Word has come of the passing at age 87 of one of the most influential men on the American cultural scene for the last fifty years. Henry Morris, the founder of the Institute for Creation Research, probably did more in that time than any other single individual (except perhaps his partner Duane Gish) to increase skepticism about the claims of materialistic evolutionists. In his many books he tirelessly pointed out the deficiencies of the neo-Darwinian synthesis, and his work inspired thousands of others to question the fundamental assertions of the neo-Darwinians.
Morris was a Biblical literalist who held to an adamantine conviction that Genesis 1 and 2, and indeed the whole Bible, is true in all that it asserts. He thus found himself at odds with old-earth creationists like Hugh Ross and a little leery of intelligent design theorists who made no claims at all about Genesis. Morris believed that the earth and life were created in six days 10,000 years ago and that to waver from this belief was to jeopardize the trustworthiness of the scriptures. He had no time for theistic evolution and other variants of what he saw as a capitulation to the Darwinians. Nevertheless, even those who disagreed with him on these and other matters have been profoundly influenced by his critique of the inadequacies of all materialistic explanations of origins.
Whether one agreed with him or not, he performed valiant service in questioning the shibboleths of the Darwinian orthodoxy, challenging its votaries in public debate, and doing more, together with Gish, to raise public awareness of its weaknesses than anyone else since Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859.
Even when I disagreed with him he was a powerful influence on my own early thinking, and I owe him a lot. He has been around so long that even though he was of advanced years his death comes as a bit of a shock. He will be deeply missed by all who value his wonderful and indefatigable service.
