Episode Details

Recent developments in the YECist world, according to a scientist who’s been watching them closely for two decades

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Joel Duff: a professor doing biological research at a secular state university, and teaching students that come from the Bible belt of the USA.  He’s been a popular blogger for twenty years, and more recently the host of a YouTube channel with an impressive following, both of which are focused primarily on examining and pushing back on YECist claims.  If there’s any arm’s-length expert on all-things-Ken-Ham-and-Answers-in-Genesis (AiG), Dr. Duff is the one. 

We covered a lot of ground in our discussion with Joel:

• his recent introspective posts on his own identity, his core theology, and his goal/mission for the blogs and videos he produces
• why is he so focused on AiG and Ken Ham? … answer: “because they’re the ten-ton gorilla in the YECist game”
• in 2022, AiG reported $62M in annual revenue (roughly three times Eerdman’s; almost as much as Zondervan’s) plus $112M in assets … they’re building a multi-media empire!?
• with so much excess cash on hand (~$20M above expenses, every year), why don’t they invest in some high-quality scientific experts who can speak with actual expertise and authority to the YECist topics which they address? [answer: such experts with a YECist worldview don’t exist!?]
• instead, in addition to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter, they’re using the extra cash to build a replica of the Tower of Babel. Literally! Seriously! Here are two posts that AiG themselves released in 2021 and in 2022 announcing this development.
• despite not having qualified experts to promote the scientific claims they make, they are nonetheless able to comprehend the criticisms against their claims (in other words, they’re not just blind to their own folly); Joel told an interesting story about how a colleague transformed one of AiG’s posts ridiculing Flat Eart