Sunday, January 07, 2007

Creationist finances: Creation Research Society

This is the seventh in a series of posts about the finances of the creationist ministries which were previously reported in Reports of the National Center for Science Education in 2000 in an article by John Cole: the Access Research Network, Answers in Genesis, the Creation Evidences Museum, Creation Illustrated Ministries, Creation Moments, the Creation Research Society, Creation Worldview Ministries, the Institute for Creation Research, the Discovery Institute, and I'll add Walter Brown's Center for Scientific Creation to the list. I've already commented on Answers in Genesis, Institute for Creation Research, Access Research Network, the Creation Evidence Museum, Creation Illustrated Ministries, and Creation Moments. Now for an Arizona-based organization, the Creation Research Society. The Creation Research Society (CRS) was organized in 1963 by geneticist Walter Lammerts (b. 1904, d. 1996) and biologist William J. Tinkle (b. 1892, d. 1981) as an alternative to the American Scientific Affiliation and replacement to the defunct Deluge Geology Society. The CRS, originally called the Creation Research Advisory Committee, began with invitations to join an anti-evolution group within the ASA, which were sent to Henry M. Morris, Frank Lewis Marsh, Molleurus Couperus, Edwin Y. Monsma, R. Laird Harris, Duane T. Gish, Philip V. Livdahl, and Edward L. Kessel. Of these, Kessel, a theistic evolutionist, did not join, and Livdahl did not respond. It was Henry Morris who suggested creating a separate society. (The founding of the CRS is described in Ronald Numbers' The Creationists, pp. 247-257). The ASA was considered unacceptable because it permitted evolutionists as members; membership in the CRS required assent to a four-point statement of belief:

1. The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs. To the student of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths.

2. All basic types of living things, including man, were made by direct creative acts of God during the Creation Week described in Genesis. Whatever biological changes have occurred since Creation Week have accomplished only changes within the original created kinds.

3. The great flood described in Genesis, commonly referred to as the Noachian Flood, was an historic event worldwide in its extent and effect.

4. We are an organization of Christian men and women of science who accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The account of the special creation of Adam and Eve as one man and one woman and their subsequent fall into sin is the basis for our belief in the necessity of a Savior for all mankind. Therefore, salvation can come only through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.

The Creation Research Society has published a peer-reviewed journal, the Creation Research Society Quarterly, since 1964, and a bimonthly newsletter for a more popular audience, Creation Matters, since 1996. Voting membership in CRS requires at least a master's degree in some scientific field; there are non-voting memberships for other interested people, but all must agree with the above statement of belief. CRS also operates the Van Andel Creation Research Center just north of Chino Valley, Arizona, which was named after Jay Van Andel (b. 1924, d. 2004), one of the two co-founders (with Rich DeVos) of Amway (both of whom are financial supporters of creationism). As usual, the baseline financial information (1997 in this case) is from John R. Cole's "Money Floods Anti-Evolutionists' Coffers" in Reports of the National Center for Science Education 20(1-2, 2000):64-65: 1997: Revenue: $263,391 Expenses: ? (not given in Cole's article) And the last three years available through GuideStar.org: 2003: Revenue: $245,867 ($153,356 donations, $44,590 in dues, $27,225 from goods sold) Expenses: $300,589 Net assets at end of year: $1,109,742 Salary: John Meyer, lab director: $38,042 2004: Revenue: $324,942 ($236,244 in donations, $5,732 in program service revenue, $38,387 in dues, $13,981 from goods sold) Expenses: $330,803 Net assets at end of year: $1,102,797 Salary: Kevin Anderson, director: $39,598 In 2005, the CRS switched to a July-June fiscal year, so their 2005 Form 990 is for six months only (and is on a 2004 form). 2005 (January-June only): Revenue: $110,967 ($49,347 in donations, $2,663 in program service revenue, $28,348 in dues, $13,983 from goods sold) Expenses: $153,841 Net assets at end of year: $1,052,000 Salary: Kevin Anderson, director: $23,175 2005 numbers doubled for an estimate of full-year (which doesn't account for seasonal variation): Revenue: $221,934 ($98,694 in donations, $5,326 in program service revenue, $56,696 in dues, $27,996 from goods sold) Expenses: $307,682 Would would leave net assets of: $1,009,126 Salary: Kevin Anderson, director: $46,350 CRS has had more expenses than revenues over the last three years reported at GuideStar.org. Unless their revenue is large in the second half of the year, it looks like 2005 shows a dip in revenue; it appears that they likely receive most membership dues in the first half of the year (unless they saw substantial growth in 2005 after a decline from 2003 to 2004). CRS has a little over half a million dollars worth of investments to draw upon to cover these annual deficits. You can find CRS's 2003 Form 990 here, 2004 Form 990 here, and their 2005 Form 990 here.

5 comments:

Kristine said...

Wow, Jim, I haven't been to your blog for a while, and I stumbled upon this gem while exploring a question (provoked by some readings for grad school) as to where the personal papers of creationists, and the administrative/business papers of creationist societies, end up, if in archives or the trash bin. And here you've done all this work!

My readings for class talked of the mandate for archivists "giving voice to the voiceless" of those not archived, and spoke of archives as "power. It's my belief that silence can be power too, particularly in the creationist movement. When the public is not aware that each "new" creationist idea is just repackaged superstition, they are going to be more credulous than if they had the means to place modern-day intelligent design in context with Duane Gish's creation science and the Institute for Creation Research, Henry Morris's Deluge science and the Creation Research Science Center, and so on.

Creationism, not being a real science, does not build upon its past "scholarship" but relies on the short memories of Americans to forget its past "achievements." Thanks for contributing to the long memory. I'm going to have to check out your other posts on the other organizations.

Lippard said...

Kristine: I think you're right--dropping things down the memory hole is advantageous if you're going to be repeating the same mistakes over and over, or if the history of your position undermines it, which I think are both the case for creationism. Ronald Numbers' _The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism_ is a great compilation of the history of young-earth creationism, and is fun to read alongside Henry M. Morris's _A History of Modern Creationism_.

Ktisophilos said...

Numbers' book implies that YEC began with Seventh Day Adventists like G.M. Price, ignoring that it was almost unanimous among the Church Fathers including Basil the Great and Augustine, medieval Church Doctors including Thomas Aquinas, and the Reformers, as well as the early 19th-century Scriptural Geologists.

Tim H said...

"Numbers' book implies that YEC began with Seventh Day Adventists like G.M. Price, ignoring that it was almost unanimous among the Church Fathers including Basil the Great and Augustine, medieval Church Doctors including Thomas Aquinas, and the Reformers, as well as the early 19th-century Scriptural Geologists."

That is true, but by the end of the 19th century, almost all well-known Christian apologists had accepted that the earth was old and adhered to either the gap or day age theories. YEC had very low visibility. It was Price and subsequent followers such as Morris that revived YEC and its attendant flood geology.

Tim H said...

By the way Jim, are you aware of this latest controversy with AiG:

http://www.beyondcreationscience.com/index.php?pr=Why_Doesnt_Answers_in_Genesis_Tell_You_the_Truth

BTW - how about an update on creationist ministry finances - loved your last one!