Missouri Association For Creati
MISSOURI ASSOCIATION FOR CREATION
OUR HISTORY AND PURPOSE
The Missouri Association for Creation (MAC) was founded in 1972 by two graduate students at the University of Missouri School of Veterinary Medicine in Columbia.
These students felt a need to establish a discussion forum to critically examine the scientific evidence as it pertains to the origin of the Cosmos in general and living organisms in particular. As the name chosen for the organization suggests, they were convinced on the basis of their own study that a careful consideration of the scientific evidence would overwhelmingly favor a creation model over against an evolution model of origins.
They found that a critical evaluation of the scientific evidence for both models of origins, creation and evolution, was rarely attempted in the science class room or in any instructional materials then in use. To satisfy their own curiosity and enthusiasm, they met monthly with other interested students, faculty and members of the local community, to hear invited speakers and hold discussions and debates.
Today MAC is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri and has members and interested non-members all over Missouri as well as in several other states. MAC is registered in the state of Missouri as a tax exempt, notfor -profit educational organization. MAC is not a subsidiary or sponsor of any other creationist group nor do we engage in political or legal efforts to force our views on others, including the public schools. We are convinced that truth must find its own way in a “free market” of ideas.
Though the vast majority of our members would consider themselves Christians, we are not a church and engage in no prayer or worship activity as an organization. Our primary function is to serve as an educational resource on the question of origins and to that end hold monthly meetings, open to the public without charge, and have a resource library comprising audio and video tapes, films, slides, references, reprints and several hundred books.
In addition, we publish a monthly meeting announcement, a quarterly news letter and have a speakers bureau available without charge to interested schools, churches, clubs or any other group. With the development of the Missouri Association for Creation computer Bulletin Board (MACBBS), we are embarking on a new means of communicating in an interactive way with a larger audience of computer hobbyists – many of whom have a special interest in science. Our membership includes many scientists, educators, students and theologians and currently numbers about 200 with an average meeting attendance of about 50.
Our starting premise is that there are really only two fundamentally different explanations for the origin the Cosmos (=order) and its living inhabitants; 1) it is a result of purposeful design imposed on matter, or 2) it is a result of chance and the intrinsic properties of matter (spontaneous self assembly).
There are perhaps combinations of these two views, but is difficult to imagine a third distinctly different view. We are concerned that most people are exposed to only one view of origins as a part of their formal education and thus we seek to give them an opportunity to critically examine the evidence and alternatives. We believe that a resolution to the question of which of these views (models) is most plausible must depend on a careful reexamination of the fossil record, contemporary cell biology, genetics, mathematical probability and the most fundamental laws of nature such as the second law of thermodynamics.