This one is almost too easy. Ken Ham, the co-founder of the Creation Museum (2007) and Answers in Genesis (1994), is a Biblical literalist who formerly taught biology in Australia before moving to the United States in 1987. Author of The Lie: Evolution, Ham is in the vanguard of creationism as one of its most vocal proponents. He regularly posts blogs and articles on the Answers in Genesis website, claiming over 1.25 million visitors to the Museum and ten million hits on the AiG website.
Ham promotes the notion that dinosaurs were on the Ark, that they can exist comfortably within the framework of the Bible and that any Christians who find that evolution is compatible with their faith are nothing but a bunch of compromisers who ignore that a literal Genesis is fundamental to a Christian worldview. He is also fond of repeating that the creation-evolution "debate" is a choice between God's inerrant Word and "man's fallible opinion", along with the standard well-worn creationist retorts that frame evolution as an atheistic fable to free them up to do whatever they want.To accept millions of years, for Ham, is to go against the Word of God's clear message and clouding it with man's fallible interpretations.
These are anti-science and irrational positions to hold, especially in regard to a literal six-day Creation event and a literal Noah's Flood, and the fact that he tries to fit dinosaurs (always the iconic dinosaurs; what about trilobites, giant ground sloths or equally interesting non-dinosaurs of the Permian and Triassic like Dimetrodon or Postosuchus, respectively? Were they on the Ark too?) into a Young-Earth time frame. While a few Ph.D. scientists assist Answers in Genesis with more "scientific" articles, Ham seems to focus his own time on the young, with home schooling material and talks to kids teaching them how to "rebut" the idea of millions of years. In fact, in spite of what AiG would have you believe, the deep time of geology and evolution have never been more well-supported than they are now.
For actively heading a creationist organization dedicated to attacking the good and proven science of evolution while promoting the strange and outdated ideas of creationism, Ken Ham is an Enemy of Reason. On a scale of one to ten, Ham is a six as one of the more recognizable faces in the creationist landscape. Further, I recently read on Ham's blog that he gets email alerts whenever "Answers in Genesis" appears on the web. So, hello to Mr. Ham, who I assume will be getting an email alert about this post.
Ham promotes the notion that dinosaurs were on the Ark, that they can exist comfortably within the framework of the Bible and that any Christians who find that evolution is compatible with their faith are nothing but a bunch of compromisers who ignore that a literal Genesis is fundamental to a Christian worldview. He is also fond of repeating that the creation-evolution "debate" is a choice between God's inerrant Word and "man's fallible opinion", along with the standard well-worn creationist retorts that frame evolution as an atheistic fable to free them up to do whatever they want.To accept millions of years, for Ham, is to go against the Word of God's clear message and clouding it with man's fallible interpretations.
These are anti-science and irrational positions to hold, especially in regard to a literal six-day Creation event and a literal Noah's Flood, and the fact that he tries to fit dinosaurs (always the iconic dinosaurs; what about trilobites, giant ground sloths or equally interesting non-dinosaurs of the Permian and Triassic like Dimetrodon or Postosuchus, respectively? Were they on the Ark too?) into a Young-Earth time frame. While a few Ph.D. scientists assist Answers in Genesis with more "scientific" articles, Ham seems to focus his own time on the young, with home schooling material and talks to kids teaching them how to "rebut" the idea of millions of years. In fact, in spite of what AiG would have you believe, the deep time of geology and evolution have never been more well-supported than they are now.
For actively heading a creationist organization dedicated to attacking the good and proven science of evolution while promoting the strange and outdated ideas of creationism, Ken Ham is an Enemy of Reason. On a scale of one to ten, Ham is a six as one of the more recognizable faces in the creationist landscape. Further, I recently read on Ham's blog that he gets email alerts whenever "Answers in Genesis" appears on the web. So, hello to Mr. Ham, who I assume will be getting an email alert about this post.
Haha. I love that last bit. If you are reading this, Mr. Ham, you are a tool who is helping to f**k up the minds of many of my friends. Shave your face.
ReplyDeleteOn the 1 to 10 ranking system, which is worse, 1 or 10?
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I don't view any of these people as a threat except for the ones that deal with child indoctrination. Get them young lol.
On the ranking scale, ten is the worst. I admit, I haven't set down a rigorous scale of ranking, it's more a sense I have of the level of threat based on education, intent and the number of people who listen to them. Thus they rank higher than Conserv&pedia because I believe they reach more people.
ReplyDelete