Ken Ham

Kenneth Ham
Born	October 20 1951 (1951-10-20) (age 56)
Residence
Occupation	Evangelist, broadcaster
Religious stance	Baptist, Young Earth creationist
Spouse	Mally Ham

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

Biography

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.^[1] He is married to Marilyn ("Mally"), whom he describes as a "very, very submissive, supportive wife" who has "always supported me five million percent." The couple have five children.^[2] Two are married, and two live with them in Cincinnati. Ham has four grandchildren. In 1979, Ham co-founded what was to be later known as the Creation Science Foundation (CSF) in Queensland, Australia with John Mackay.^{[3] [4]} Controversy arose when Mackay "was excommunicated in the 1980s after making allegations of witchcraft and necrophilia against a fellow member of the ministry."^[5] Between 1987 and 1993, Ham worked for the Institute for Creation Research (ICR)^[6], one of the oldest^[7] American Creationist organizations, and a leading young-Earth organisation^[8]. In 1994, with the assistance of what is now Creation Ministries International (Australia) he set up Answers in Genesis, a Christian ministry which 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. He hosts an internet and radio program called Answers…with Ken Ham. It is broadcast daily on over one thousand radio stations worldwide.^[9] Each ninety second broadcast features commentary by Ham and presents pro-creationist opinions expressed on the Answers in Genesis website. In 2006, Ham received $178,991 from AiG.^[10]

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. Although rejecting Darwin's Theory of Evolution and its modern variations, Ham does accept that natural selection can give rise to a number of species from an original population, provided that all of these species are of the same kind (a term borrowed from the English translation of Genesis 1:11 and elsewhere). He believes this explains how a small number of animals carried on Noah's ark could produce the biological diversity. Ham also believes that dinosaurs co-existed with modern humans and that a 6,000 year old Earth is confirmed by his interpretation of a cave painting that resembles a brachiosaur.^[11] 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 fuel social ills. ^[12]

Controversy and criticism

His arguments have not gained acceptance with most scientific organizations. In particular, No Answers in Genesis lists specific criticisms of Ham's teachings on science^[13]. Advocates of creationism, such as Ham, have been criticized for presenting children with a false dichotomy between God and evolution. This was a prominent statement in the 2005 opinion in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.^[14] Since 1989 Ham has frequently made the comment, "Were you there?" regarding the origins of life and evolution.^[15] The implication being 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".^[16] Ham's beliefs and tactics have also been criticized by other Christians. Answers in Creation, an Old Earth creationist website, has called Ham willfully ignorant of evidence for an old earth and said he "deliberately misleads" his audiences on matters of both science and theology.^[17] 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,^[18] as well as other Answers In Genesis staff.^[19] These and other criticisms are often addressed in articles posted on the Answers website.^[20] In June 2007, on the eve of the ribbon cutting ceremony for Answers in Genesis opening the Creation Museum, Creation Ministries International "CMI" filed a lawsuit in Queensland's Supreme Court against Ham and Answers in Genesis seeking damages and accusing him of deceptive conduct in his dealings with the Australian organisation. 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."^[5] Answers in Genesis initiated binding Christian arbitration in March 2007 through Peacemaker Ministries in an effort to privately resolve the dispute between the ministries. CMI refuses to participate in the arbitration.^[21]

Creation Museum

Answers in Genesis' Creation Museum.

On May 28, 2007, Answers in Genesis opened its 60,000 square foot Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. The museum features sophisticated animatronic dinosaurs alongside humans and depicts young earth creationist ideas.^[22] Ham was the major impetus behind the museum. As he explains:

This idea came about from when I was a teacher in public schools in Australia actually, teaching in the science classes and students saying, "sir, you're a Christian, how can you believe the Bible when we know that's not true because of evolution and what's in our textbooks?" And then when I took them to museums and saw that they were presented evolution as fact, I thought why can't we have a creation museum. And so I had this embryonic idea 25 years ago in Australia. But of course, Australia's not really the place to build such a facility if you're going to reach the world. Really, America is.^[23]

Education

• Bachelors of Science in Applied Science from Queensland Institute of Technology in Australia^[1]
• Diploma of education from the University of Queensland in Australia^[1]

Honorary degrees

• Doctor of Literature, (Honorary degree) 1993, from Liberty University.
• Doctor of Divinity, (Honorary degree) 1997, from Temple Baptist College
• Doctor of Letters, (Honorary degree) 2004, from Liberty University^[24]

Bibliography

Ham's 1987 book The Lie: Evolution.

• A is for Adam (1995, ISBN 0-89051-207-8) (Children's book)
• Creation Evangelism for the New Millennium, retitled Why Won't They Listen, ISBN 0-89051-378-3 (Online chapters)
• Did Adam Have a Belly Button?
• Did Eve Really Have an Extra Rib?
• D is for Dinosaur (1991, ISBN 0-89051-193-4) (Children's book)
• Dinosaurs of Eden (2000, ISBN 0-89051-340-6) (Children's book)
• The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved! A Biblical View of These Amazing Creatures
• One Blood—the Biblical Answer to Racism (with Don Batten and Carl Wieland, 1999, ISBN 0-89051-276-0)
• Refuting Evolution by Jonathan Sarfati (Ham wrote the foreword) (1999, ISBN 0-89051-258-2)
• The Lie: Evolution Master Books. (July 1987) (ISBN 0-89051-158-6)
• The Pilgrim's Progress (Foreword)
• The Revised & Expanded Answers Book (ed. Don Batten; co-authors Jonathan Sarfati and Carl Wieland)^[25]
• Walking through Shadows—Finding Hope in a World of Pain (with Carl Wieland, 2002, ISBN 0-89051-381-3)
• Welcome to Life Welcome to Life After Eden (2003) (Foreword)
• What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? (with John Morris)

References