| Hugh Ross | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hugh Norman Ross July 24, 1945 Montreal, Canada |
| Occupation | Astrophysicist & Christian apologist, writer |
| Religion | Christian |
| Website | |
| Reasons to Believe | |
Hugh Norman Ross (born July 24, 1945) is a Canadian-born astrophysicist and creationist Christian apologist.
He has a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics, and later established his own ministry called Reasons To Believe, that promotes progressive and day-age forms of old Earth creationism. Ross believes that science teaches an old age of the earth and an old age of the universe, though he rejects the scientific consensus on evolution and abiogenesis as explanations for the history and origin of life.[1]
Contents |
Ross was born in Montreal and raised in Vancouver, Canada. He earned a BSc in physics from the University of British Columbia and an MSc and PhD in astronomy from the University of Toronto; and he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Caltech, studying quasars and galaxies. Ross was the youngest person ever to serve as director of observations for Vancouver’s Royal Astronomical Society,[2] and before starting Reasons to Believe, he was on the staff of Sierra Madre Congregational Church. In addition to apologetics writing, Ross speaks regularly in academic venues and churches, as well as regular podcasts "I Didn't Know That" (formerly Creation Update), and "Science News Flash." He spoke at the 2008 Skeptics Society' "Origins Conference" at California Institute of Technology alongside Nancey Murphy, Victor Stenger, and Leonard Susskind.[3]
Ross believes in progressive creationism, which posits that while the earth is billions of years old, life did not appear by natural forces alone but that a supernatural agent formed different lifeforms in incremental (progressive) stages, and day-age creationism which is an effort to reconcile a literal Genesis account of Creation with modern scientific theories on the age of the Universe, the Earth, life, and humans.[4] He rejects the Young Earth Creationist (YEC) position that the earth is younger than 10,000 years, or that the creation "days" of Genesis 1 represent literal 24-hour periods. Ross instead asserts that these days (translated from the Hebrew word yom[5]) are historic, distinct, and sequential, but not 24 hours in length nor equal in length. He agrees with the scientific community at large that the vast majority of YEC arguments are pseudoscience, and finds any version of intelligent design inadequate that doesn't provide a testable hypothesis which can make verifiable and falsifiable predictions.[6]
Ross is criticized by YECs for his acceptance of uniformitarian geology and astronomy over what they see as a plain reading of Genesis. YECs use speciation to explain how present biodiversity could have arisen from the small number of "kinds" after Noah's Flood.[7] Ross holds that Noah's Flood was local yet believes it killed all humans except for those on the ark, whereas YECs generally hold that Noah's Flood was global. He and his team have also said that intelligent design is not science and agree that it should not be taught in the classroom as science without being testable.[6][8]
Ross is a critic of young Earth creationist attempts, in particular Russell Humphreys, to argue against the Starlight problem.[9]
Hugh Ross has been criticized by physicist Mark Perakh for crude errors and misunderstanding of basic concepts of thermodynamics together with misinterpretations of Hebrew words.[10][11] Ross is also criticized by young Earth creationists, such as Ken Ham, Kent Hovind,[12][13][14] Jonathan Sarfati,[7][15] Bolton Davidheiser,[16] Lambert Dolphin,[17] and Creation Ministries International [18] for his day-age creation version of Biblical creation.
Ross has written many articles and over 50 creationist apologetics articles, and he has written or collaborated on the following books:
Additionally, he has contributed to the following volumes: