Ken Ham poses with dinosaur models in his unfinished $25 million Answers in Genesis museum.
Posted on 05/23/2005 3:29:06 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
Ken Ham has spent 11 years working on a museum that poses the big question - when and how did life begin? Ham hopes to soon offer an answer to that question in his still-unfinished Creation Museum in northern Kentucky.
The $25 million monument to creationism offers Ham's view that God created the world in six, 24-hour days on a planet just 6,000 years old. The largest museum of its kind in the world, it hopes to draw 600,000 people from the Midwest and beyond in its first year.
Ham, 53, isn't bothered that his literal interpretation of the Bible runs counter to accepted scientific theory, which says Earth and its life forms evolved over billions of years.
Ham said the museum is a way of reaching more people along with the Answers in Genesis Web site, which claims to get 10 million page views per month and his "Answers ... with Ken Ham" radio show, carried by more than 725 stations worldwide.
"People will get saved here," Ham said of the museum. "It's going to fire people up. If nothing else, it's going to get them to question their own position of what they believe."
Ham is ready for a fight over his beliefs - based on a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament.
"It's a foundational battle," said Ham, a native of Australia who still speaks with an accent. "You've got to get people believing the right history - and believing that you can trust the Bible."
Among Ham's beliefs are that the Earth is about 6,000 years old, a figure arrived at by tracing the biblical genealogies, and not 4.5 billion years, as mainstream scientists say; the Grand Canyon was formed not by erosion over millions of years, but by floodwaters in a matter of days or weeks and that dinosaurs and man once coexisted, and dozens of the creatures - including Tyrannosaurus Rex - were passengers on the ark built by Noah, who was a real man, not a myth.
Although the Creation Museum's full opening is still two years away, already a buzz is building.
"When that museum is finished, it's going to be Cincinnati's No. 1 tourist attraction," says the Rev. Jerry Falwell, nationally known Baptist evangelist and chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. "It's going to be a mini-Disney World."
Respected groups such as the National Science Board, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Science Teachers Association strongly support the theory of evolution. John Marburger, the Bush administration's science adviser, has said, "Evolution is a cornerstone of modern biology."
Many mainstream scientists worry that creationist theology masquerading as science will have an adverse effect on the public's science literacy.
"It's a giant step backward in science education," says Carolyn Chambers, chair of the biology department at Xavier University, which is operated by the Jesuit order of the Catholic church.
Glenn Storrs, curator of vertebrate paleontology for the Cincinnati Museum Center, leads dinosaur excavations in Montana each summer. He said the theory of dinosaurs and man coexisting is a "non-issue."
"And so, I believe, is the age of the Earth," Storrs said. "It's very clear the Earth is much older than 6,000 years."
The Rev. Mendle Adams, pastor of St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Pleasant Ridge, takes issue with Ham's views - and the man himself.
"He takes extraordinary liberties with Scripture and theology to prove his point," Adams said. "The bottom line is, he is anti-gay, and he uses that card all the time."
Ham says homosexual behavior is a sin. But he adds that he's careful to condemn the behavior, not the person.
Even detractors concede that Ham has appeal.
Ian Plimer, chair of geology at the University of Melbourne, became aware of Ham in the late 1980s, when Ham's creationist ministry in Australia was just a few years old.
"He is promoting the religion and science of 350 years ago," says Plimer. "He's a far better communicator than most mainstream scientists."
Despite his communication skills, Ham admits he doesn't always make a good first impression. But, that doesn't stop him from trying to spread his beliefs.
"He'd be speaking 20 hours a day if his body would let him," said Mike Zovath, vice president of museum operations.
Ham's wife of 32 years agrees. "He finds it difficult talking about things apart from the ministry," Mally Ham says. "He doesn't shut off."
Ham said he has no choice but to speak out about what he believes.
"The Lord gave me a fire in my bones," Ham says. "The Lord has put this burden in my heart: 'You've got to get this information out.'"
Actually, Danny, I think it's you who is uniformed. Did you look at the site? They're not reaching evolution K-2; they're introducing concepts that will be later used in the teaching of evolution - things like inheritance of characteristics, and variation, and the existence of fossils. And reasonably enough; few 6 year olds are going to be able to understand Darwinian evolution, given that many grow-up creationists have problems.
"You're not supposed to pay attention to that, anyway. You're just supposed to notice he has all these rocks to throw and be impressed." - Vade Retro
The way the two articles were presented with the second article indented and linked to the first article, it should have been clear at a glance to most educated readers that the second article is an update of the first.
If you had actually read the articles you would find that the second one is indeed an update and refers repeatedly to the hoax theory of the first article and dismisses the hoax theory. However the very evidence that dismisses the hoax theory also establishes Archaeopteryx as a true bird and not a reptile.
(Post #14 was the original post at which the above italicized attacks are directed.)
Yep, a 'true' bird, which, uinlike any living bird, has concave-articulated vertebrae, free rather than fused; abdominal ribs; a rib cage that doesn't articulate with the sternum; mobile joints in the upper limbs, rather than the fused joints found in birds; solid rather than hollow bones; a therapsid rather than avian skull structure; teeth; and a tail.
For some odd reason, nothing like that has ever visited my feeders.
Oh they aren't teaching all aspects of evolution theory in kindergarden. But they are clearly indoctrinating key concepts so that they can slowly build each year with repetition and additional indoctrination.
And they have a specific plan for Kindergarden and each of the grades.
Why? In kindergarden they should be learning to READ, WRITE, ADD and SUBTRACT. There is absolutely no reason for evo's to push their religion on Kindergardeners, in whole or in part.
The sole purpose of that site is to introduce evolution. The concepts they are proposing to teach kindergardners have one purpose and one purpose only. To get the kids to be more receptive later on.
Let's look at the first proposed lesson targeted at K-2 grades. From this site Look at this lesson and tell me they aren't teaching evolution.
______________________________________________
 |
A Long TimeAuthors: Sharon Janulaw |
Overview: In this lesson, the teacher puts up a time line that shows students age relative to geologic time.
Lesson Concepts:
Grade Span: K–2
Materials:
Advance Preparation:
— Put up the timeline with appropriate numbers using a scale of 10 meters equals a billion years (1 centimeter equals one million years) • Cenozoic: 0 to 65 cm, Mesozoic: 65 cm to 2.5 m, Paleozoic: 2.5 m to 5.5 m, Precambrian: 5.5 m to 37 m.
— Copy and cut out appropriate pictures for eras.
— Cut out a very small picture of a girl and a boy.
Time: 20 minutes
Grouping: Whole class
Teacher Background:
The earliest fossils date to about 3.7 billion years ago (bya). This is the beginning of the Precambrian Eon. Life for most of the Precambrian consisted of unicellular bacteria, but late Precambrian fossils include jellies and wormlike life. The Paleozoic Era began about 550 mya and was marked by the rise of arthropods (e.g., crustaceans and insects) as well as fish and amphibians. The Mesozoic Era (beginning at 250 mya) featured everybody’s favorite, dinosaurs, swimming reptiles, flying reptiles and early mammals. In the Cenozoic Era (from 65 mya to present), mammals rose to dominate the large fauna and birds colonized every continent.It is important to note that all life today descended from Precambrian life and that there are many familiar examples of present-day life that are very similar to ancient forms. Examples include jellies, corals, sea stars, crawdads, sowbugs and dragonflies. Remarkably, opossums and shrews closely resemble mammals that shared the Earth with dinosaurs.
Teacher Resources: There are many high-interest books about prehistoric life in bookstores. Examples:
Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up by John R. Horner tells an engaging tale.
Dinosaurs: The Biggest, Baddest, Strangest, Fastest by Zimmerman and Olshevsky is an excellent picture book with interesting text.Explore these links for additional information on the topics covered in this lesson:
Teaching Tips:
The numbers on the timeline will be impressive but meaningless to children in this age group. The points to get across are that life has been on Earth for an extremely long time and it hasn’t always stayed the same.
Vocabulary: timeline
Procedure:
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For some odd reason, nothing like that has ever visited my feeders.Creationists have, obviously, better feeders.
In kindergarden they should be learning to READ, WRITE, ADD and SUBTRACT.
I fully understand why you want to limit them to the three Rs, since it appears there is little in science you don't object to. However, kids do learn science K-2, and most parents think that's good.
(Full disclaimer: I was punished in second grade for reading a biology book during religion class. What can I say? Biology was more interesting.)
Seems that way. Have to go to the pet store to see if they stock manna.
Nawp. Modern science steps beyond its limits in asserting an old earth. Modern science has yet to ascertain what exactly are time, space, light, and energy. I hardly think it is in a position to dictate to the rest of the world what is history.
Meanwhile, I doubt you will find Answers in Genesis asserting Newtonian Physics to be entirely false as a means of understanding the creation. For that matter, what have they written against either the Theory of General Relativity or the Theory of Special Relativity? In what way have they denounced the discovery of DNA?
Evolution is not the answer it sets itself up to be. Slowly but surely the charade is being exposed with numbers and functions too complex to be produced apart from any intelligent agent.
I reckon any "imaginary" aspects of this lesson would be glossed over. Not even the preface, "some people believe," would be suggested under the circumstances. Nosiree! We've got a dogma to maintain here, and by Darwin, it'll happen come hail or high water.
Yes, at that age. Teach them to think critically first before you teach them stuff like that. But that lesson goes far beyond just teaching the age of the universe.
From lesson one: It is important to note that all life today descended from Precambrian life and that there are many familiar examples of present-day life that are very similar to ancient forms. Examples include jellies, corals, sea stars, crawdads, sowbugs and dragonflies. Remarkably, opossums and shrews closely resemble mammals that shared the Earth with dinosaurs.
"However, kids do learn science K-2, and most parents think that's good. "
There's a lot more practical science for them to learn than evolution.
(Full disclaimer: I was punished in second grade for reading a biology book during religion class. What can I say? Biology was more interesting.)
See...you studied evolution at that age and look how you turned out! LOL. A religion class? Were you in private school?
LOL! Give or take a few billion years!
I was pointing out what was actually said vs. what you perceived was said. As usual, you were wrong.
And what a waste of adding machine tape!
So I can further understand your position, how old do you believe the Earth and subsequently the universe to be?
Sorry, but I disagree. There's not much more I can say. I'll give one more try.
Evolution is not the answer it sets itself up to be.
But we're not talking about the theory of evolution any more.
Meanwhile, I doubt you will find Answers in Genesis asserting Newtonian Physics to be entirely false as a means of understanding the creation. For that matter, what have they written against either the Theory of General Relativity or the Theory of Special Relativity?
Here's an article by Ken Ham on the topic of astronomy, which suggests the speed of light may have changed in order to accomodate a 6000 year old universe. This supposition is not supported by observations. I brought up supernova 1987A as a specific example earlier. Science leads us to conclude the light from 1987A took about 170,000 years to reach us. Either young-earth creationism is incorrect, or the entire field of science and everyone working in it is guilty of perpetrating massive fraud.
Greetings, RA.
I take the Genesis account of creation at face value, i.e. literally. The biblical text requires more study than I have given personally, but I'm sure you would classify me as a YEC guy. I'm not one to posit the age of the earth as a matter of scientific certainty.
One way to check into it might be to trace the current pattern of planetary orbits and see how far back in time we would have to travel to see all of the observable planets perfectly aligned, but even this excercise assumes too much, IMO. How long ago was it?
Most of us already knew the hoax theory was itself a hoax. When Hoyle made his ridiculous claim, the fossil itself was extensively investigated. There was no way it was a forgery at all, much less a 19th-century-technology forgery.
However the very evidence that dismisses the hoax theory also establishes Archaeopteryx as a true bird and not a reptile.
Archaeopteryx is almost as perfect a halfway creature as anyone could want.
The basis of the hoax theory is that Archaeopteryx looks like a dinosaur, except for the feathers. It does look like a dinosaur. It has a dinosaur head, a dinosaur tail, and dinosaur claws. Even funnier, we have these Chinese dinosaurs that look like Archaeopteryx and they have feathers, too. They're basically Archy's closest known relatives, but they're not even birds. They're feathered dinosaurs.
For the umpteenth time, the itemized lists:
The Bird Features.
The Dinosaur Features.
What Archy's skeleton looked like:
Here's what a modern bird skeleton looks like:
The big plow-blade shaped thing is the sternum. It has been adapted by *ahem* evolution to anchor the big flapping muscles of a flying bird. Archy's sternum isn't depicted in the drawing above. When a specimen was finally found with a preserved sternum, it was a regular little saurian plate, not a mighty blade.
Funniest of all, DannyTN should have learned all this years ago.
Thank you for being upfront. :-)
One way to check into it might be to trace the current pattern of planetary orbits and see how far back in time we would have to travel to see all of the observable planets perfectly aligned, but even this excercise assumes too much, IMO. How long ago was it?
To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what you mean here.
Honest question.
With all of the vast evidence for a very old Earth and universe, how is it you can say with certainty it is only 6K years old?
Science is hardly on top of this "light" thing. Light is not necessarily the fastest object in the universe, or do you know for certain otherwise? You already take it on faith that the speed of light is, what? c. 386,000 miles per second? Your reason has led you to accept the testimony of several others who claim to have measured it. That's okay. I believe it, too. But to reject outright the suggestion that the speed of light may not have always been constant is, well, like rejecting the notion the earth is spherical before checking it out.
Darwinism has been an unwitting proponent of flat earth "science." Too bad it clings to education like a bad barnacle.
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