Answers in Genesis

Liberty University Imports and Exports Creationism

Submitted by Kyle on February 17, 2009 - 4:11pm

The Christian Post reports that Thomas Road Baptist Church, the church founded by Jerry Falwell and currently run by his son Jonathan, is hosting a three-day "Answers for Darwin" conference being put on by the creationists from Answers in Genesis:

Ken Ham, founder and president of Answers in Genesis, which hosted the three-day "Answers for Darwin" conference, told the crowd in the opening session that America is becoming less of a Christian nation everyday and that it is due in part to the influence of Darwinism.

He cited statistics by research firm The Barna Group, showing that at least 60 percent of students raised in church-going homes who attend public schools will walk away from church.

Referring to the culture war, Ham said there are increasing pervasive attacks in America, including abortion and the removal of the Bible, prayer and creation from public schools.

"What is wrong?" he asked the audience at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va. "I suggest to you the foundation is being taken out of this nation that was once here and we see the structure collapsing."

Among the speakers is Liberty University professor Dr. David DeWitt, which makes sense because, as The News and Advance recently explained, the teaching of creationism is a key part of Liberty’s core mission to create “good Christians” who will go out and impact law, politics, society, and the culture:

DeWitt’s personal views are critical of evolution, he said.

“If a frog turns into a prince with a kiss then it’s a fairy tale. If a frog turns into a prince over millions of years, it’s science,” he said, referencing the theory of evolution. “It’s almost ridiculous.”

“I’m a scientist, and I’m not denigrating science. I’m critiquing the idea that millions of years is the magic wand that makes it possible.”

…

[Law School Dean Mathew] Staver said that the theory of evolution “has impacted everything,” including his area of expertise — law.

An evolutionary model for arguing cases, for example, now impacts the creation of law, he said.

Instead of the previously accepted practice of basing arguments on the original source, the U.S. Constitution, Staver said, now lawyers instead use case studies that build upon each other and “evolve” over time.

Law students at Liberty “have to understand both sides” in order to critically analyze cases, he said.

They also must learn the details of evolution versus creation “so they are comfortable and confident in advocating their position,” he said.

“You clearly see it in some of the more social areas such as marriage and abortion. But it really permeates all the areas of law.”

[Campus Pastor Johnnie] Moore said Liberty students, no matter which program they’re in, should understand arguments that support the creationist perspective so they can defend their beliefs.

“What we’re doing is, we’re training Christian young people to go into culture in various occupations; to be good Christians in their area of influence,” Moore said. “We want them to be as prepared to represent Christ and the Bible and Christian values in culture as they are prepared to excel in their careers.

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Animatronic Humans, Dinos Cohabitating: A Recipe for Success at Creationism Museum

Submitted by Ezra on November 5, 2007 - 5:15pm

USA Today reports that the $27 million Creation Museum, which Answers in Genesis opened last May in Petersburg, Kentucky, is exceeding its attendance expectations:

Halfway into its first year, it is on the verge of surpassing its projected year-long attendance goal of 250,000. Officials now expect nearly 400,000 people to pass through the doors by year's end.

"It's been a surprise," said spokeswoman Melany Ethridge, who attributed it to the dramatic exhibits and ongoing media interest from Europe and elsewhere.

While much of that attendance is likely comprised of Christian schools and church groups showing support for young-Earth creationism, the museum has also benefited from wide publicity. In May, Answers in Genesis distributed an elaborate press kit, including a “video news release.” VNRs are pre-produced news segments, complete with fake reporters, that many cash-strapped local TV stations will air with little or no editing or attribution.

Also included in the press kit was this sample science video, a recreation of the deluge:

You can hear screams in the background, but we are hopeful that no scientists were actually harmed in the making of that exhibit.

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Creation Museum Exceeds Expectations

Submitted by Kyle on November 5, 2007 - 1:28pm

USA Today reports that the Creation Museum in Kentucky is doing better than it ever expected: "Halfway into its first year, it is on the verge of surpassing its projected year-long attendance goal of 250,000. Officials now expect nearly 400,000 people to pass through the doors by year's end."

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Creationism Museum Set to Open Monday

Submitted by Ezra on May 24, 2007 - 4:11pm

No plans for Memorial Day? The Creation Museum, a $27 million production of Answers in Genesis, is finally opening in northern Kentucky. From the New York Times:

The entrance gates here are topped with metallic Stegosauruses. The grounds include a giant tyrannosaur standing amid the trees, and a stone-lined lobby sports varied sauropods. It could be like any other natural history museum, luring families with the promise of immense fossils and dinosaur adventures.

But step a little farther into the entrance hall, and you come upon a pastoral scene undreamt of by any natural history museum. Two prehistoric children play near a burbling waterfall, thoroughly at home in the natural world. Dinosaurs cavort nearby, their animatronic mechanisms turning them into alluring companions, their gaping mouths seeming not threatening, but almost welcoming, as an Apatosaurus munches on leaves a few yards away. …

[The scene] serves as a vivid introduction to the sheer weirdness and daring of this museum created by the Answers in Genesis ministry that combines displays of extraordinary nautilus shell fossils and biblical tableaus, celebrations of natural wonders and allusions to human sin. Evolution gets its continual comeuppance, while biblical revelations are treated as gospel.

Last year, Answers in Genesis complained that a museum tour of “Lucy,” the remains of a 3-million-year-old human ancestor, was “anti-creationist hype.” The group’s own museum will also feature fossils, but presented as cohabitants of the world of Noah and passengers on his ark.

Oddly enough, the American Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., is opening its own new exhibit on Saturday. But the museum maintains that the subjects of the “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns, and Mermaids” exhibit “are found only in folktales and other stories.”

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After Right-Wing Conference in Oregon, Darwin-Hitler Link Enters Public School

Submitted by Ezra on March 21, 2007 - 4:07pm

When Florida televangelist D. James Kennedy asked his viewers to donate towards the production of a TV special on the “harmful effects” of evolution – “everything from the Nazi death camps and attempts to create a super-race to the modern push in many nations for euthanasia” – he warned that “The other side has the entire public school system of America as its platform,” whereas he came armed with only “the national network of television outlets that God has given to us.” While it’s true that most high school science classes stick to scientific curricula on evolution and stay clear of attempts to equate Charles Darwin with Adolph Hitler, the Religious Right’s campaign against the teaching of evolution has its share of recruits across the nation.

After less than two weeks on the job, part-time biology teacher Kris Helphinstine was fired by the Sisters, Oregon school board for drawing his course materials from a far-right creationist website. Echoing Kennedy, Helphinstine’s attempt to “get kids thinking” involved a PowerPoint presentation linking evolutionary science to Planned Parenthood and Nazi Germany. From The Oregonian:

Helphinstine said in retrospect slides of Nazi death camps weren't appropriate for his freshman and sophomore students.

And given a second chance, he said he wouldn't introduce arguments from Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, a group building a Creation Museum in Cincinnati dedicated to teaching a Bible-centric view of natural history.

Answers in Genesis is a straightforward advocate of young-earth creationism; the group is building a Creation Museum in northern Kentucky apparently set to open this summer. The group provides quite a few classroom resources for teaching creationism.

This material was apparently the focus of the teacher’s entire tenure at the school:

One parent, John Rahm, said his daughter reported that only "one day of 10" was devoted to the study of evolution, with the rest devoted to devoted to "Intelligent Design" materials.

"The test as well was 90-plus percent ID material," Rahm said.

It could be a coincidence, but Helphinstine, 27, began his new job only a couple weeks after a right-wing conference convened near Portland, around two hours away. Among the presentations at the 2nd Annual Restore America Conference was “Session for teachers, parents and students” on “Upholding a Christian Worldview in Education.” The speaker was Stephen Williams of Prepare the Way Ministries, based in nearby Bend, which is dedicated to “empower[ing] Christians … to uphold a biblical worldview in our schools and society.” Williams is known for suing the school where he taught fifth grade over his use of “supplemental materials” meant to emphasize the idea of America as a Christian nation.

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Them Bones Gonna Walk Around: Creationists Complain Fossil Tour Promotes Evolution

Submitted by Ezra on October 30, 2006 - 4:01pm

Lucy While an upcoming U.S. museum tour featuring “Lucy,” the 3 million-year-old remains of a human ancestor, is generating controversy over whether to move the fragile artifacts, creationists see a controversy of a different sort: so-called “anti-creationist hype.” From the American Family Association’s AgapePress:

Creationists … are predicting that Lucy's tour will be much more about promoting the theory of evolution than about expanding real scientific knowledge.

"When I see that they're bringing the most famous of the supposed 'human ancestor' fossils to America, and they're going to feature it across America, I can see this is a big push for evolution," [Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis] observes.

"There's a lot of evidence that goes against Lucy being upright and as a human ancestor and so on," the Answers in Genesis spokesman says. However, he has no illusions about the likelihood of those facts being brought out during the tour.

"We'll see Lucy portrayed in a particular way," Ham says, with exhibitors "trying to tell the American public that this is your human ancestor and that this is fact. And they won't put all the information in there that contradicts that."

Ham’s protest signals that it is unlikely the “Lucy” tour will make a stop at Answers in Genesis’s Creation Museum in northern Kentucky, which will have its own fossil collection and “life-sized dinosaur models” when it opens as early as next year.