From d.nield@auckland.ac.nz Tue Sep 5 11:55:29 2006 Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:13:25 +1200 From: Don Nield To: gordon brown Subject: YEC in NZ Gordon: Nice to hear from you!. I hope that you enjoyed your trip to NZ! Until a decade ago YEC was not strong in NZ, in my experience. There was one Kiwi who was then active in evangelism. His name is Lewis Meyer. He has a BSc in biochemistry, and his wife has an MSc. He now works full time as an evangelist. He published his own booklet and for some years he has distributed this to secondary school students (outside school hours). We have had regular visits from an Australian geologist named John McKay. There have been a few other other individuals involved -- one of whom is responsible for the creation museum that has only recently come to my knowledge. We had our share of visits by Gish. However, in recent years Answers in Genesis has made major inroads. Their magazine has been widely distributed in NZ. They run a bookshop in Auckland. They have an organiser, Adrian Bates who I believe is employed full time by AiG. He speaks at meetings up and down the country, supported by visiting Australians (one of whom, Sarfati, gained his degrees at a NZ university (Victoria University of Wellington) and the occasional US or German (I have Gitt in mind) visitor. In my own denomination (Presbyterian) there are only a few congregations who invite YEC speakers. I think that the same applies to the Baptists, Anglicans, Methodists and Roman Catholics. However, in the Churches of Christ, Brethren and some other pentecostal churches YEC is stongly supported. If you go to the AiG website and choose "New Zealand" as your residence you can get info on AiG activity in NZ. You have my permission to post this message to ASA members if you wish to. Don gordon brown wrote: >On Sat, 11 Jun 2005, Don Nield wrote: > > > >>On the NZ scene, a booklet with the title "In the Beginning: Three Views >>on Creation and Science" has just been published. The 3 views are YEC, >>IDT, TE. The 3 authors wrote 6000 words each, exchanged documents, and >>wrote 2000 more words each. I contributed the TE view. My closure >>section included the following: >> >> > >Don, > >What is your sense of how the strength of the young earth creationism >movement in Christian circles in New Zealand compares with that found in >other countries? > >I was in New Zealand the last week of May and the first three days of >June. I noticed the words Creation Museum on an unimpressive looking >roadside building I passed about thirty minutes drive north of Dunedin. >This is what got me to wondering about the YEC influence in NZ. > >Gordon Brown >Department of Mathematics >University of Colorado >Boulder, CO 80309-0395 > > > -- Donald A. Nield Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Science University of Auckland Private Bag 92019 Auckland, NEW ZEALAND ph +64 9 3737599 x87908 fax +64 9 3737468 d.nield@auckland.ac.nz http://www.esc.auckland.ac.nz/People/Staff/Nield/