Reasons to Believe

Reasons to Believe (RTB) is a nonprofit organization that promotes day-age forms of old Earth creationism.[3] It was founded in 1986 by Hugh Ross, a Canadian-born astrophysicist and creationist Christian apologist.[4][5] Former Vice-President of Research and Apologetics, Fazale Rana, was named President and CEO in July 2022.

Reasons to Believe
Formation1986
FounderHugh Ross
TypeReligious ministry
Legal statusNon-profit
PurposePromoting the coherency of science and the Christian faith
HeadquartersCovina, California, United States
President
Fazale Rana
Budget
$3,131,508[1]
Revenue
$8,8 m USD in 2020 [2]
Staff
6 Scholars and 60 Staff[2]
Websitereasons.org

About

Reasons to Believe aims to use science as a means of evangelism.[3] The organization publishes articles, books, and audio programs about topics related to science and Christianity.[6][7][8] It also produces video and multimedia content and hosts events where RTB speakers discuss science and apologetics.[9]

The organization integrates science, theology, and philosophy to address topics such as the existence of God and the Bible’s reliability.[3] Reasons to Believe is a member of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability and the Independent Charities of America.[10]

RTB uses the words of 1 Peter 3:15-16 as the organization’s core values and ministry goal.[11]

Reasons Institute

Through its Reasons Institute program, Reasons to Believe offers courses in science apologetics  at educational institutions such as Biola University, Northern California Bible College, and Erskine Theological Seminary.[12][13]

RTB Press

Reasons to Believe founded RTB Press in 2013 to be an in-house publisher of books by RTB scholars. More than 25 books have been published through RTB Press.[14] The organization previously published twelve books through Baker Publishing Group.[15]

Scholars and Scholar Community

As of February 2023, RTB has six in-house research scholars: Hugh Ross, Fazale Rena, Jeff Zweerink, Kenneth Samples, George Haraksin, and Dave Rogstad (February 5, 1940 — June 29, 2023).[15] RTB also organizes a scholar community with 170 members that studies various topics, including apologetics, earth sciences, and theology and participates in workshops organized by RTB.[10][15]

Chapters

As of February 2023, there are nearly 50 RTB Chapters spread across the United States that meet regularly in their area to discuss science and faith topics. International chapters include several in Canada and India.[15][16]

Views

RTB offers 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.[17] Nontheistic models predict that astronomical discoveries will show that Earth is unremarkable for both habitability and observation.[18]

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 (bipedal primates) at 6.5 million years ago and the first humans at around fifty thousand years ago.[19]

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.[20]

Awards

Reasons to Believe has been certified four times as a “Best Christian Workplace” for 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022.[21]

Media

Reasons to Believe hosts, produces and distributes several podcasts and also has a Youtube channel.

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. Writers such as Robert Pennock and Steven Novella have claimed RTB's testable creation model fails to meet the modern qualifications for a scientific theory or model and looks at known things and claims them as predictions.[22][23]

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.[24]

RTB claims that all current humans are descended from a specially created couple (that lived about 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, at the time of the explosion of music, art, and jewelry. They also believe there is no common ancestor between humans and other primates) which is disputed in a scholarly essay by evangelical geneticist Dennis Venema.[19] There is strong genetic and fossil evidence suggesting a common ape-man ancestor as well.[25][26]

References
  1. Religion: Religious Media and Advertising- Reasons To Believe by Charity Navigator
  2. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/reasons-to-believe,330168048/
  3. Butcher, Andy (2003-06-01). "He Sees God in the Stars - Charisma Magazine". Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  4. Van Bebber, Mark; Taylor, Paul S. ""Progressive Creationist" Hugh Ross, who is he and what does he believe?". Christian Answers. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  5. reasons.org, About Hugh Ross
  6. "Publisher: RTB Press | Open Library". openlibrary.org. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  7. "Articles Archives". Reasons to Believe. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  8. "Reasons to Believe : Audio". support.reasons.org. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  9. "Reasons to Believe : Multimedia". Reasons to Believe. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  10. "REASONS TO BELIEVE - GuideStar Profile". www.guidestar.org. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  11. "Hugh Ross". Reasons to Believe. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  12. "Reasons To Believe". ncbc.net. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  13. "Diploma and Certificate Programs". Erskine Seminary. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  14. "Publisher: RTB Press | Open Library". openlibrary.org. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  15. "Reasons to Believe | Inters.org". inters.org. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  16. "Chapters Archive". Reasons to Believe. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  17. Brayton, Ed. "RTB's "Testable Creation Model"". scienceblogs.com. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  18. "Earth Not Center Of The Universe, Surrounded By 'Dark Energy'". sciencedaily.com. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  19. Venema, Dennis. "An Evangelical Geneticist's Critique of Reasons to Believe's Testable Creation Model: RTB and Human-Ape Common Ancestry". biologos.org. Retrieved 12 Jan 2022.
  20. 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.
  21. "Certification | Best Christian Workplaces". workplaces.org. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  22. Novella, Steven (2007-04-11). "Hugh Ross's Testable Creation Model". theness.com. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  23. Pennock, Robert (28 February 2008). Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262264051. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  24. Bolton, Brian (2018). "Sorry, 'Theistic Science' Is Not Science". Skeptical Inquirer. 42 (3): 50–53.
  25. Choi, Charles Q. "Fossil Reveals What Last Common Ancestor of Humans and Apes Looked Liked". Scientific American. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  26. 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. Bibcode:1985JMolE..22..160H. doi:10.1007/BF02101694. PMID 3934395. S2CID 25554168.
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