Reasons to Believe  Does Retroviral DNA Insert Randomly into
Genomes?  We receive a lot of great questions for the I Didn’t
Know That! podcast, some of which we are unable to answer due to
time constraints. In an effort to address more of your queries,
we will occasionally post a scholar’s reply on Today’s New
Reason to Believe.  From Ryan in Shimane, Japan:  Recently I
have seen more and more atheists using an argument from
retroviral insertion as proof that mankind evolved from a common
ancestor.  The argument usually states that ERVs (endogenous
retroviruses) are inserted randomly into the host’s DNA and that
any two species sharing that ERV in the same location is proof
that they share a common ancestor.    I wonder, is ERV and
specifically HERV insertion random and is the 8% content in the
human genome truly known to be retroviral since they are mostly
single LTR (long terminal repeat) strands?   Ryan, you ask an
important question. For many people (not only atheists, but even
Christians who embrace evol