Worldwide Reach of Creationism

Sometimes opponents of creationism speak as if only a small group of American Christian fundamentalists still
adhere to this doctrine. Do only evangelical Christians in the United States still believe God created the world in
six days? Is it only a handful of conservative believers in our land who holds to a universe whose age is
measured in thousands of years?

This article will be a brief review of creationist activities around the globe. Much of the information comes from
the pages of Acts & Facts, a publication of the Institute for Creation Research. ICR seems to have contacts
around the world.

However, it is with another creationist organization, Answers in Genesis, that we begin. AiG, publishes the
colorful Creation magazine. Its website, www.AnswersinGenesis.org is one of the most popular Christian sites on
the Internet.

Although it has Australian roots, AiG now has branches in the U.S., the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and
Canada. AiG is planning to build a major creation museum in the Cincinnati area.

Also, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Australia should be mentioned. This is a sister synod of WELS and ELS
and one we presume, along with our other sister churches, to be faithfully teaching the Genesis account.

The United Kingdom gave us Charles Darwin who didn’t invent the theory of evolution but did make it popular.

But antievolutionist activities have also been going on for a long time in Great Britain. In fact, in 1932 the
Evolution Protest Movement was formed in Britain. Now named the Creation Science Movement, it has a website
at www.creationsciencemovement.com.

Another creationist organization in the United Kingdom is the Creation Resources Trust. The LSI Journal from
time to time reprints articles from this group’s publications, and it is on our mailing list.

Germany back in the 16th century produced one of history’s most famous creationists. His name was Martin
Luther. Well before Darwin, Luther opposed the evolutionist notions of his day.

Speaking of theistic evolution, he wrote, “It is not true as several heretics and other vulgar persons allege, that
God created everything in the beginning, and then let nature take its own independent course, so that all things
now spring into being of their own power.” (J.P. Pelikan and H. Lehmann, Luther’s Works, American Edition,
Concordia Publishing House, Vol. 22, p. 28)

An excellent article on Luther’s creationist views, written by Paul Bartz, can be found online at www.
answersingen esis.org/docs/4067.asp.

Wernher von Braun, a Lutheran who migrated from Germany to the U.S. and became a top space scientist and
director of NASA, is said to have been a creationist.

While we are not aware of an active creationist organization in Germany, ICR says it has many contacts in that
nation. The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Germany is a sister synod of WELS and ELS.

France has a creation science group, “Au Commencement. . .” which was started in 1998.

The large Korean Association for Creation has over 250 Ph.D. members and hundreds more with masters
degrees.

Japan also has a creation group, and we have a sister church there—the Lutheran Evangelical Christian Church.

The creationist movement is gaining ground in Russia after decades of atheism. ICR speakers have spoken
there. We also have a sister synod in Russia—the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Thousands have attended creation science lectures in South America, and we have a sister synod in Peru.

Creationism has a presence in many other places too such as other former USSR republics and on the African
continent.

WELS and ELS also have partner churches in Bulgaria, Nigeria, Mexico, Finland, Puerto Rico, Cameroon,
Sweden, Norway, and in central Africa.

In addition, we can’t forget that orthodox Jews and Muslims generally also reject evolution.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does show that the truth that God created the universe, as described
in Genesis, is still being proclaimed throughout the world. LSI