Ken Ham

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For the American astronaut, see Kenneth Ham.
Kenneth Ham
Born October 20, 1951 (1951-10-20) (age 57)
Residence Flag of the United States
Occupation Evangelist, broadcaster
Religious beliefs Baptist, Young Earth creationist
Spouse(s) Mally Ham

Kenneth Alfred Ham (born October 20, 1951) is the Australian-born president of Answers in Genesis USA.[1] A vocal advocate for a young Earth and a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis[2], his cross-country speaking tours and many books make him one of the better known young-Earth creationists.[3]

Contents

[edit] Biography

See also: Answers in Genesis and Creation Museum

Ham was born in Queensland, Australia but moved to the United States of America in 1987. He has a bachelor's degree in applied science (with an emphasis on environmental biology) from the Queensland Institute of Technology and also holds a Diploma of Education from the University of Queensland.[4] He is married to Marilyn ("Mally"), whom he describes as a "very, very submissive, supportive wife" who has "always supported me five million percent".[5] The couple have five children—two are married and two live with them in Cincinnati—and have four grandchildren.[citation needed]

In 1979, Ham co-founded what was to be later known as the Creation Science Foundation (CSF) in Queensland, Australia with John Mackay.[6][7] Controversy arose when Mackay "was excommunicated in the 1980s after making allegations of witchcraft and necrophilia against a fellow member of the ministry".[8]

Answers in Genesis' Creation Museum.

Between 1987 and 1993, Ham worked for the Institute for Creation Research (ICR),[chronology source needed] one of the oldest[9] American Creationist organisations, and a leading young-Earth organisation.[10] In 1994, with the assistance of what is now Creation Ministries International (Australia), Ham and colleagues Mark Looy and Mike Zovath set up Creation Science Ministries, later renamed Answers in Genesis.[11] The Christian ministry specialises in Young Earth Creationism, and is primarily devoted to convincing people that the initial chapters in Genesis should be taken as literally true and historically accurate. For his contributions to evangelism, he has been granted two honorary degrees (by Temple Baptist College in 1997[12] and by Liberty University in 2004[13]). Answers in Genesis opened its $27 million,[14] 70,000 sq ft (6,500 m2)[15] Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky on May 28, 2007.

Also in May 2007, Creation Ministries International (CMI) filed a lawsuit against Ham and AiG in the Supreme Court of Queensland seeking damages and accusing him of deceptive conduct in his dealings with the Australian organization. Members of the ministry were "concern[ed] over Mr Ham's domination of the ministries, the amount of money being spent on his fellow executives and a shift away from delivering the creationist message to raising donations."[8]

In 2008, Ham appeared in Bill Maher's comedy Religulous.[16] In a press release AiG criticized the movie for what it called Maher's "dishonesty last year in gaining access to the Creation Museum and AiG President Ken Ham."[17]

Ham hosts Answers. . . with Ken Ham, an internet and radio program, broadcast daily on over one thousand radio stations worldwide[citation needed] and features Ham's commentary on issues.[18]

[edit] Claims and beliefs

As a young Earth creationist, Ham believes that the entire universe was created about 6,000 years ago and that Noah's flood occurred about 4,500 years ago. In addition, he uses some intelligent design arguments.[3] He believes that this explains how a small number of animals carried on Noah's ark could produce the biological diversity observed on Earth. Ham also believes that dinosaurs co-existed with modern humans. He supports this claim with a cave painting that he states resembles a brachiosaur.[19] Ham is known for interpreting available evidence against his minority opinion of the book of Genesis. He once said to a Christian audience, "If you disagree with what I'm going to say, please do not give me your opinion, because I'm not interested...I want to know what the Bible says."[20]

Ham accepts that natural selection can give rise to a number of species from an original population, by Mendelian recombination of already existing genes. He believes that new genes cannot arise from mutations, because this would be "adding information" (he claims that only an intelligence can do this); mutations and natural selection can only "remove preexisting information."[21] Furthermore, all of these species are of the same kind (a term borrowed from the English translation of Genesis 1:11 and elsewhere)[citation needed] and no new "kind" can arise from this process.

Creationism, including creation science arguments, have not gained acceptance with prominent scientists and major scientific organizations.[22] Biologist PZ Myers is also a vocal critic of Ham, calling his knowledge of science "very, very low" and that Ham is held in "very low esteem by the community of scholars and scientists, and by the even larger community of lay people who have made the effort to learn more about science".[23][24] Additionally, No Answers in Genesis has listed a number of specific criticisms of Ham's teachings on science.[25]

Since 1989, Ham has frequently made the comment, "Were you there?" regarding the origins of life and evolution,[26] seeming to imply that knowledge of unwitnessed events is inferential and not observational. Responses to this have been made by scientific database Talk.origins, which responds that the evidence for evolution "was there."[27] In 2005, The Daily Show poked fun at Ham's question.[28]

AiG believes that evolution is the "source" of many kinds of evil, and that rejection of God's Word as absolute authority and acceptance of evolutionary ideas will affect the way people think and act, and thereby fuel social ills.[29]

Ham's beliefs and tactics have also been criticized by other Christians and creationists. Answers in Creation, an Old Earth creationist web site, has called Ham willfully ignorant of evidence for an old earth and said that he "deliberately misleads" his audiences on matters of both science and theology.[30] Astronomer Hugh Ross, a progressive creationist, has publicly debated Ham on the age of the Earth and the compatibility of an old Earth with the Bible,[31] as well as other Answers In Genesis staff.[32]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ "There’s an inconsistency here in taking Genesis literally to accept sin to explain moral evil, such as the shootings at Virginia Tech, but not taking Genesis literally in their acceptance of millions of years of “natural evil” before man (e.g., death, violence, catastrophe, and extinction of animals)." From Ken Ham, President, AiG-US April 16, 2007
  3. ^ a b "Ken Ham: Biblical Literalist". PBS. 2001. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/08/1/l_081_04.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-17. 
  4. ^ Ken A. Ham, Answers in Genesis
  5. ^ Interview with Ken Ham, Ron Cooper, ARK Foundation
  6. ^ The History of AiG to the End of 2007, Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis
  7. ^ What we are, Creation Ministries International
  8. ^ a b McKenna, Michael (June 4, 2007). "Biblical battle of creation groups". The Australian. http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21843706-2702,00.html?from=public_rss. Retrieved on 2007-07-17. 
  9. ^ A Brief History of the Modern American Creation Movement, Jerry Bergman, Contra Mundum No. 7 Spring 1993
  10. ^ Creationist and Anti-Evolutionist Organizations, TalkOrigins Archive
  11. ^ The History of AiG through mid 2009
  12. ^ Ken A. Ham
  13. ^ Liberty University honors AiG speaker with doctorate, Answers in Genesis
  14. ^ Dylan Lovan, "A year later, Creation Museum claiming big crowds," Associated Press, October 10, 2008.
  15. ^ "About us - Creation Museum," Creation Museum, accessed January 14, 2009.
  16. ^ "Maher takes on religion, but some interviewees cry foul". Charlotte Observer. October 1, 2008. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/104/story/226061.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-31. 
  17. ^ "A Religulous Movie: Opens on 500 Screens Friday—Creation Museum mocked". Answers in Genesis. October 2, 2008. http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/10/02/a-religulous-movie. Retrieved on 2008-09-31. 
  18. ^ Radio Station Information, Answers in Genesis
  19. ^ Stephanie Simon, "Their Own Version of a Big Bang", Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2006
  20. ^ Barry, Yeoman (February 22, 2006). "Biblical battle of creation groups". The Independent. http://www.barryyeoman.com/articles/creation.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-17. 
  21. ^ From the series "Answers with Ken Ham"- episode "Do the Animals "Evolve"?"
  22. ^ Amicus Curiae Brief of 72 Nobel Laureates, 17 State Academies of Science and 7 Other Scientific Oraganisations, Edwards v. Aguillard
  23. ^ Myers, PZ (June 18, 2008). "Now I'm going to have nightmares". Pharyngula (blog). http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/06/now_im_going_to_have_nightmare.php. Retrieved on 2008-06-17. 
  24. ^ Myers, PZ (June 21, 2008). "In which I have hurt Ken Ham's feelings". Pharyngula (blog). http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/06/in_which_i_have_hurt_ken_hams.php. Retrieved on 2008-06-17. 
  25. ^ Answers in Genesis at the Internet Archive, John Stear
  26. ^ Were You There?, Kenneth Ham, Institute for Creation Research
  27. ^ "Claim CA221: Were you there?". talk.origins. May 2004. http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA221.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-17. 
  28. ^ "Moment of Zen - God or the Scientists". The Daily Show. September 14, 2005. http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=124614&title=Moment-of-Zen---God-or-the-Scientists. Retrieved on 2007-02-19. 
  29. ^ The evolution connection Answers in Genesis
  30. ^ Greg Neyman. Ham Can't Tell the Simple Truth!. Answers in Creation. Sept. 12, 2005
  31. ^ Fair and balanced?, Steven McConaughy, Answers in Genesis
  32. ^ Jason Lisle vs. Hugh Ross debate: annotated transcript, Jonathan Sarfati, Answers in Genesis Australia

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Ham"
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