| Creation Ministries International | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1977 |
| Type | Religious ministry |
| Legal status | Non-profit |
| Purpose/focus | Young Earth creationist Christian apologetics |
| Website | creation.com |
Creation Ministries International (CMI) is a non-profit young Earth creationist organisation of autonomous Christian apologetics ministries that promote a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis. The autonomous ministries are located in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.[1]
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In 1977, the Creation Science Association (CSA) was organised in Adelaide, Australia by Dr. Carl Wieland. In 1978 the organisation began the magazine Ex Nihilo (from the Latin phrase Creatio ex nihilo, meaning "Creation out of nothing"). Soon after, the Creation Science Foundation (CSF) took over production of Ex Nihilo (later renaming it Creation Ex Nihilo, and eventually simply Creation). In 1984, CSF started the Ex Nihilo Technical Journal for more in-depth analysis of creation issues (it was later renamed Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal, then simply TJ, and now the Journal of Creation).
In the mid-1990s, Ken Ham, formerly of the Creation Science Foundation and then part of the Institute for Creation Research, formed an autonomous ministry in the United States. This ministry, along with the Australian Creation Science Foundation, were branded Answers in Genesis (AiG); eventually, legally-autonomous Answers in Genesis offices were opened in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
In late 2005/early 2006, the US and UK offices had differences in operating philosophy with the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and South African offices and removed themselves from the international group. Since the US office managed the website for the entire international group and took the "AiG" name with them, the latter four offices were forced to rebrand under the name Creation Ministries International (CMI). CMI retains its presuppositional (rather than evidential) emphasis.[2]
In late 2006, CMI established offices in the UK and USA. Since then CMI has distributed Creation magazine and the Journal of Creation in the USA itself.
CMI publishes Creation magazine as well as Journal of Creation. Creation has subscribers in more than 170 countries,[3] with 60,000 copies of each issue produced.[4] Creation is published four times a year. The Journal of Creation is published three times a year.
The Voyage That Shook The World is a 2009 dramatised documentary film commissioned by Creation Ministries International and produced by Fathom Media. It was released to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work On the Origin of Species.[1][2]
This 52-minute-long film includes interviews with scholars, academics and scientists covering a wide range of views including proponents of the scientific consensus on evolution as well as proponents of intelligent design and young earth creationism. It features wild-life footage from the Galapagos Islands as well as on-location footage from Argentina, Chile, Tierra del Fuego and the United Kingdom. The film's dramatised sequences were shot on location in Tasmania, Australia.[5]
The group has received criticisms for presenting the movie as a neutral documentary; one commenter called it a Trojan Horse for Creation.[6] The producers have also been criticised for allegedly lying to the interviewees and withholding the purpose of the film. Biologist PZ Myers wrote:
. . . if they actually had an honest message, if they could be trusted to present the opinions of the experts accurately, they wouldn't need to deceive to get people to contribute to their projects. As it is, all we can trust them on is their ability to mangle the facts. Doesn't this tell you something about the credibility of the creationist movement?[7]
CMI's history is closely linked with that of its daughter ministry in the United States, Answers In Genesis (AIG), founded by former Australian colleague Ken Ham. A legal and personal dispute broke out between the Australian and US arms of AIG in 2005, involving claims of unethical dealing in the handling of magazine subscriptions and autocratic leadership on Ham's part. AIG, in return, accused the leaders of the Australian ministry of "spiritual problems",[8] asking, in correspondence to the Australian CEO Carl Wieland, if he had issues with immorality, and enlisting a former enemy to exhume decades-old allegations[9] of witchcraft and necrophilia against a CMI staffer (now Wieland's wife). These allegations are described in CMI's response, following extensive investigation of the accusations, with the involvement of many outside parties, as being 'without a single shred of evidence'. A more involved analysis of the situation is described in an account in the Reports of the National Center for Science Education.[10]
In March 2006, the ministries split, and the offices in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa, "by unanimous vote of their respective Boards, rebranded" as CMI.[11] Only the US and UK offices still retain the AIG brand. A lawsuit was filed on 31 May 2007, by CMI in Supreme Court of Queensland against Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis, seeking damages and accusing "unbiblical/unethical/unlawful behaviour" in Ham's dealings with the Australian organisation.[12]
CMI produces Creation Magazine and the Journal of Creation, formerly distributed by the US and UK AIG offices to their respective countries prior to the split. The Australian group maintains it was disconnected from all its American subscribers when the US office "announced on its web site (without telling us, the publishers) that it was ceasing to distribute both of these publications (and simultaneously announced its own magazine)." CMI further alleges in the lawsuit that AIG misrepresented their own magazine to subscribers as a replacement of Creation. CMI is claiming $252,000(US) in damages for lost revenue by misleading and deceptive conduct in relating to lost subscriptions.[13][14] The case also concerns use of the trademark "Answers in Genesis" within Australia, and alleged misuse by Ken Ham of his position as a director for the Australian group to cause it detriment.
Answers in Genesis has had little to say in public to these accusations, but in comments to news reporters Ken Ham dismisses them all as "totally preposterous and untrue".[12] When a Christian publication attempted a telephone interview of Ken Ham and mentioned the dispute, he hung up. When the editor of that publication attempted to meet Ham at the opening of the Creation Museum, the response was "abrupt and aggressive" and the matter was again shut down.[15]
In November 2007, CMI again updated their website to inform readers that, although the Hawaii talks resulted in a verbal settlement acceptable to both parties, AiG had subsequently reneged by substantially modifying the written result of the talks through the omission of major planks of the verbal agreement and the insertion of new, unagreed clauses (which were not specified) in a new written proposed contract.[16]
Throughout early and mid 2008, AiG and CMI filed various legal documents with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. According to CMI the filing were for AiG to avoid "accountability under the Australian legal system before Australian courts. It has also ignored/rejected several previous offers by CMI of Christian arbitration under that Australian legal system.".[17][18] In August 2008, AiG "objected to conditions" in a "relationship-restoring mediation" with a Christian judge, who then dropped out of the mediation.[19][20]
In February 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ordered Australian-based Creation Ministries International into arbitration in the United States with Answers in Genesis (as sought by AiG) over copyrights and control of affiliates in other countries.[21][22]
In April 2009 the ministries reached a settlement and ended their dispute.[23]