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Ken Ham

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For the American astronaut, see Kenneth Ham.

Ken Ham
Ken Ham, 2012
Born (1951-10-20) 20 October 1951 (age 72)
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Occupation(s)Young Earth creationist, Evangelist
OrganizationAnswers in Genesis
TitlePresident
SpouseMarylin "Mally" Ham

Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Ham (born 20 October 1951) is a young-Earth creationist[1] who advocates a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis.[2] He is the president of Answers in Genesis (AiG) and the Creation Museum.[3] His claim about the young age of the Earth, based on his interpretation of the Bible, is incorrect and dismissed as such by the scientific community.[4][5][6][7][8]

Career

See also: Answers in Genesis and Creation Museum

In 1979, Ham co-founded what was to be later known as the Creation Science Foundation (CSF) in Queensland, Australia, with John Mackay.[9][10][11]

Ham worked for the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), a young-Earth organisation.[12] 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.[13] The Christian ministry specialises in young Earth creationism and promotes the belief that the initial chapters in Genesis should be taken as literally true and historically accurate.[14] He then began raising funds to build the ministry.[15]

On 28 May 2007 the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum opened in Petersburg, Kentucky, a project which cost $27 million. The necessary funds were donated throughout the 1990s.[16] It is about 70,000 sq ft (6,500 m2).[17]

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."[11] According to the CMI website, this dispute was amicably settled in April 2009.[18] In 2008, Ham appeared in Bill Maher's comedy-documentary Religulous.[19] 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."[20]

In March 2011, the Board of Great Homeschool Conventions, Inc. voted to "disinvite" Ham and AiG from "all future conventions," saying that Ham's words about other Christians were "unnecessary, ungodly, and mean-spirited statements that are divisive at best and defamatory at worst."[21][22][23] AiG responded: "It is sad that a speaker and ministry, which stand boldly and uncompromisingly on the authority of God’s Word, are eliminated from a homeschool convention."[22] Ham hosts Answers. . . with Ken Ham, a 60-second program broadcast daily on radio stations and the Internet[24] featuring Ham's commentary on issues.[25]

In February 2014, Ham debated American science educator and engineer Bill Nye (popularly known as "Bill Nye the Science Guy") on the topic of whether creation is a viable model of origins in the contemporary scientific era.[26][27][28]

Position on age of the earth

Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky

Ham dates the age of the universe to about 6,000 years, and states that Noah's flood occurred about 4,500 years ago in the year 2348 BC.[29] He says that the animals carried on Noah's ark produced the biological diversity observed on Earth. Ham also believes that dinosaurs co-existed with genetically modern humans. He supports his view with biblical scripture.[30] Ham accepts that natural selection can give rise to a number of species from an original population.[31]

Ham questions the reliability of radiometric dating, a technique used to date objects such as moon rocks, fossils and human artifacts.[32] Since 1989 Ham has frequently asked "Were you there?" when discussing the origins of life and of biological evolution,[33] implying that knowledge of unwitnessed events requires direct observation rather than inference. Talk.origins responded that the evidence for evolution "was there" and asserted the necessity to continue scientific inquiry. Talk.origins stated that "If this response were a valid challenge to evolution, it would equally invalidate creationism and Christianity, since they are based on events that nobody alive today has witnessed".[34]

Ham says that there is a difference between facts themselves and their interpretation, writing that:

Creationists and evolutionists, Christians and non-Christians, all have the same evidence—the same facts. Think about it: we all have the same earth, the same fossil layers, the same animals and plants, the same stars—the facts are all the same. The difference is in the way we all interpret the facts. And why do we interpret facts differently? Because we start with different presuppositions; these are things that are assumed to be true without being able to prove them. These then become the basis for other conclusions. All reasoning is based on presuppositions (also called axioms). This becomes especially relevant when dealing with past events.[35]

Criticism

Other Christians, old Earth creationists, and the scientific community at large have criticized Ham's statements and tactics. Answers in Creation, an old Earth creationist website, 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.[4] Astronomer Hugh Ross, a progressive creationist, has debated Ham and other Answers In Genesis staff[36] regarding the compatibility of an old Earth with the Bible.[37] BioLogos has also responded to Ken Ham's criticisms of its viewpoint.[38]

Personal life

On 30 December 1972, Ham married Marilyn ("Mally").[39] The Ham couple have five children and twelve grandchildren.[40]

Ken Ham earned a Bachelor of Applied Science, with an emphasis in Environmental Biology, at Queensland Institute of Technology and a diploma in Education from the University of Queensland.[40][41][42]

He has been awarded two honorary degrees: In 1997 from Temple Baptist College in Cincinnati, Ohio and in 2004 from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.[40]

Bibliography

  • Ham, Ken (1987). The Lie: Evolution. Green Forest: Master Books. ISBN 0-89051-158-6.
  • Ken Ham, Britt Beemer, Todd Hillard "Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do To Stop It" New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (28 May 2009) (ISBN 0890515298 )
  • Ken Ham, Greg Hall, Todd Hillard "Already Compromised" New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (15 April 2011) (ISBN 0890516073)
  • Ken Ham, Charles Ware "One Race One Blood" Master Books (8 November 2010) (ISBN 0890516014)

References

  1. ^ "Ken Ham: Biblical Literalist". PBS. 2001. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  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 16 April 2007
  3. ^ http://www.answersingenesis.org/outreach/speakers/ken-ham/bio/
  4. ^ a b Greg Neyman. Ham Can't Tell the Simple Truth!. Answers in Creation. 12 Sept. 2005
  5. ^ Wilensky-Lanford, Brook (2011). Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden. Grove Press. pp. 215–. ISBN 9780802119803. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  6. ^ Flank, Lenny (1 January 2007). Deception by Design: The Intelligent Design Movement in America. Red and Black Publishers. pp. 73–. ISBN 9780979181306. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  7. ^ Grainger, Brett (26 May 2009). In the World but Not of It: One Family's Militant Faith and the History of Fundamentalism in America. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 147–. ISBN 9780802718648. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  8. ^ Ham, Ken; Hodge, Bodie (2012). How Do We Know the Bible Is True?. New Leaf Publishing Group. pp. 108, 110–. ISBN 9780890516614. Retrieved 7 April 2014. p.110 The biblical age of the earth is determined by adding up the genealogies from Adam ...to Christ. This is about 4000 years...Christ lived about 2000 years ago, so this gives us about 6000 years as the biblical age of the earth. p. 109 I hold to that belief because I trust the Bible over the reasoning of man. p. 110 Some mainstream scientists have calculated the age of the earth at approximately 4.5 billion years... Rejecting literal days of creation naturally leads to the acceptance of the supposed big bang as the evolutionary method God used to create the universe. Although we can simply add up the ages of the patriarch mentioned in the Genesis 5 and 11 genealogies to arrive a a date after creation for Abrahm who lived about 4000 years ago, many reject this as a reasonable way of determining the timing of creation.
  9. ^ The History of AiG to the End of 2007, Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis
  10. ^ What we are, Creation Ministries International
  11. ^ a b McKenna, Michael (4 June 2007). "Biblical battle of creation groups". The Australian. Retrieved 17 July 2007.
  12. ^ Creationist and Anti-Evolutionist Organizations, TalkOrigins Archive
  13. ^ The History of AiG through mid 2009
  14. ^ Ham, Ken. "Genesis: Key to Reaching Today's World". TV Broadcast. WVCY-TV. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  15. ^ Simkin, Mark (9 November 2005). "Lateline - 09/11/2005: The great debate". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  16. ^ Dylan Lovan, "A year later, Creation Museum claiming big crowds," Associated Press, 10 October 2008.
  17. ^ "About us - Creation Museum," Creation Museum, accessed 14 January 2009.
  18. ^ "Creation Ministries International," (accessed 6 April 2010).
  19. ^ "Maher takes on religion, but some interviewees cry foul". Charlotte Observer. 1 October 2008. Retrieved 31 September 2008. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  20. ^ "A Religulous Movie: Opens on 500 Screens Friday—Creation Museum mocked". Answers in Genesis. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 31 September 2008. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  21. ^ "Founder of Creation Museum banned from convention". Lexington Herald-Leader. 24 March 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  22. ^ a b "Kicked Out of Two Homeschool Conferences". Answers in Genesis. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  23. ^ Riley, Jennifer (22 March 2011). "Ken Ham Disinvited from Homeschooling Events over 'Ungodly' Remarks". Christian Post. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  24. ^ http://nrb.org/news_room/press_center/answers-in-genesis-to-receive-nrb-best-use-of-short-form-video-a/ NRB website
  25. ^ Radio Station Information, Answers in Genesis, 2009
  26. ^ Boyle, Alan (5 February 2014). "Bill Nye Wins Over the Science Crowd at Evolution Debate". NBC News. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  27. ^ Kopplin, Zack (4 February 2014). "Why Bill Nye the Science Guy is trying to reason with America's creationists". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  28. ^ Nye, Bill; Ham, Ken (4 February 2014). "Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham (video - 165:32)". YouTube. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  29. ^ Wright, David. "Feedback: Timeline for the Flood". Answers in Genesis. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  30. ^ "What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs" by Ken Ham url=http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs
  31. ^ From the series "Answers with Ken Ham"- episode "Do the Animals "Evolve"?"
  32. ^ M. Riddle, Does radiometric dating prove the earth is old?, in K.A. Ham (Ed.), The New Answers Book, Master Books, Green Forest, Arkansas, pp. 113–124, 2006.
  33. ^ Were You There?, Kenneth Ham, Institute for Creation Research
  34. ^ "Claim CA221: Were you there?". talk.origins. May 2004. Retrieved 17 July 2007.
  35. ^ Ham, Ken. "What's the best "proof" of creation?". Answers in Genesis. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  36. ^ Jason Lisle vs. Hugh Ross debate: annotated transcript, Jonathan Sarfati, Answers in Genesis Australia
  37. ^ Fair and balanced?, Steven McConaughy, Answers in Genesis
  38. ^ Falk, Darrel. "A Response to Mr. Ham's Video: The Anti-biblical Teachings of BioLogos". BioLogos.
  39. ^ Ham, Ken; Ham, Steve; A. Hillard, Todd. Genesis of a Legacy: Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World. Master Books. p. 78. ISBN 0-89051-481-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link).
  40. ^ a b c Ken Ham | Answers Outreach, Answers in Genesis, retrieved 10-05-2012.
  41. ^ The New Answers Book : About the Authors, Answers in Genesis, retrieved 10-05-2012.
  42. ^ Stephens, Randall J.; Giberson, Karl (2011). The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age. Harvard University Press. p. 11.

External links

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