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| :''For the American astronaut, see ].'' | :''For the American astronaut, see ].'' | ||
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| '''Kenneth Alfred Ham''' (b. ], ]) |
'''Kenneth Alfred Ham''' (b. ], ]) is the president of ] USA and Joint CEO of Answers in Genesis International. He is a well-known ]. | ||
| == Biography == | == Biography == | ||
Revision as of 15:58, 8 February 2006
- For the American astronaut, see Kenneth Ham.
Kenneth Alfred Ham (b. October 20, 1951) is the president of Answers in Genesis USA and Joint CEO of Answers in Genesis International. He is a well-known Young Earth Creationist.
Biography
He 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. He also holds a Diploma of Education from the University of Queensland. Jerry Falwell, Baptist preacher and chancellor of the Baptist Liberty University, granted Ham an honorary doctorate of literature.
He is married to Marilyn ("Mally") who he describes as a "very, very submissive, supportive wife" and they have five children. Two are married, and two live with them in Cincinnati. Ham has three grandchildren.
Between 1987 and 1993, Ham worked for the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), one of the oldest and most prominent American Creationist organizations. In 1994 he set up Answers in Genesis; a Christian ministry devoted to convincing people that Genesis should be taken as literally true, historically correct and scientifically accurate in every detail.
Ham often holds speaking events at various churches around the nation, speaking about the "relevancy of Genesis in today's world", and why he thinks the theory of evolution and old earth creationism are destructive to biblical authority. His supporters consider his style to be witty and humorous.
Ham believes that evolutionary theory has contributed to the rise of humanism, racism, eugenics, euthanasia, pornography, homosexuality, family breakup, abortion, and more. Furthermore, he also believes that a "compromise" in accepting evolution over Genesis leads to the erosion of biblical authority.
Writings
Ham's 1987/1991 book The Lie: Evolution (ISBN 0890511586) was one of the first to emphasise a presuppositional rather than evidentialist approach to creationist apologetics. That is, instead of emphasising arguments concerning evidence for or against creation and evolution, Ham advocated pointing out the assumptions behind the interpretations of this evidence. A few years later, Phillip E. Johnson, a leader of the Intelligent Design movement, also alleged that evolutionary theory was based on the assumption of philosophical naturalism.
Ham is also the author of Creation Evangelism for the New Millennium, retitled Why Won't They Listen, ISBN 0890513783 (online chapters).
Ham also co-authored The Revised & Expanded Answers Book (ed. Don Batten; co-authors Jonathan Sarfati and Carl Wieland). It provides Ham's answers to common questions that both Christians and non-Christians ask regarding creation/evolution and Genesis.
He has authored several children’s books Dinosaurs of Eden (2000, ISBN 0890513406), D is for Dinosaur (1991, ISBN 0890511934) and A is for Adam (1995, ISBN 0890512078).
He recently co-authored books include One Blood—the Biblical Answer to Racism (with Don Batten and Carl Wieland, 1999, ISBN 0890512760) and Walking through Shadows—Finding Hope in a World of Pain (with Carl Wieland, 2002, ISBN 0890513813), and wrote the foreword to Refuting Evolution by Jonathan Sarfati (1999, ISBN 0890512582).
Radio Program
Answers…with Ken Ham is a radio program that is broadcast daily on over 1000 radio stations worldwide. Each 90 second broadcast features commentary by Ken Ham and presents opinions expressed on the Answers in Genesis website. Archives of past broadcasts are available.
Criticisms
Salary
Complaints of financially-driven agendas were made by several critics. Dr Kevin Henke , on John Stear's website No Answers in Genesis , made a generalised complaint about YEC ministries: "Nevertheless, there is little doubt that many of these YEC ministries survive on the backs of many poor and elderly members that really can't afford to be throwing money at such a hopeless cause". Dr Christopher Sharpe on his 'domain name for commercial uses', CSharpe , echoed the complaint in a more specific direction: "Somewhat less favorable explanations are that is in it for the money and/or the pride. Getting a research position at a university is difficult, and if you get one it is a lot of hard work with bad pay."
Also, in similar articles about the Creation museum development project, Lexington's Ace Weekly and Cincinnati's CityBeat quoted Jennifer Warner, a plaintiff in the dismissed lawsuit/countersuit with AiG (USA), saying, "It's all about making money. They're masquerading behind this Creation museum because they can make more money when they claim religious discrimination."
According to Guidestar, the United States branch of AiG had revenue exceeding $10 million in 2004. In that year, Ken Ham was compensated $185,572. Other high ranking officials were compensated $115,621 (Dale Mason), $92,352 (Carl Kerby), $91,316 (Mike Zovath), $89,133 (Mark Looy) and $86,068 (Kathy Ellis). However, Dr Lisle's name was not on the IRS 990's (page 7) list of 'Name and address of each employee paid more than $50,000'.
Kentucky Post staff reporter, Kevin Eigelbach, in an article about Answers in Genesis' (USA) message, reported Ham's salary for 2001 and Ham's defense of that salary amount: "People who think that's a lot of money probably don't know the sacrifices made to get the ministry started. had no salary in the first years of the ministry and bought equipment for it with teacher's retirement pay."
Ham's teachings
His arguments are hotly debated amongst those in the skeptic community and have not gained the acceptance of any mainstream scientific organizations. In particular No Answers in Genesis site lists specific criticisms of Ham's teachings on science .
External links
Articles by Ken Ham
- "Creation: ‘where’s the proof?’"
- "Searching for the ‘magic bullet’"
- "Road work ahead" (illustrates his evangelism strategy of "Jews vs. Greeks")
- "The god of an old earth"
Ham & Answers in Genesis
Critics of Ham
- Ken Ham vacillates in his new revised and expanded edition of The Answer Book. (note that the new edition had different co-authors)
- Rebuttals to Ken Ham articles on the "Answers In Creation" website (old-earth creationist/theistic evolutionist)