Jonathan Sarfati
Encyclopedia
Jonathan D. Sarfati is a former New Zealand national chess champion
and creationist
author with a PhD in chemistry. Sarfati works for Creation Ministries International
(CMI), formerly part of Answers in Genesis
(AiG), a non-profit Christian Apologetics
ministry specialising in Young-Earth creationism
. He is the author of many articles and books about creation science
.
, Victoria, Sarfati moved with his family to New Zealand as a child, where he became a dual
Australia
n and New Zealand
citizen. He attended Wellington College
in New Zealand, later graduating from Victoria University of Wellington
with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in chemistry
, and a Ph.D. in the same subject for a thesis entitled "A Spectroscopic
Study of some Chalcogen
ide Ring and Cage Molecules". He co-authored a paper on high-temperature superconductors that was published in Nature
in 1987 ("Letters to Nature"), and from 1988 to 1995, had several papers on spectroscopy
of condensed matter
samples published in other peer-reviewed
scientific journals.
In 1996, he returned to Brisbane
, Australia
to work for the Creation Science Foundation, then Answers in Genesis and now Creation Ministries International, as co-editor of their magazine, Creation, and their technical journal, Journal of Creation (formerly TJ). Fellow creationist Gary Bates, in an interview with Sarfati in Creation magazine, says:
debate. His first two books, Refuting Evolution in 1999, and Refuting Evolution 2 in 2002, are intended as rebuttals to the National Academy of Sciences
' publication Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science and the PBS
/Nova
series "Evolution", respectively. Refuting Compromise, published in 2004, is Sarfati's rebuttal of the day-age creationist
teachings of Dr. Hugh Ross
, who attempts to harmonise the Genesis account of creation with mainstream science regarding the age of the earth
and the possible size of the Biblical Flood, against which Sarfati defends a literal biblical
timeline and a global flood. Eugenie Scott
and Glenn Branch
of the National Center for Science Education
called Sarfati's Refuting Evolution a "crude piece of propaganda".
Sarfati's critics, such as Reed A. Cartwright and Dr Douglas L. Theobald, have criticised Sarfati's claims such as one that accuses scientists of continually changing the definition of vestigial to match the evidence. In their criticism, Cartwright and Douglas note that Sarfati's PhD is in physical chemistry, not biology. Sarfati himself has criticised some of his opponents for their lack of appropriate credentials, noting of one researcher, that he was an anthropologist
, and therefore "anything he says about radiometric dating
should be taken with a large grain of salt."
, and achieved a draw
against former world champion
Boris Spassky
during a tournament in Wellington
in 1988, and was New Zealand
's national chess champion in 1987–88 representing that country in Chess Olympiads in 1986, 1988, and 1992.
Although tied with Rey Casse for first place in the Australian Junior Championship of 1981, he was not eligible to share the title as he was a resident of New Zealand at the time. After becoming New Zealand national chess champion
in 1987-8, he represented New Zealand in three Chess Olympiad
s: the 27th in Dubai
in 1986, the 28th in Thessaloniki
in 1988, and the 30th in Manila
in 1992. He also represented New Zealand on top board at the 5th Asian Teams in New Delhi
.
He is known for giving blindfold chess
exhibitions at chess clubs and other events, and has played twelve such games simultaneously. His previous best was winning 11/11 at the Kapiti
Chess Club in New Zealand. His chess exhibitions at creation conferences have been publicised by creationist organisations.
New Zealand Chess Championship
The New Zealand Chess Championship was first conducted in 1879.Note: Up until 1934 foreign players were eligible for the title. The eligibility rules were changed in 1935 to preclude this; John Angus Erskine was born in Invercargill and was therefore eligible although he was domiciled in...
and creationist
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
author with a PhD in chemistry. Sarfati works for Creation Ministries International
Creation Ministries International
Creation Ministries International is a non-profit young Earth creationist organisation of autonomous Christian apologetics ministries that promote a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis...
(CMI), formerly part of Answers in Genesis
Answers in Genesis
Answers in Genesis is a non-profit Christian apologetics ministry with a particular focus on supporting Young Earth creationism and a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis. The organization has offices in the United Kingdom and the United States...
(AiG), a non-profit Christian Apologetics
Christian apologetics
Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views...
ministry specialising in Young-Earth creationism
Young Earth creationism
Young Earth creationism is the religious belief that Heavens, Earth, and all life on Earth were created by direct acts of the Abrahamic God during a relatively short period, sometime between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago...
. He is the author of many articles and books about creation science
Creation science
Creation Science or scientific creationism is a branch of creationism that attempts to provide scientific support for the Genesis creation narrative in the Book of Genesis and disprove generally accepted scientific facts, theories and scientific paradigms about the history of the Earth, cosmology...
.
Background
Born in AraratArarat, Victoria
Ararat is a city in south-west Victoria, Australia, about west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera...
, Victoria, Sarfati moved with his family to New Zealand as a child, where he became a dual
Multiple citizenship
Multiple citizenship is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen under the laws of more than one state. Multiple citizenships exist because different countries use different, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, citizenship requirements...
Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
citizen. He attended Wellington College
Wellington College (New Zealand)
Wellington College is a state secondary school for boys in Mount Victoria in Wellington, New Zealand.-History:Wellington College opened in 1867 as Wellington Grammar School in Woodward Street, though Sir George Grey gave the school a deed of endowment in 1853. In 1874 it opened at its present...
in New Zealand, later graduating from Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...
with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, and a Ph.D. in the same subject for a thesis entitled "A Spectroscopic
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...
Study of some Chalcogen
Chalcogen
The chalcogens are the chemical elements in group 16 of the periodic table. This group is also known as the oxygen family...
ide Ring and Cage Molecules". He co-authored a paper on high-temperature superconductors that was published in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
in 1987 ("Letters to Nature"), and from 1988 to 1995, had several papers on spectroscopy
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...
of condensed matter
Condensed Matter
Condensed matter may refer to several things*Condensed matter physics, the study of the physical properties of condensed phases of matter*European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, a scientific journal published by EDP sciences...
samples published in other peer-reviewed
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
scientific journals.
In 1996, he returned to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to work for the Creation Science Foundation, then Answers in Genesis and now Creation Ministries International, as co-editor of their magazine, Creation, and their technical journal, Journal of Creation (formerly TJ). Fellow creationist Gary Bates, in an interview with Sarfati in Creation magazine, says:
- "Sarfati means Frenchman in HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. Despite having no religious upbringing, Jonathan was driven to investigate his Jewish roots after his conversion. As a Messianic Jew, he has also passionately imbibed knowledge about church history and theological issues."
Creationism
According to the Creation Ministries International website, Sarfati was a founder of the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society in New Zealand, and has long retained an interest in Christian apologetics and the creation versus evolutionCreation-evolution controversy
The creation–evolution controversy is a recurring cultural, political, and theological dispute about the origins of the Earth, humanity, life, and the universe....
debate. His first two books, Refuting Evolution in 1999, and Refuting Evolution 2 in 2002, are intended as rebuttals to the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
' publication Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science and the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
/Nova
NOVA (TV series)
Nova is a popular science television series from the U.S. produced by WGBH Boston. It can be seen on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States, and in more than 100 other countries...
series "Evolution", respectively. Refuting Compromise, published in 2004, is Sarfati's rebuttal of the day-age creationist
Day-Age Creationism
Day-age creationism, a type of old Earth creationism, is an interpretation of the creation accounts found in Genesis. It holds that the six days referred to in the Genesis account of creation are not ordinary 24-hour days, but rather are much longer periods...
teachings of Dr. Hugh Ross
Hugh Ross (creationist)
Hugh Norman Ross is a Canadian-born astrophysicist and creationist Christian apologist.He has a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics, and later established his own ministry called Reasons To Believe, that promotes progressive and day-age forms of old Earth creationism...
, who attempts to harmonise the Genesis account of creation with mainstream science regarding the age of the earth
Age of the Earth
The age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years This age is based on evidence from radiometric age dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples...
and the possible size of the Biblical Flood, against which Sarfati defends a literal biblical
Biblical literalism
Biblical literalism is the interpretation or translation of the explicit and primary sense of words in the Bible. A literal Biblical interpretation is associated with the fundamentalist and evangelical hermeneutical approach to Scripture, and is used almost exclusively by conservative Christians...
timeline and a global flood. Eugenie Scott
Eugenie Scott
Eugenie Carol Scott is an American physical anthropologist who has been the executive director of the National Center for Science Education since 1987...
and Glenn Branch
Glenn Branch
Glenn Branch is the Deputy Director of the National Center for Science Education and a prominent critic of creationism and its offshoot, intelligent design...
of the National Center for Science Education
National Center for Science Education
The National Center for Science Education is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It is the United States' leading anti-creationist organization, and defends the teaching of evolutionary biology and opposes...
called Sarfati's Refuting Evolution a "crude piece of propaganda".
Sarfati's critics, such as Reed A. Cartwright and Dr Douglas L. Theobald, have criticised Sarfati's claims such as one that accuses scientists of continually changing the definition of vestigial to match the evidence. In their criticism, Cartwright and Douglas note that Sarfati's PhD is in physical chemistry, not biology. Sarfati himself has criticised some of his opponents for their lack of appropriate credentials, noting of one researcher, that he was an anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, and therefore "anything he says about radiometric dating
Radiometric dating
Radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials such as rocks, usually based on a comparison between the observed abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope and its decay products, using known decay rates...
should be taken with a large grain of salt."
Chess
Sarfati is a FIDE Master in chessChess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, and achieved a draw
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
against former world champion
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
during a tournament in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
in 1988, and was New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
's national chess champion in 1987–88 representing that country in Chess Olympiads in 1986, 1988, and 1992.
Although tied with Rey Casse for first place in the Australian Junior Championship of 1981, he was not eligible to share the title as he was a resident of New Zealand at the time. After becoming New Zealand national chess champion
New Zealand Chess Championship
The New Zealand Chess Championship was first conducted in 1879.Note: Up until 1934 foreign players were eligible for the title. The eligibility rules were changed in 1935 to preclude this; John Angus Erskine was born in Invercargill and was therefore eligible although he was domiciled in...
in 1987-8, he represented New Zealand in three Chess Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
s: the 27th in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
in 1986, the 28th in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
in 1988, and the 30th in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
in 1992. He also represented New Zealand on top board at the 5th Asian Teams in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
.
He is known for giving blindfold chess
Blindfold chess
Blindfold chess is a form of chess play wherein the players do not see the positions of the pieces or touch them. This forces players to maintain a mental model of the positions of the pieces...
exhibitions at chess clubs and other events, and has played twelve such games simultaneously. His previous best was winning 11/11 at the Kapiti
Kapiti Coast
The Kapiti Coast is the name of the section of the coast of the south-western North Island of New Zealand that is north of Wellington and opposite Kapiti Island. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Wellington Regional Council...
Chess Club in New Zealand. His chess exhibitions at creation conferences have been publicised by creationist organisations.