Editing Answers in Genesis (section)

==Reception==
[[Creation science]], which is supported by AiG, is a pseudoscience that "lacks the central defining characteristic of all modern scientific theories".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Albert|first1=Leon|title="Scientific" Creationism as a Pseudoscience|journal=Creation Evolution Journal|volume=6|issue=2|page=27|url=https://ncse.com/cej/6/2/scientific-creationism-as-pseudoscience}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ruse|first1=Michael|title=Creation Science is not Science|journal= Science, Technology, & Human Values|date=July 15, 1982|volume=7|issue=3|pages=10–18|doi=10.1177/016224398200700313|s2cid=143503427}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Gordin|first1=Michael D.|title=The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe|date=2012|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226304434|page=137|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZL5iSDWts0kC&pg=PA137|language=en}}</ref> Scientific and scholarly organizations, including the [[National Academy of Sciences]], [[Paleontological Society]], [[Geological Society of America]], [[Australian Academy of Science]], and the [[Royal Society of Canada]] have issued statements against the teaching of creationism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/media/voices/science |title=Statements from Scientific and Scholarly Organizations |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |publisher=National Center for Science Education |location=Berkeley, CA |access-date=September 6, 2008}}</ref> The National Center for Science Education, a science advocacy group, criticize AiG's promotion of non-science.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/taking-action/project-steve |title=Project Steve |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=October 17, 2008 |publisher=National Center for Science Education |location=Berkeley, California |access-date=September 6, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Scott |first=Eugenie C. |author-link=Eugenie Scott |date=January–February 1997 |title=Anti-evolutionists Form, Fund Think Tank |url=http://ncse.com/rncse/17/1/anti-evolutionists-form-fund-think-tank |journal=Reports of the National Center for Science Education |location=Berkeley, California |publisher=National Center for Science Education |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=25–26 |issn=2158-818X |access-date=September 6, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/creationism/general/pbss-evolution-creationist-backlash |title=PBS's 'Evolution': The Creationist Backlash |last=Branch |first=Glenn |author-link=Glenn Branch |date=September 1, 2001 |publisher=National Center for Science Education |location=Berkeley, California |format=PDF |access-date=October 1, 2014}}</ref> In direct response to AiG, [[No Answers in Genesis]] is a website maintained by members of the [[Australian Skeptics]] and retired civil servant John Stear for the purpose of rebutting claims made by AiG.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.noanswersingenesis.org.au/ |title=No Answers in Genesis! |website=No Answers in Genesis |publisher=[[Australian Skeptics]] Science and Education Foundation |access-date=April 6, 2008}}</ref>

Astronomer [[Hugh Ross (creationist)|Hugh Ross]]'s organization [[Reasons To Believe]], a [[Progressive creationism|progressive creationist]] organization, is a critic of Answers in Genesis.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/other_papers/is_oec_heretical.shtml |title=Old-Earth Creationism: A Heretical Belief? |last=Moore |first=Greg |date=August 23, 2007 |website=Reasons To Believe |location=Glendora, California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012235505/http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/other_papers/is_oec_heretical.shtml |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |access-date=February 19, 2008}}</ref> [[The BioLogos Foundation]], which promotes [[Theistic evolution|evolutionary creationism]], has stated that the views of Answers in Genesis have "force[d] many thoughtful Christians to lose their faith", while The Biologos Foundation "protect[s the Christian] faith".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://biologos.org/blog/saving-faith |title=Saving Faith |last=Giberson |first=Karl |author-link=Karl W. Giberson |date=June 15, 2009 |publisher=[[The BioLogos Foundation]] |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=May 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503170933/http://biologos.org/blog/saving-faith |archive-date=May 3, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2011 skeptic [[Brian Dunning (author)|Brian Dunning]] listed it as #5 on his "Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites" list.<ref>{{Skeptoid|id=4283|number=283|title= Top 10 Worst Anti–Science Websites |access-date=October 23, 2020|date=November 8, 2011|quote=5. Answers in Genesis}}</ref>

===Richard Dawkins interview===
In 1998, Answers in Genesis filmed an interview with [[Richard Dawkins]], a prominent evolutionary biologist at [[Oxford University]], resulting in a controversial video that AiG posted on its website.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2004/08/publicintellectualspoll/ |title=Public Intellectuals Poll |access-date=March 9, 2008 |last=Herman |first=David |year=2004 |work=Prospect |archive-date=November 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106105034/http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2004/08/publicintellectualspoll/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Dawkins addressed it in the essay: "The 'Information Challenge{{'"}}, published in ''[[A Devil's Chaplain]]'' in 2003. The "suspiciously amateurish" interview included, according to Dawkins, "the kind of question only a creationist would ask in that way" (namely, to "give an example of a genetic mutation or an evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the genome"). Realizing that he had been duped, Dawkins, at his admission, was angry at the thought and initially refused to answer the question but relented and continued the interview. Dawkins wrote: "My generosity was rewarded in a fashion that anyone familiar with fundamentalist tactics might have predicted. When I eventually saw the film a year later, I found that it had been edited to give the false impression that I was incapable of answering the question about information content. In fairness, this may not have been quite as intentionally deceitful as it sounds. You have to understand that these people really believe that their question cannot be answered!"{{sfn|Dawkins|2003|loc=[http://www.skeptics.com.au/publications/articles/the-information-challenge/ p. 91]|ps=}}

The Australian Skeptics wrote that AIG edited the film to give the appearance that Dawkins was unable to "give an example of a genetic mutation or an evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the genome" and that a segment that shows him pausing for 11 seconds was a film of him considering whether to expel the interviewer from the room for not revealing her creationist sympathies at the outset. Dawkins reported to the Australian Skeptics that the interviewer shown in the finished film was not the same person who had originally asked the questions. Dawkins and Barry Williams also said that AIG had subsequently changed the question to make it look like Dawkins, who answered the original question put to him, was unable to answer.<ref name="ASkeptics">{{cite journal |last=Williams |first=Barry |year=1998 |title=Creationist Deception Exposed |url=http://www.skeptics.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/magazine/The%20Skeptic%20Volume%2018%20%281998%29%20No%203.pdf |journal=The Skeptic |location=Sydney |publisher=[[Australian Skeptics]] |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=7–10 |issn=0726-9897 |access-date=October 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016053110/http://www.skeptics.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/magazine/The%20Skeptic%20Volume%2018%20%281998%29%20No%203.pdf |archive-date=October 16, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Anti-atheism billboards===
In the spring of 2009, Answers in Genesis posted a billboard in Texas with a young boy aiming a gun towards the viewer with the words, "If God doesn't matter to him, do you?" The same image was used in a TV ad.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/christianist-groups-billboard-compare |title=Christianist Group's Billboard Compares Atheism To Murder |last=Belle |first=Nicole |date=June 2, 2009 |website=[[Crooks and Liars]] |type=Blog |access-date=October 10, 2014}}</ref> In 2014, the organization purchased space in [[Times Square]] to run a 15-second video advertisement addressed "To all of our intolerant liberal friends". According to AiG, the goal of the billboard was to "challenge the secularists who are increasingly intolerant of the Christian message". The Christian ''[[Relevant Magazine]]'' described the ad as "passive-aggressive" and "weirdly combative".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.relevantmagazine.com/slices/heres-controversial-billboard-answers-genesis-displaying-times-square-tonight |title=Here's the Controversial Billboard 'Answers in Genesis' Is Displaying in Times Square Tonight |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160814140133/http://www.relevantmagazine.com/slices/heres-controversial-billboard-answers-genesis-displaying-times-square-tonight |archive-date=August 14, 2016 |website=[[Relevant (magazine)|Relevant]] |date=December 31, 2014}}</ref>

===Great Homeschool Conventions===
In March 2011, the Board of Great Homeschool Conventions, Inc. (a young-Earth Christian group) voted to disinvite Ken Ham and AiG from future conventions due to Ham's words about other Christians making "unnecessary, ungodly, and mean-spirited statements that are divisive at best and defamatory at worst". The controversy stemmed from Ham's commentary on the position expressed by [[Peter Enns]], of [[The BioLogos Foundation]], who advocated a symbolic rather than a literal interpretation of the fall of Adam and Eve. Writing on his blog, Ham accused Enns of espousing "outright liberal theology that totally undermines the authority of the Word of God", which led to his invitation being revoked.<ref name="BannedfromConvention">{{cite news |last=Blackford |first=Linda B. |date=March 24, 2011 |title=Founder of Creation Museum banned from convention |url=http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article44085801.html |newspaper=Lexington Herald-Leader |location=Sacramento, California |publisher=The McClatchy Company |access-date=October 10, 2014}}</ref>

===Legal action by Creation Ministries International===
On May 31, 2007, Creation Ministries International filed a lawsuit in [[Supreme Court of Queensland]] against Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis seeking damages and accusing him of "unbiblical/unethical/unlawful behaviour" in his dealings with the Australian organization.<ref name="McKenna_2007" /> Before the split, the Australian group had been producing periodicals, ''Creation'' magazine and ''Journal of Creation'', which were then distributed in other countries by local groups. The Australian group had no access to the list of subscribers in the US. AiG discontinued the distribution arrangement, and produced a new magazine of their own, called ''Answers'', and represented that to subscribers as a replacement.<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |url=http://www.christianfaithandreason.com/june_creationmag.html |title=Fellow Christians Aggrieved by Business Practices of Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis |journal=Christian Faith and Reason Magazine |location=Spring Hill, TN |publisher=Guerrilla Enterprise Management |date=May 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627030651/http://www.christianfaithandreason.com/june_creationmag.html |archive-date=June 27, 2007 |access-date=September 30, 2014}}</ref> Creation Ministries International claimed $252,000 (US) in damages for lost revenue by misleading and deceptive conduct in relating to lost subscriptions.<ref name="legalclaim">{{cite web |url=http://www.creationontheweb.biz/statement-of-claim.pdf |title=Statement of Claim (4690/07 Supreme Court of Brisbane) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513052009/http://www.creationontheweb.biz/statement-of-claim.pdf |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |access-date=July 18, 2007}} Photocopy supplied at the CMI website; see also [http://apps.courts.qld.gov.au/esearching/FileDetails.aspx?Location=BRISB&Court=SUPRE&Filenumber=4690/07 official court file summary]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715041911/http://apps.courts.qld.gov.au/esearching/FileDetails.aspx?Location=BRISB&Court=SUPRE&Filenumber=4690%2F07 |date=July 15, 2020 }}.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Mead |first1=Andy |last2=Farrar |first2=Lu-Ann |date=June 17, 2007 |title=Museum group sued by fellow creationists |url=http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/100183.html |newspaper=Lexington Herald-Leader |location=Sacramento, California |publisher=The McClatchy Company |page=A1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620155007/http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/100183.html |archive-date=June 20, 2007 |access-date=October 7, 2014}}</ref> 

An editorial analysis of the situation, including reference to estranged co-founder John Mackay's allegations in 1986 of necrophilia and witchcraft against Ken Ham's personal secretary is offered in an account in the ''Reports of the National Center for Science Education''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lippard |first=Jim  |author-link=Jim Lippard |date=November–December 2006 |title=Trouble in Paradise: Answers in Genesis Splinters |url=http://ncse.com/rncse/26/6/trouble-paradise |journal=Reports of the National Center for Science Education |location=Berkeley, California |publisher=National Center for Science Education |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=4–7 |issn=2158-818X |access-date=October 10, 2014}}</ref> In February 2009, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit]] ordered Australian-based Creation Ministries International into arbitration with Answers in Genesis over copyrights and control of affiliates in other countries.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lovan |first=Dylan T. |date=February 14, 2009 |title=Court: Creationists should settle outside court |url=http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=865750&lang=eng_news |newspaper=[[Taiwan News]] |location=Taipei |agency=Associated Press |access-date=April 6, 2008}}</ref> In April 2009, the ministries reached a settlement and ended their dispute.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://creation.com/dispute-settled |title=dispute-settled |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=Creation.com |publisher=Creation Ministries International |access-date=October 10, 2014}}</ref>