Answers in Genesis

Baltimore’s Columbus Center Maritime Museum had the world’s largest horseshoe crab model built for them–it is 68 feet long, 28 feet long, and has a 13-foot-high domed ceiling (apparently you can go inside it). The museum was in need of revenue, so it sold the giant horseshoe crab to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum as it was under construction. AiG realized that the crab was too large to fit in their museum, and so they gave it to the Freedom Worship Church in Blanchester, Ohio. That church put the crab into a “scripture garden” and a “fossil courtyard,” where it is used to argue for creationism on the grounds that the horseshoe crab has not evolved over time and exhibits evidence of design as “a true gift from God, with its blood being used as a clotting agent for disease in scientific research.” And now it is going to be jumped over with a motorcycle for a fundraising event called “Crabfest,” by Evel Knievel’s former bodyguard, Gene Sullivan. How could anyone fail to be convinced by that? (Via the Wilmington News Journal, Ohio.)

Creation Ministries International has updated its website about its legal battles with Answers in Genesis of Kentucky. The latest addition reports that in April, AiG served CMI with a lawsuit in the United States trying to stop the legal action in Australia–even though one of the two contracts AiG is trying to enforce specifies the law of the Australian state of Victoria as the governing law and forum. CMI will be defending itself in the U.S. against the new action.

Creation Ministries International has published a new web page summarizing their dispute with Answers in Genesis, much of which is already familiar to readers of this blog. The summary includes an update of events immediately preceding and subsequent to the attempt at arbitration in Hawaii that occurred last August, and links to supporting documents, several of which are newly made public. New in this report are two interesting emails from Philip Bell, former deputy CEO of AiG-UK, about what was going on inside AiG after the split from CMI. Bell resigned from AiG in June 2006 and is now head of CMI-UK. The first email is quoted in a letter from Carl Wieland to a CMI supporter in Australia who asked why CMI needed to take legal action against AiG, which includes these two paragraphs: ...

Creation Ministries International has put up a web page explaining the breakdown in settlement talks with Answers in Genesis: Unfortunately, the actions of AiG-US since the ‘Hawaii handshake settlement’ have meant that, barring a near-miraculous change of heart on their part, the situation appears to have broken down once more. The terms of settlement were, in the understanding of all parties present, effectively finalized and agreed upon in Hawaii in mid-August (see two ‘stop press’ announcements below) by duly authorized and empowered representatives of the ministries—even though Ken Ham was not present, although we had been led to believe that he would be. ...

After Answers in Genesis met with Creation Ministries International in Hawaii to hammer out their differences verbally in mid-August, CMI issued a statement indicating that they had agreed to convert their verbal agreement into a written one over the next 60 days. The time has come and gone, and apparently no written agreement has been reached. CMI’s web pages about their lawsuit are back online. For more information about the dispute, see the “Answers in Genesis schism” label on this blog or the excellent summary at Duae Quartunciae. UPDATE (November 16, 2007): I’ve posted a more detailed account of the settlement breakdown. ...

I have two extra copies of the latest issue of Reports of the National Center for Science Education, which contains my article, “Trouble in Paradise: Answers in Genesis Splinters," which I’ll send to the first two U.S.-based readers of this blog to request a copy in the comments. Danny Boy, FCD (2007-09-07): No consolation for the first non-US based commenter? Bummer. :p Lippard (2007-09-07): Dan, if only you were closer--you'd have a puppy, a T-shirt, and an issue of NCSE Reports! ...

Most of the material pertaining to the dispute between Answers in Genesis and Creation Ministries International has been removed from the web as the groups agreed to meet and work out a settlement arrangement in Hawaii. The meetings, which took place on August 14 and 15, reached a verbal settlement which CMI says they expect to culminate in a written agreement within the next 60 days: STOP PRESS (1)—settlement meetings taking place Posted: c. 1 August 07 ...

Thanks to Wikiscanner, here are a few of the anonymous Wikipedia edits made by people at Answers in Genesis: November 18, 2005: Changed a sentence in the entry on “Answers in Genesis” from “…according to Biblical myth, there was no death in the Garden of Eden” to “…according to the Biblical record, there was no death in the Garden of Eden." December 5, 2006: Vandalized the entry on “Football” to add the words “Football sucks”. December 28, 2006: Added an entry for www.articledirect.com to the entry on “Free content.” Does an AiG employee have another business on the side? May 24, 2007: Modifies a sentence in the entry on “Creation Museum” from “This museum portrays the Earth’s history interpreting the genesis literally” (ick!) to “The museum presents the account of man’s origins and early history according to the Book of Genesis." There are several other edits of “Creation Museum” and I didn’t review them all, but most were reasonable improvements to the article, with the occasional biased statement that propounded creationism as true. ...

The Kentucky Creation Museum is built upon a foundation (literally) that disproves its contents–alternating layers of limestone and shale filled with fossils of ancient marine creatures. This video gives you a tutorial (and is a demonstration of what Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis don’t want people to learn).

The National Center for Science Education has posted a brief report on the Answers in Genesis schism, with links to the coverage by The Australian, the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Duae Quartunciae blog, and this blog. In their report, they mention that A piece by Lippard on the schism is to appear in a future issue of Reports of the NCSE; in it, Lippard concludes, “creationism continues to evolve in fascinating ways."I encourage you to join the NCSE. The NCSE has long been the major force combatting creationism in the United States, including playing a significant support role for the plaintiffs in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case decided last year, and it works on a budget that is tiny by comparison to those of Answers in Genesis, the Institute for Creation Research, and the Discovery Institute.