Reasons to Believe

Reasons to Believe (RTB) is a progressive creationist group that promotes day-age forms of old Earth creationism. It was founded in 1986 by Hugh Ross, a Canadian-born astrophysicist and creationist Christian apologist.[2][3]

Reasons to Believe
Formation1986
TypeReligious ministry
Legal statusNon-profit
PurposePromoting the coherency of science and Christian faith Christian apologetics
HeadquartersCovina, California, United States
President and Founder
Hugh Ross
Budget
$3,131,508[1]
Staff
5 Research Scholars
Volunteers
207 Volunteer Apologists
WebsiteReasons.org

About

Based in Los Angeles, the mission of RTB is to demonstrate that "sound reason and scientific research—including the very latest discoveries—consistently support, rather than erode, confidence in the truth of the Bible and faith in the personal, transcendent God revealed in both Scripture and nature."

Reasons to Believe has 26 books published by Christian book publisher Baker Publishing. They have also written hundreds of articles on the topic.[3] RTB has held events all over the world.[4] They have also produced many DVDs, TV shows, audio CDs, MP3s, podcasts, streaming media events and teleconferences. Their "Science News Flash" reviews news headlines of scientific discoveries. RTB educational programs include both credit and non credit classes.[5]

Views

RTB claims to have a scientific model predicting an increase in astronomical evidence that Earth resides at the ideal location in the cosmos for both harboring advanced civilization and technology and making the universe observable.[6] Nontheistic models predict that astronomical discoveries will show that Earth is unremarkable for both habitability and observation.[7]

The RTB model also predicts that as scientists continue to research the causes and effects of plate tectonics, their findings will reveal evidence for the fine-tuning required for long-lasting, stable plate-tectonic activity on a planet with a thin atmosphere.

The RTB model predicts that future anthropological and genetic research will increasingly confirm that humans are biologically distinct rather than descended from a hominid species. It predicts stronger evidence for humanity's genetic, anatomical, and behavioral uniqueness. It places the earliest hominids at 6.5 million years ago and the first humans at around fifty thousand years ago.[8]

RTB also predicts that the flood of Noah was a local event. There is some evidence for a large flood in modern day Iraq around 2900 BCE.[9]

Criticism

Scientific models help researchers organize information into a conceptual structure to understand and interpret data, ask good questions, and identify anomalies. Famous scientific models include Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution. Some have claimed RTB's testable creation model fails to meet the modern qualifications for a scientific theory or model and just looks at known things and claims them as predictions.[10][11]

In a review of an updated edition of Who Was Adam: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Humanity (2015) by Ross and Fazale Rana, research psychologist Brian Bolton argues against the scientific status of the RTB model. Bolton sees violations of scientific logic in the form of immunity to falsification, the assumption of supernatural causation, a lack of independent evaluations of evidence, circular reasoning, and the false equivalence of biblical creationism (faith-based) and human evolution (evidence-based) as scientific explanations.[12]

The RTB claim that all current humans are descended from a specially created couple that lived about 50,000 years ago and that there is no common ancestor between humans and other primates is disputed in a scholarly essay by evangelical geneticist Dennis Venema.[8] There is strong genetic and fossil evidence suggesting a common ape-man ancestor as well.[13][14]

References
  1. Religion: Religious Media and Advertising- Reasons To Believe by Charity Navigator
  2. Van Bebber, Mark; Taylor, Paul S. ""Progressive Creationist" Hugh Ross, who is he and what does he believe?". Christian Answers. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  3. reasons.org, About Hugh Ross
  4. reasons.org, RTB Events
  5. reasons.org, Educational programs
  6. Brayton, Ed. "RTB's "Testable Creation Model"". scienceblogs.com. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  7. "Earth Not Center Of The Universe, Surrounded By 'Dark Energy'". sciencedaily.com. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  8. Venema, Dennis. "An Evangelical Geneticist's Critique of Reasons to Believe's Testable Creation Model: RTB and Human-Ape Common Ancestry" (PDF). biologos.org. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  9. Collins, Lorence G. (September–October 2009). "Yes, Noah's Flood May Have Happened, But Not Over the Whole Earth". Reports of the National Center for Science Education. 29 (5). Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  10. Novella, Steven (2007-04-11). "Hugh Ross's Testable Creation Model". theness.com. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  11. Pennock, Robert (28 February 2008). Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262264051. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  12. Bolton, Brian (2018). "Sorry, 'Theistic Science' Is Not Science". Skeptical Inquirer. 42 (3): 50–53.
  13. Choi, Charles Q. "Fossil Reveals What Last Common Ancestor of Humans and Apes Looked Liked". Scientific American. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  14. Hasagawa, Masami; Kishino, Hirohisa; Yano, Taka-aki (October 1985). "Dating of the human-ape splitting by a molecular clock of mitochondrial DNA". Journal of Molecular Evolution. 22 (2): 160–174. doi:10.1007/BF02101694. PMID 3934395.
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