Here's why I started this blog.

I first became aware of the ‘Answers in Genesis’ organisation when I was at a girlfriend’s house, waiting for her while she got ready before going out. Sitting on the sofa I knew I was in for a long wait as it was almost half an hour before I even heard the shower being turned on, so I began to rummage through the various books and magazines she had piled up on a nearby coffee table, looking for something to read. I knew my girlfriend was a Christian and that she went to church every Sunday; I even went with her on a few occasions albeit reluctantly. Two things however I was unaware of. Firstly, I had never heard of creationism, and secondly, I didn’t know she was a creationist. I found a booklet in amongst the pile of junk mail and bills about Noah’s Ark, dinosaurs and how evolution was wrong. What an odd little booklet I thought, dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark? I quizzed my girlfriend when she finally appeared from the mists of the bathroom about creationism. She informed me that she believed it all.

It wasn’t long before I found a publication called ‘The Answers Book’ in a Christian bookshop which was a publication of an organisation I had never heard of before, ‘Answers in Genesis’. Chapter one seemed harmless enough for it was titled, ‘Does God Exist?’ Chapter two was about the six days of creation; my curiosity not picking up on the apparent nuisances of difference between those who believe in a ‘young Earth’ and those who believe in ‘long ages’. I had no idea as to what the Gap Theory was and so continued onto chapter four where I found information on carbon 14 dating. This was a little bizarre I thought, why was a book on Christianity devoting a whole chapter to a scientific method of determining dates? Though no expert on the process, I have had a great interest in archaeology and ancient history for a long time and knew something about C-14. Chapter five and beyond was a cavalcade of graphs, charts, diagrams and illustrations, each as cold as the one before, and all seemingly pointing out that everything science has to tell us about the history of our planet is wrong, that the Bible is the literal truth on everything, that ‘real’ science fully supports the Book of Genesis, and that the theory of evolution is a Satan backed movement designed primarily to keep people from finding Jesus and salvation. It almost seemed as if it were science and not the Bible that they were relying upon to dazzle us into becoming Christians. “Were these people serious?” I wondered. “Do they really believe this stuff?” I could barely conceal a giggle when I saw an illustration of Job standing next to a dinosaur on page 234. I shouldn’t have laughed I thought because these people must have a very good reason for depicting such a fanciful encounter. This creationist stuff was wacky, confusing, freaky, and absolutely fascinating… I had to know more.

Over the following weeks and months I read all the books she had on the subject and soon starting tracking down other information about it on the internet, in bookstores and libraries. There seemed to be all kinds of creationists out there; some could be called ‘young-earthers’, like AiG, while others termed themselves ‘old earth’ creationists believing the Earth was anywhere between one hundred thousand to a few billion years old. Some creationists accepted bits of evolutionary teaching while others didn’t. But in all my reading one organisation kept cropping up, ‘Answers in Genesis’. Not only did they seem to be the biggest and most affluent (their web site, glossy magazines and plethora of books bares witness to some kind of wealth, and the fact that at the time they were - and have now completed - building a multi-million dollar museum in the United States) but it turned out their Australian headquarters was about twenty minutes from my house in Brisbane. These people were in my backyard! (They’ve now since dumped their Brisbane roots and replanted themselves in the United States).

In all the discussions, arguments and battles over the evolution/ creation issue the combatants have almost always been scientists, theologians, professors, doctors and so on with the ordinary people, the lay-people, caught in the middle of it all. All around us people with beards and lots of pens in their pockets are trying to win us to their side yet it seems no one had ever asked us, the general public, what we think about it all. We are the ones being preached to so what is opinion? In virtually all of AiG’s publications they drive home the point about the public being indoctrinated into believing that evolution is fact, and that people only believe in evolution and other non-biblical issues because that is all they hear at school, on television, in movies, and so on. As a layman myself I am supposedly one of the evolutionary indoctrinated masses they refer to. AiG goes on and on about how they have all the answers to everything, that they are right on all counts about absolutely everything, and that everyone should be listening to them and what they have to say on the subject of origins. So I thought, what if a lay person actually did investigate the claims of AiG in detail? Essentially, how does the ordinary person (me) think and feel about the type of creationism put forward by AiG by way of reading their literature, asking questions and forming my own opinions? If they have all the answers as they seem to think, then I wanted to know what those answers were and how they arrived at them. And as a reasonably intelligent and fairly well educated fellow, I felt I was more than capable of bringing my own life experiences and knowledge to the field of creationism and seeing what would result. So I set myself the task of reading as much AiG literature as I could and comparing what various writers within that organisation said on such diverse topics as dinosaurs, the Flood, evolution, astronomy and morality, and in addition comparing all that to what mainstream science had to say.  I came to realise that what I really wanted to know was how AiG proved/ justified their beliefs. If you are going to tell me that the Earth is only 6,000 years old then it is hoped you will have some pretty good evidence and brilliant arguments to back that up. A few Bible quotes and some carefully selected ‘science’ just wouldn’t cut it. You can say anything you want, you can say the moon is made of cheese if you wish, just make sure you are able to make a convincing argument. So I gave AiG a chance to convince me of their beliefs and I gave them my full attention. Literally every day I visited their web site, I read as many back issues of their magazine as I could get my hands on, I attended their lectures and I purchased their books. (Thinking back on it I guess I may have been one of their best customers!) Somehow AiG seemed to have all the truth and knowledge behind everything no matter what the topic. This one organisation could talk with absolute authority on everything from plate tectonics to human migration, to DNA analysis, erosion, supernovas, climate - nothing seemed beyond them. Each issue of their magazine was a journey through a bewildering variety of scientific fields with virtually every article concluding that the theory of evolution was nothing but a hopeless worn out old lie designed to dupe a gullible public. My reading of their literature prompted me to start asking questions of experts, and so I began making phone calls and sending off emails and letters to gain further insight into the issues which AiG tackled. Week after week, month after month I accumulated a collection of scientific facts, scientific theories, religious viewpoints, books and magazines, all from both secular and creationist camps. As the avalanche of data and opinion began piling up I came to realise that I needed to start recording my thoughts and findings about this particular group, and so I began writing…

If AiG were ever to read this blog I’m sure they would say I was just another “brainwashed evolutionist who never tried to understand our message and who deliberately set out to try and find fault with us.” This is certainly not the case. As far as was humanly possible I tried to have an open mind about AiG’s claims and entertained the idea that maybe they might be right about some things. If they were really onto something and could prove their case more than what evolutionary scientists could then I’d certainly have signed up. But as the months and years rolled by I found that I wasn’t being won over to their side; the more I read the more inconsistencies and contradictions I found in their arguments and their reasoning. Though defining themselves as being a literal Bible-believing group I discovered that they did indeed place their own unique interpretations on many Bible passages that perhaps other people would not have, and they even came up with historical events not even found in the Bible to help prove their claims. I will always remain a layman on the topic of evolution vs. creation, but at least now I am a layman who has read enough from both sides to know which side to choose, and I have a sneaking suspicion that if others did as I have done they too would reject the shaky claims of creationism.

I gave AiG the chance to have their say with an open, sober mind but for many reasons they failed to make me into a convert. This blog is the result of my examination of AiG and how I came away being convinced that their claims were based on very carefully chosen evidence and that their reasoning was frequently conflicting, blinkered and often at odds with itself.