it all bad? Progressive reforms in Ontario and British Columbia have reshaped both teaching methods and assessment practices like B.C.’s elimination of letter grades. But have all these changes been harmful? Unlike British Columbia which completely eliminated letter grades, Ontario’s 2010 Growing Success policy retained letter grades but expanded qualitative assessments such as observations, portfolios, and self-assessments. The policy also introduced a “no-zero” approach, discouraging teachers from failing students or giving late penalties. Jack Huizenga, Academic Dean at Covenant Canadian Reformed Teachers College, sees benefits with Growing Success. The policy sees “assessment as not something for the end of learning,” with grades providing a one-time snapshot of student performance. Instead, it regards assessment as “something along the way to help improve learning” with formative and descriptive feedback. “So, then assessment can't just be about a multiple-choice question or true and false question or short answer questions,” Huizenga said, describing how the new approach communicates a fuller picture to parents on the student’s progress. Nevertheless, Huizenga said grades were indispensable since colleges and universities also look for those numbers. “That pendulum has to be somewhere in the middle. I think there's room for proficiency type scales to measure. But there's also going to be the need for grades to communicate where students are at.” Independent schools: a call to higher standards The declining international test scores that accompanied the national trend to remove academic benchmarks would seem to suggest this removal doesn’t serve students. And that challenges independent school educators to balance measurable standards with empathy and support. The Cardus Education Survey has studied schools with a focus on the independent sector in recent years. According to VanHof, the question for independent schools was how they would translate policy “into something that is meaningful for parents,” and even “exceed the standards” of the policy. For example, within B.C.’s proficiency framework, she saw independent educators engaging in meaningful conversations with parents around the criteria. “What does an ‘emerging’ student, what does that actually mean in terms of real objective standards of learning?” VanHof asked. She noted how Christian and independent schools had the “ability to be nimble and to make changes that are in line with their mission and vision.” John Wynia’s time at Hope Reformed Christian School is an example which exemplifies this. He shared how students thought of him as a tough teacher because they had to work hard to achieve good grades. “But they often thanked me for that,” Wynia recalled, “because when they went to university, they were very well prepared.” Within the Growing Success framework, Wynia also continued to assign late penalties, though he was lenient around extensions. “There's a lot of research and a lot of evidence that shows that if you have high expectations for your students, your students will rise to meet those expectations.” Wynia cited the No Child Left Behind Act passed in 2002 under George W. Bush, which targeted the “soft bigotry of low expectations” that assumes some groups are incapable of meeting high standards because of their background or socioeconomic status. No Child Left Behind measured school progress with standardized testing in reading and math and coincided with higher student performance – especially among low-income students. Wynia added that teachers should tell students honestly where they are at – it’s not at all compassionate to hide the truth. VanHof echoed this view. “I think we disservice children by saying policies like this will make learning less stressful,” she said. “It sounds kind and considerate, but we all know that’s not what learning actually is.” VanHof maintained that qualitative feedback has value, but “quantitative assessment has to form the backbone of any education system.” Education as a “formation of persons” Education shapes the society we become, underscoring the critical role of assessment methods in that process. VanHof said that education is more than about ensuring students can enter the workforce. “It is much more than that. It's about the formation of persons,” said VanHof. From a Christian worldview, it is about enabling students to know their Creator and to “help them to live within that world to glorify Him.” To elaborate on this, VanHof referenced Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” As she explained: “That to me speaks so clearly about the fact that education is about the joy of learning, renewing our mind, about being transformed, about understanding who God is, and learning for learning's sake.” But without measurable benchmarks, she said, students were missing out on the sense of accomplishment which comes from hard work, progress, and learning new things. VanHof also referenced Jonathan Eckert, Senior Fellow at Cardus Education who served in the US Department of Education in both the Bush and Obama administrations, and who coined the phrase, “gritty optimism.” “I love that phrase because I think it really captures the fact that education done well is education in which there's hard work involved,” said VanHof, which she said involved both student and teacher. While Canadian schools have adopted models like de-streaming and the proficiency scale to promote equity, they fail to meet students who need the most support. By combining qualitative feedback with measurable standards, clearly communicating with parents, and providing teachers with proper training and resources, schools should help students grow academically and in character, equipping them for real-world challenges....

News, Transgenderism

Parents disrobe to make their point

In what seems to be a bit of a trend, parents have gone to school board meetings and, while presenting to the board, proceeded to disrobe to their underwear or bathing suit. Why? To protest school policies that tell girls they need to be okay with boys in girls’ locker rooms – changing in front of them, and watching them change – when those boys say they are girls. On September 18, 55-year-old mother Beth Bourne wanted her Davis, California school board to feel some of the discomfort they were forcing on the girls in their schools. So, during the public comment section of the school board meeting she spoke while disrobing to a bikini swimsuit. As the LA Times’ Nathan Solis reported it: “‘Right now we require our students to undress for PE class, and I’m just going to give you an idea of what that looks like while I undress,’ Bourne said while she stood behind the lectern and removed her shirt…. ‘So right now, this school district is saying that depending on a child’s transgender identity, they could pick which bathroom they want. Right now we have children self-identifying into different bathrooms,’ she said as she removed her pants…” At that point the board’s vice president gaveled the meeting to recess, making Bourne’s point for her: if the board can’t deal with this discomfort, why are they subjecting girls to it? Then, in October, a man and two women did the same, undressing to their underwear before changing into other outfits. This time it was in Maine, and the spokesman for the group, Nick Blanchard made sure their point was understood: “You feel uncomfortable? Because that’s what these young girls feel like when a boy walks into their locker room and starts unchanging in front of them.” Awkward? Certainly. But is it a sinful way to make a point? After all, God calls us to modesty (1 Tim. 2:9-10). But God has also used immodesty to make a point, having Isaiah walk around naked (or, like these folk, in no more than his underwear) for three years (Is. 20:2-4). God also calls on us to defend our children and take the hit for them (2 Cor. 12:14, 1 Thess. 2:7-9, John 10:11). The school was set on humiliating children, and these parents were willing to be humiliated instead. That’s admirable, and while neither school seems to have listened, these educators’ lack of concern for their girl athletes was now exposed for all to see. Hopefully these brave parents, and the many more they alerted, took matters even further and pulled their kids out....

News

BC private property rights in question after court ruling

The City of Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, sent out a letter in October to some of its residents, informing them of a recent BC Supreme Court decision which “has declared aboriginal title to your property which may compromise the status and validity of your ownership.” The court decision, by Justice Barbara Young, is found in an 863-page ruling, resulting from what is claimed to be the longest trial in Canada’s history. She ruled that the Cowichan First Nations “have established Aboriginal title” to about 800 acres in the city, because the ancestors of the Cowichan once had a seasonal fishing village in the area centuries ago. The court ruled that the Crown’s granting of land to settlers was not valid because it infringed on the Cowichan Nation’s title. The decision is causing understandable unrest among property owners in the area and around the province. If the Cowichan Nation still has title, what does that mean for their ownership? And if this is true for these 800 acres, what does it mean for the rest of BC, given that as much as 95% is claimed to be “unceded traditional First Nations territory”? The BC government and City of Richmond are appealing the court ruling, though the NDP government has been promoting First Nations land title extensively in recent years. This included recently handing over title to the entire Haida Gwaii archipelago of 10,180 km² to the Haida Nation (or just over 1 percent of the province). “I think this is one of the most significant rulings in the history of the province, and maybe the country,” Malcolm Brodie, the Mayor of Richmond, said to the Globe and Mail. “I think it potentially could dismantle the land title system, certainly in our province, with ramifications across the country.” This is the logical outcome of “land acknowledgements” being read out before meetings, sporting events, and university classes across the province and across the country. The Left kept accusing us all of living, working, and playing on stolen land, and it was only a matter of time before someone with power realized that if property has indeed been stolen then it needs to be returned – that only makes sense. But so much of this doesn’t make sense. Do the Cowichan own this land because they hunted and lived on it some of the year, hundreds of years ago? If so, then wouldn’t it make sense to apply that same standard towards the Indigenous peoples who did so before the Cowichan? If we are going to restore property said to have been stolen 100 years ago, why not restore it to whatever tribe or nation owned it 200 years, or 500 years ago? Where does it stop? If my great-grandparents stole $10 a hundred years ago, should I feel any obligation to pay it back to the great-grandchildren of the guy whose wallet they took? Lots of questions here, and there are plenty of biblical texts worth exploring for insight (Num. 5:5-8, Matt. 7:1-2, Lev. 6:1-7, etc.) but for now let’s consider just one. A theft is said to have occurred one hundred years ago, and the 8th Commandment, do not steal, is the basis of the Cowichan complaint. But to hand over this land, as it is today, wouldn’t be righting a wrong, but perpetuating another. If my great-grandparents had invested $10 they stole into starting a business that, through the work of our family’s next three generations, became a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, would I be responsible for returning everything that $10 became? Because that’s what’s being considered today: were the Cowichan to take over this chunk of Richmond, they would be taking developed property worth thousands of times more than the open land that existed there before. The 8th Commandment, do not steal, is the basis for private property rights and, as economist Barry Asmus and Bible scholar Wayne Grudem have explained, it is “the necessary foundation for all human flourishing on the face of the earth…. Whenever this commandment is ignored, entire nations remain trapped in poverty forever.” It’s easy to see how that is so. If this ruling stands and this becomes the new normal in Canada, who would invest here? Who would want to put money down if a judge can decide with a stroke of their pen to give over everything they’ve developed? It’ll be impossible to build an economy without a stable foundation of private property beneath it. Map at top of article produced with materials from the Native Land Digital App (https://native-land.ca/) ...

News

Arctic sea ice remains steady for past two decades

News

Saturday Selections – Nov. 15, 2025

Women don't belong in combat (5 min) That world won't acknowledge that it is Who made us, and in Whose Image we are made (Gen. 9:6), that makes us va...

News

Fewer young people identifying as “queer” or “trans”

Internet, News

Australia and Denmark restrict social media use by children

Conferences

“We believe…” 1,700 years ago

Redeemer University conference celebrates the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed ***** In times past, scholars and theologians may have found themselves travelling across countries and continents to attend meetings about doctrines of particular importance to the Christian faith. One of the most famous of these occasions was the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, when bishops from all over the Mediterranean gathered to address heresies about the nature of Christ. More recently, theologians met once again in discussion of these same issues – not to write new creeds, but to affirm and celebrate the council and the creed which it produced. They met at Redeemer University, a Reformed Christian university in Southern Ontario, which hosted the conference: “Defending Christ: Celebrating 1700 Years of Nicaea.” Historians, theologians, pastors, and laypeople attended this conference to glean knowledge from one another and re-immerse themselves in the rich theology of Nicaea. What follows are a few of the highlights. On the history of the council The council was called by Emperor Constantine, not primarily to address doctrine, explained Dr. Stefana Liang, but to find solutions for a divided church and empire. The result of the council, however, is evidence of the providential work of the Holy Spirit, and even Constantine recognized it as such. He referred to the council as “great and holy” and “a complete blessing from divine providence.” “It cannot be other than the doctrine of God,” he said. The women of Nicaea A presentation by Reanna Lingley investigated the women behind the Council of Nicaea. While no women were in attendance, figures like Macrina the Elder and Macrina the Younger (respectively the grandmother and sister of brothers Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa) and Nonna (wife of Gregory the Elder) embodied the vision of the Christian life and were active shapers of the theological tradition that raised up the men who participated in the council. Macrina the Elder survived in hiding for seven years during Emperor Diocletian’s persecution and was described as a vessel of theological continuity. Nonna’s persistent faith led to the conversion of her husband, and she spurred her husband and sons on to holiness and service. Instead of regretting the absence of women at the council, Lingley argued, we ought to recognize the tremendous but quiet influence that women did have on the theological landscape of the Early Church. A Nicene AI? Another interesting presentation evaluated the most theologically sound large language models (LLMs). If that’s an unfamiliar term, it’s what makes AI chatbots go, and you can think of the term as almost a synonym for the chatbots. Studies show that increasingly more young people are turning to AI for important questions, so an organization called ChristianBench tested the biggest AI chatbots on their theological stances. Commonly these bots will refrain from giving a pointed answer – they will present all the options as equally valid. But, of course, that sort of relativization of the truth is a strong stance of its own. However, depending on how a question to the chatbot is framed, the LLM can anticipate what kind of answer the prompter is looking for and give an individualized response. (For example, a question about the “natures of Christ” will generate a theological answer that could be solidly in line with the Nicene Creed, whereas a more general question about “Who is Jesus?” will usually result in a more all-options-on-the-table response that provides the user with a variety of answers to consider.) The only chatbot that scored exceptionally high for adherence to the Nicene Creed was a Catholic LLM called Magisterium AI, an AI chatbot that aims to provide answers to questions about the Catholic faith. Art as theological testimony The conference’s main presentation was by Dr. Megan DeVore, and was centered on Christian art during the time of Nicaea. Early Christian artists used pagan motifs which they adapted and redefined to reflect the gospel story. After the Council of Nicaea, depictions of Jesus began to showcase the artists’ understanding of His divinity. Jesus also started being portrayed in Old Testament scenes, like the story of creation, reflecting a trinitarian understanding of God’s work throughout all of Scripture. Christian art in catacombs show something noteworthy about the Christian faith and the doctrines of Nicaea: Jesus’s divine nature provided early Christians with eschatological hope. The depictions of the deceased in Christian catacombs were of hopeful and prayerful believers, in stark contrast with the mournful depictions in pagan catacombs. The art shows that Christians found real, impactful, and lasting hope through the doctrines they believed. Dr. DeVore outlined how early Christian art was characterized by theological declarations rooted in intricate Christological hermeneutics. She asked whether modern Christians are perhaps missing out on a key aspect of theological understanding by overlooking the value of faithful creative expressions through the arts. The use of the creed The Nicene Creed formalized for the church the doctrine of Christ’s divinity. Written in Greek, almost all of the words in the creed are found in the New Testament. The handful that are extrabiblical nevertheless convey strongly biblical ideas and were necessary to clarify the biblical concepts that were debated at that time The Nicene Creed is especially helpful for interfaith conversations today. It lays out a “mere Christianity” that distinguishes orthodox Christians from Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Latter-day Saints. The classical trinitarianism expounded in the creed, argued a paper presented by Matthew Waddell, is the only trinitarian view that can provide proper responses to scrutiny from Islamic apologists. But while encountering Christianity may begin with the Nicene Creed, it cannot end there. Interestingly, as passionate as these scholars at the conference were about the Nicene Creed, all of them agreed that it cannot even be compared to the riches of Scripture. The formal doctrine laid out by the creed is meant to lead us toward biblical doxology (see Jude 24-25). The creed can be seen as a CliffsNotes summary of biblical doctrine; it was never meant to be a substitute for the original text and cannot match its force and power. One scholar likened the creed to a beautiful doorway with magnificent engravings. It may be wonderful, but it is merely meant to provide access to something much greater: the full extent of the biblical witness. THE NICENE CREED We believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father; through whom all things were made. Who, for us men and our salvation, came down from heaven and became incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he arose, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified; who spoke through the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins; and we look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. *** Picture at the top (as generated for ChatGPT) is of Athanasius taking it to Arius. Emperor Constantine I (272-337 AD) called the Council of Nicaea so the Church could deal with the dispute these two were having over the nature of Christ. Athanasius proclaimed Christ as coeternal and of the same essence as God the Father, while Arius claimed Jesus was created by the Father and therefore not fully divine. While the Nicene Creed we have today probably wasn’t completed at the Council of Nicaea (and not for another 50 years) it is named after that council, because it professes the truth defended there....

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Peanut allergies plunge … and they could plunge even more

Not that long ago it was thought that young children shouldn’t be exposed to peanuts, to prevent a dangerous reaction. But, as Prov. 18:17 notes, “The first to put forth his case seems right, until someone else steps forward and cross-examines him.” That cross-examination first began in 2015, when a ground-breaking study found that introducing peanuts to young children actually reduced the risk of getting food allergies by about 70 percent or more. In response, many doctors started changing their advice. An Associated Press piece noted that “About 60,000 children have avoided developing peanut allergies after guidance first issued in 2015 upended medical practice by recommending that caregivers introduce the allergen to infants starting as early as four months.” Now a 2025 study has reviewed the data. According to the AP account, peanut allergies in children aged zero to three decreased by more than 40 percent since the recommendations were expanded in 2017. In spite of the findings from the 2015 study, the AP reported that only about 29 per cent of pediatricians and 65 per cent of allergists say they follow the newer guidelines, suggesting that there could have been far fewer allergy cases still if more children were introduced to potential allergens at a younger age. Dr. Derek Chu, Canadian Institutes of Health Research chair in allergy noted to the AP that this guidance extends to all common allergens, including dairy, soy, wheat, egg, shellfish, and nuts....

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Saturday Selections – Nov. 8, 2025

The baptism rap battle you never knew you needed This is the best of what A.I. can give us. Here's a rapping, axe-playing, Jonathan Edwards rebutting Charles Spurgeon’s case for adult baptism. Hilarious, and downright insightful too. Old earth vs. young: what are the differences between these two views? (10 min. read) Is the earth less than 10,000 years, or older than 4 billion? This comparison and contrast highlights where young earth creationism, old earth theistic evolution, and progressive creationism land on things like: was there death before the Fall? how was Man created? was the Flood global? If you ask A.I. for marriage advice, it'll probably tell you to get divorced It's vital we understand A.I.'s limitations. What we are getting back from it is oftentimes simply an average of all the answers it finds across the Internet, so if the 'net, as a whole, is wrong about something, that's what you are going to get back. And when it comes to marriage advice, there is a lot of the bad sort. Crime linked to missing dads J. Warner Wallace details here, what can happen when dad disappears: "During my years working the gang detail in Los Angeles County, I met countless young men and women caught up in the world of gangs. Over time, a single theme emerged – one that cut across backgrounds, neighborhoods, and stories. Nearly every gang member I encountered suffered from the same affliction: a profound lack of dad." Stranger things of the OT: Giants "The term 'giant' appears only seven times in most modern translations of these two passages (2 Sam. 21:15–22; 1 Chron. 20:4–8), but in the King James Version it appears over 20 times." (Real Talk recently did an episode that touched on some of the stranger things of the OT too.) Style vs. substance Here's a fantastic musical debate about whether it's most important to say things with flair, or say something important. Or, to let the two combatants frame it: GIRL 1: Who cares if the whole world's watching If you aren't saying something of meaning GIRL 2: Who cares what the crap you're saying If nobody's watching, nobody's hearing I've been involved in 10+ political campaigns, and this struck a chord – I was involved in a Christian Heritage Party campaign where the candidate seemed content to put out important but blandly-presented materials – stuff that got filed into the recycle bin immediately – and I've been part of campaigns where all the candidate was offering was graphically appealing signs and brochures and even swell sounding speeches, but all of which didn't say much of anything at all. They shied away from the real issues our culture is contending with – they refused to talk about God. So, what's the answer then to the style versus substance debate? It's about pairing, not contrasting, the two. God crafted His temple (Ex. 31:1–5), His world (Ps. 19:1), and us too (Ps. 139:13–14) – He is all about style. But what does He use His style to declare? His glory! How's that for substance! ...

News

Government leaves religious and pro-life organizations alone in 2025 budget

Pro-life Christians can breathe a sigh of relief. Actually, you can take two. The 2025 federal budget unveiled on Tuesday leaves the charitable status of religious organizations and pregnancy care centers alone. 2024 – the threat Both of these concerns were raised late in 2024 when the Standing Committee on Finance reported on its pre-budget consultations. This is a standard practice, where the government gives Canadians the opportunity to share what they want to see in the upcoming federal budget. The report made a whopping 462 recommendations, but two caught the eye of pro-life Christians: • Recommendation 429 suggested removing the charitable status of “anti-abortion organizations.” • Recommendation 430 proposed removing charitable status for religious organizations. The latter recommendation came out of left field. Organizations like the BC Humanist Association have long lobbied for the government to give religious activities less time, less money, and less recognition. But no mainstream political party or figure had seriously entertained the idea until this federal finance committee recommendation. Even after this recommendation was made, Karina Gould, the new chair of the Finance Committee, wrote the following to the Canadian Executive Director of the Christian Reformed Church “Charitable status for religious organizations is not under review, and this government has no plans to change that. Any suggestion otherwise is false. We respect the role faith-based organizations play in communities across the country, and religious organizations continue to enjoy charitable status under the same rules that apply to all charities in Canada. There have been no policy or legislative changes proposed that would revoke charitable status from religious groups including churches.” Roots in 2021 The idea of revoking the charitable status of pregnancy care centers, however, has a longer history. In their 2021 election platform, the Liberals explicitly promised to remove the charitable status of “anti-abortion organizations (for example, Crisis Pregnancy Centres).” This recommendation not only betrayed their pro-abortion stance but also accused pro-life organizations of providing: “…dishonest counselling to women about their rights and about the options available to them at all stages of the pregnancy.” Of course, they entirely ignored the material, emotional, and relational assistance these pregnancy care centers provide. Then last fall, the federal government announced its intention to introduce legislation to require pregnancy care centers to either disclose that they do not provide abortions or else lose their charitable tax status. Thankfully, gridlock in Parliament, the resignation of Justin Trudeau as prime minister, and the spring federal election prevented such a bill from being introduced. 2025 and onward These attacks on pregnancy care centers were dropped from the Liberals’ 2025 election platform. Though there is no mention of the revocation of charitable status for religious organizations or “anti-abortion” organizations in the federal budget, and though the current government seems to have different priorities than the last one, this isn’t necessarily the end of the story. Given that tens of millions of Canadians identify as religious and that revoking the charitable status of religious organizations would be a massive departure from four hundred years of charitable status tradition, this change seems unlikely to be implemented in the near future. Not only would this be bad policy, it would also be bad electoral politics for the government. However, the Liberal Party has firmly set its face against the pro-life cause. They’ve done so in every recent vote on abortion legislation, and in the change they made in 2017 to the Canada Summer Jobs program which required applicants to declare support for abortion, and in their continued funding for abortion. So the government may well set pregnancy care centers in their sights again in the coming years. A good test of the government’s intentions will be whether this recommendation reappears in the final consultation report before next year’s budget. We need to continue to remind our Members of Parliament of the benefits that both religious organizations and pregnancy care centers provide, so as to fend off attacks on their charitable status. Levi Minderhoud is a policy analyst for ARPA Canada (ARPACanada.ca)....

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