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Kent Hovind
File:Kent Hovind.jpg
Born	Kent E. Hovind (1953-01-15) January 15, 1953 (age 71)
Occupation(s)	Evangelist, broadcaster, Christian theme park operator
Spouse	Jo Delia Hovind
Children	Kent Andrew Hovind Eric Hovind Marlissa Jewell
Website	Creation Science Evangelism

Dr Kent Hovind (born in 1953), the self-styled Dr Dino, is an American Young Earth Creationist evangelist who is currently offering USD $250,000 to anyone who can prove evolution "is the only possible way," although the offer is widely considered to be spurious. He is the founder of Creation Science Evangelism, his non-profit ministry.

Hovind was formerly a high school science teacher in private American Baptist schools for 15 years.

While he uses the title "Doctor," many of his critics do not take this seriously, as he has a Ph.D. in "Christian Education" from the unaccredited correspondence school Patriot University (a known diploma mill). Hovind often defends his college education, though, claiming that his critics are more out to attack him instead of his arguments against evolution.

Critics charge that Kent Hovind's creation/evolution sermons are a mix of pseudoscience, Christian Fundamentalism and conspiracy theories. Hovind considers the Bible the inerrant word of God and must be taken literally to its word, and because of this, all findings of science must be adapted so as to agree with scripture — which he claims is a priori known to be truth. But, he claims that evolutionists also have a priori assumptions as well, namely that God does not exist (or at least not one that performed special Creation) thereby distorting their own application of science. He does not, however, take Biblical literalism as far as do the Flat Earth Creationists, who believe the Earth is (or at least was) flat because of their particular interpretation of the Bible. The reason for this, he says, is because the Bible talks about the "circle of earth" in Isaiah chapter 22. This, he says, is evidence that the Bible describes a circular earth rather than a four-cornered flat earth. The references to the "four corners of the earth" are clearly parabolic, according to Hovind.

Hovind is mostly known for his debates with evolutionists. The best-known contemporary evolutionists, Richard Dawkins and the late Stephen Jay Gould, have in the past refused to debate Hovind by claiming that debate is not how science works and gives charlatans more of an advantage than systematic inquiry (see: scientific method). Hovind disagrees, and feels that they avoid debate simply because the audience will perceive that evolution is not as factual as evolutionists claim it is.

In Hovind's debates, he traditionally focuses on trying to discredit evolutionary theory rather than providing evidence for Creationism. However, he does occasionally present what he says is evidence for a flood, among other creationist theories such as the canopy theory. He is regarded, even among many other Young Earth Creationists , as being crude in his argumentation. The vast majority of secular scientists, including many creationists, do not take Hovind's work very seriously or agree with his interpretation of the facts.

Hovind is also a staunch advocate of the King-James-Only Movement movement of using only the King James Version of the Bible, claiming that it is the only true infallible word of God for the English-speaking peoples. According to him, all of the numerous other English translations of the Bible are in some way corrupt.

External links

• Hovind's web site
• Talk.origins on Hovind
• Analysis of Kent Hovind
• Patriot University website
• A review of Hovind's Ph.D. dissertation

1. "Creation Science Evangelism - Creation, Evolution, Dinosaurs, and the Bible". Retrieved 2007-08-03.

• 1953 births