Oh Pleeeeeeeeeze!

Radio 4 is never far from my heart, and when I heard an unnamed (well, he was named but I forgot it) evolutionary biologist stating that the virgin birth had a potential scientific explanation, my ears pricked up faster than a speeding bullet. Oh, crap! I'm mixing my metaphor, but no matter.

Parthenogenesis (literally virgin-creation) is a form of reproduction where a single female creature gives birth to another female without the ova being fertilised. The reason for only female births is that a male requires a Y chromosome and females don't posses it.

Now this evolutionary biologist was a Christian who took his bible pretty seriously, and although he accepted Darwin's theory (and neo-Darwinian theory) he felt that the virgin birth could be real. He even went on to explain the rare case of a woman who does carry a Y chromosome - someone in the comments will doubtless remember the name.

Anyway, assuming "Mary" had this rare condition AND had experienced parthenogenesis, that would explain the fact that she was a virgin who had a spontaneous pregnancy and gave birth to a son. Ta dah!

And this is a respected biologist!

The fact that virgin birth stories existed before Jesus would only serve to strengthen his argument, but since this guy is a scientist, how can he have missed Occam's Razor?

Oh shit. Maybe he was snoozing that day?

I don't personally believe in supernatural intervention; but I do accept virgin birth. Not in the church's version of course. Sperm are pretty tricky little buggers and although unlikely, it is possible for a couple of horny teens in a fit of dry humping, end up with an surprise.

If we accept (and I highly doubt) that Mary WAS a virgin, there's no way to tell that this child wasn't just a product of a simple mistake.

So our choices are:

1) Supernatural power;
2) An early example of dry humping or;
3) Mary had a little shag (before she knew Joseph)?

Occam's Razor says 3: every time and it's very rarely wrong and even assuming that parthenogenesis was the cause, why has it never been reported since in 2000+ years of human history?