Press Releases

As reported in the New York Times and LA Times last Friday, the founder of creationism, Dr. Henry Morris, died at last week at the age of 87. Morris is known for promoting young earth creationism. As explained in our History of intelligent design and the creation - evolution controversy, Morris's organization, the Institute for Creation Research was founded in 1972. This followed the publication of Morris's "The Genesis Flood" in 1961, which sparked the creation-science movement.

The IDEA Center does not take a stance on age-of-the-earth / universe issues or the identity of a particular designer, and according to definitions of creationism given by critics, intelligent design is different from creationism in some very important ways (see "FAQ: Is intelligent design just creationism (or creationism "in disguise")?" for details). However there is no doubt that the courage of Dr. Henry Morris encouraged many scientists who were skeptical of evolution to "come out of the closet" and make their views known. Morris's young earth creationist position remains controversial today, but hundreds of scientists who publicly express skepticism of evolution remain in his debt.

See the story at the Institute for Creation Research website for details.

--IDEA Center Staff