Creation Research

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“”They were among the happiest and friendliest people I had met. So it seemed a pity to discover they also ranked among the stupidest.
—One journalist's view of Australian creationists[1]

Creation Research is an Australian organization and "ministry" that blindly supports young earth creationism. The organization is run by John Mackay, "the creation guy". In addition to a prolific collection of webshites dedicated to pseudoscience (primarily pseudoarchaeology) and creationist bullshit, they operate a number of pseudo-museums. They are Biblical literalists, so of course they are climate change denialists who use the global flood myth in relentless attacks on science.

History[edit]

In 1977, Mackay and fellow Australian creationist Ken Ham ran the first major creation seminar in Brisbane, Australia.[2] Eventually, this led to Ham and Mackay founding the Creation Science Foundation (CSF) in 1979.[3] Like Ham, Mackay was a public school science teacher.[4]

In 1987, the same year that Ham moved to the United States to join the Institute for Creation Research (and then later founding Answers in Genesis),[3] Mackay split with CSF to form his own ministry. This ministry was named Creation Research.[5][6][7] Since then, several small ministries in other countries connected to Creation Research have also been set up.[4]

According to information obtained by the National Center for Science Education, Mackay's departure was prompted by drama centering around Ham's widowed personal secretary Margaret Buchanan. For some reason, Mackay accused Buchanan of being a demonically possessed practitioner of witchcraft who was attempting to undermine both CSF and Mackay. CSF ultimately rejected these allegations. This led to Ham cutting all ties with Mackay at the time (though Answers in Genesis and Creation Research have worked together in recent years).[8][5]

Mackay is a frequent lecturer internationally on the subject of creationism. His lectures have attracted controversy when they have taken place at schools and universities, as happened in Britain in 2006.[9] In another incident in 2011, under the guise of a National School Chaplaincy Program set up in 2006, a Gympie State school in Queensland organized a Mackay lecture billed as an attendance-optional "science presentation examining the evidence for the Biblical account of Creation". Not surprisingly, this also generated controversy for the blurring of the separation of church and state that this represented.[10][11]

Mackay has participated in several contentious debates with scientists (such as a debate with Richard Dawkins in 2009). Like many creationists, he is a frequent abuser of the Gish Gallop "technique".[12][13]

Despite claiming to be proficient enough to debate topics in cosmology, archaeology, biology, and countless other fields, Mackay appears to have had no academic training except for degrees in geology and genetics from Queensland University.Wikipedia[14]

Pseudoacademics[edit]

Creation Research hosts an enormous amount of content on the internet claiming proof of their creationist beliefs that is suspiciously lacking in any kind of academic rigor. Unlike other creationist organizations such as Answers in Genesis that create tons of pseudoscientific babble with an academic veneer, Creation Research is completely devoid of any type of academic content. When they actually present articles documenting scientific research by others, the articles are accompanied by a rebuttal consisting of Bible quotes and creationist apologia. A typical example of this idiocy is shown in their "Creation Fact Files" webshite when discussing a real scientist's proposed method for narrowing down the search for extraterrestrial life:

The earth was created separately from all the objects in outer space, and it is filled with life because the Creator God put it there after He had created the earth with the right physical and chemical environment to sustain life. It takes vast amounts of information to make living cells, and information comes from the mind of the Creator, who made the heavens and earth and all that is in them.[15]

The subject of extraterrestrials is explored further on the "Ask John Mackay" webshite, where a cascading river of Bible quotes is presented as evidence for their creationist, Biblical literalist claims.[16]

Pseudoarchaeology[edit]

“”You know your stories about St George slaying the dragon? Well, there is a possibility that some myths are based on truths!
—John Mackay, as part of his advocacy that humans and dinosaurs co-existed[17]

Creation Research claims to have between twenty and thirty thousand fossils in their "Creation Museum" collection, including "beautiful plants preserved by rapid burial during Noah’s Flood".[18] Their dinosaur fossil collection is proudly shown alongside attacks on scientific knowledge. For example:

…science is an art form where theory often drives the facts, and in this case the evolutionist fantasy that birds had to evolve from dinosaurs overrides the obvious lack of feathers on any dinosaur.[19]

"Rapid flood burial" is a recurring theme. They claim, without any evidence except for pictures of fossils, that several of their aquatic fossil specimens were buried alive and expose as false the "evolutionist lie" that "fish, live, die and fall to the bottom, before they are slowly buried and turned into fossils."[20] They also claim to have a collection of "absolutely genuine" "three dimensional trilobites" that were expensively "prepared" for display in their pseudo-museum. The specimens all appear to have been extensively restored and highly modified, yet are presented as evidence that "There is no vast amount of time preserved in the fossil record, only rapid catastrophic process."[21]

Webshites[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Garry Linnel, The Echidna: There's no denying it, the denialists are stupid. The Examiner, 9 February 2023.
  2. ↑ "Creation Down Under" by Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis, 2012 September 7, archived on 2018 May 29
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 History, Answers in Genesis, archived on 2024 May 3
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Defying Darwin" by Stephen Moss, Guardian, 2009 Feb 16
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Roger Stanyard, Inherit the Windbags: John Mackay and Answers in Genesis. No Answers In Genesis.
  6. ↑ "Creation Ministries International: What We Are", Creation Ministries International, archived on 2006 May 3
  7. ↑ "The History of Jurassic Ark", JurassicArk.com, archived on 2022 February 19
  8. ↑ "Trouble in Paradise", National Center for Science Education Volume 26 No. 6 November-December 2006
  9. ↑ "Creationism flap stirred in Britain", UPI, 2006 April 24
  10. ↑ "The scary future of creationism in America" by Marion Maddox, Salon, 2014 February 9
  11. ↑ "Australia's blurred separation between church and state" by Katherine Stewart, Guardian, 2012 April 29
  12. ↑ "Creationist leader to visit Northern Ireland" by William Crawley, BBC, 2009 October 3
  13. ↑ "GISH GALLOPER: John Mackay was accused of this. What does it mean?", Ask John Mackay, 2012 January 2, archived on 2021 January 15
  14. ↑ BIO IN BRIEF for John Mackay the Creation Guy - updated 3/6/21. Creation Research, June 2021.
  15. ↑ Alien Life Within 60 Light Years. Creation Fact File, 17 November 2023.
  16. ↑ EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL? Is there life in outer space? Would it matter theologically if they found some? Ask John Mackay, 8 September 2011.
  17. ↑ "Creationist on a dinkum crusade" by Annabel Crabb, The Age, 2006 April 30
  18. ↑ Fossil Plants, Creation Research.
  19. ↑ Dinosaur Fossil Collection, Creation Research.
  20. ↑ Fossil fish collection. Creation Research.
  21. ↑ Fabulous Trilobite Collection, Creation Research.
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