In the article’s reply, Cecil states that there is one virgin birth known to a human. Is that referring to Mary, mother of Jesus, or is there someone else? If so, how did it supposedly happen? How did scientists verify it?
Yes, it’s Mary.
I heard this from a friend in college who said she’d seen it on a documentary, so this is third-hand information at best… She told me about a phenomenon in which women who were not previously known to be pregnant were involved in very traumatic car crashes. As an unexpected (to say the least) result, the ova that had recently been released from their ovaries had divided into 2 cells, and had begun forming a cell cluster similar to the early stages of a zygote (4, 8, 16 cells). I never heard for sure, but I like to think if they put that sort of thing on tv and attribute it to post-traumatic spontaneous oogenesis (or whatever) that they actually checked some DNA to see that it was identical to that of the person in whom it was found. I also don’t know if any babies were actually born as a result of this sort of thing, but I really doubt it, or we’d have read about it in Weekly World News (is that trademarked? if so, tm)or some other scientific journal. At any rate, add that to the list of reasons to buckle up for safety.
While at the same college where I heard the above, I had another friend who had become pregnant her senior year of high school, and subsequently gave birth to a daughter. When her mom asked her if she was pregnant and how it happened, Mary told her mother she “must have sat in something”. She, however, was joking.
Do artificial insemination and other techniques count?
ben
I wasn’t counting artificial insemination or anything. I meant a birth like Mary. I think that’s the only one I really believe in, personally.
That’s nice. Don’t have any evidence, though, do you?
ben
That’s why it’s called faith, heretic.
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
Thank you Diceman. And yes heretic, I do have evidence that God is real. Whether you choose to believe it is your decision. Do you have any proof that evolution is real? I believe in the Big Bang theory in this context: God spoke and BANG! it happened! As for my proof, I have been healed and had many things happen to me. Now, you cannot dispute what I tell you happened to me. There’s no way anyone can dispute that, other than calling me a liar, and I am not lying.
Now then, this is the Straight Dope board. If you or anyone else would like to continue this discussion, I cordially invite you to join me at http://www.leftbehind.com/cgi-local/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true in the Fellowship Hall. 
Oh, dear me, no. I have no wish at all to engage in another one of those discussions. I’m just saying that if we’re actually talking about actual parthenogenesis and that sort of thing actually happening, then we should be dealing with facts instead of mythology and what you believe and your faith and all that is very lovely and I hope you enjoy it, but I really don’t care what your fantasies about God saying Bang are and don’t confuse anything of that nature with actual truth that can be actually proven with actual evidence, eh? Which, in this case, unless you have some very interesting artifacts and DNA samples from 2,000 years ago, you don’t have.
ben
Religious arguments belong in the Great Debates forum. (You’ll be in good company; we’ve got piles of them over there already.)
I generally am pretty liberal about going out on tangents while discussing Cecil columns. But - besides not linking to the column being discussed - this one has veered far enough away that I’d suggest taking it up in Great Debates if you all choose to pursue it further.
Jill
Leave Kat2 alone. She’s my friend. And it’s not mythology. I believe the way she does.
Oh, she’s your friend? That’s different! Anyone you consider your friend is obviously a special and wonderful person, who deserves better treatment than the rest of humanity. Your friends obviously will only speak the truth, and so should never, ever be asked to prove their assertions to anyone else.
(Did the sarcasm come through yet, or should I keep going?)
[[(Did the sarcasm come through yet, or should I keep going?)]]
Yeah, it came through but if you do keep going, take it to the Pit, okay bud?
The two “friends” above practically simul-posted - at the end of a (mercifully) dying thread, where not many would see it, the following:
From kat2 on 11-05-1999 at 12:52 AM:
From Kameryn on 11-05-1999 at 12:56 AM:
Now, the thread this was posted in only had a single post from Kameryn which said the following:
In the entire thread, there is not a single post from kat2, yet she led the proceedings in this exodus before Kameryn came in four minutes later and posted hers.
I would have to say, given this evidence, that:
(1) Both user identities are the same person.
(2) Both were nothing more than trolls.
(3) They’re gone now, and good riddance to bad rubbish!
Yer pal,
Satan