Concept
Answers in Genesis (AiG) is an American fundamentalist Christian apologetics parachurch organization. It advocates Young Earth creationism on the basis of its literal, historical-grammatical interpretation of the Book of Genesis and the Bible as a whole. Out of belief in biblical inerrancy, it rejects the results of scientific investigations that contradict their view of the Genesis creation narrative and instead supports pseudoscientific creation science. The organization sees evolution as incompatible with the Bible and believes anything other than the young Earth view is a compromise on the principle of biblical inerrancy. AiG began as the Creation Science Foundation in 1980, following the merger of two Australian creationist groups. Its name changed to Answers in Genesis in 1994, when Ken Ham founded its United States branch. In 2006, the branches in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa split from the US and UK to form Creation Ministries International. In 2007, AiG opened the Creation Museum, a facility that promotes young-Earth creationism, and in 2016, the organization opened the Ark Encounter, a Noah's Ark-themed amusement park. AiG also publishes websites, magazines, journals, and a streaming service, and its employees have published books. Answers in Genesis resulted from the merging of two Australian creationist organizations in 1980, one led by John Mackay and Ken Ham (Creation Science Supplies and Creation Science Educational Media Services) and the other by Carl Wieland (Creation Science Association). The organization later became known as Answers in Genesis. It is based in Petersburg, Kentucky, and has international offices in Australia, Canada, Peru, and the United Kingdom. Following turmoil in 2005, the AiG network split in 2006. The US and UK branches retained the AiG name and control of the AiG website under Ham's leadership. The Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and South African branches rebranded themselves as Creation Ministries International (CMI).