John Ashton

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John Frederick Ashton (born 1947) is an Australian Creation scientist and young-earth creationist who had an article arguing Creationism in a chemistry journal taken down after the Anticreation movement raised an outcry.[1] Ashton is also a food scientist, author, and advocate of the health benefits of chocolate

Biography

Ashton was born in 1947. His full name is John Frederick Ashton.[2] Ashton has bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry from the University of Newcastle and the University of Tasmania, respectively. He has a doctorate in epistemology (a branch of philosophy dealing with the limits of knowledge) from the University of Newcastle.[3]

In 2000, Ashton was appointed the strategic research manager for Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company, an iconic Australian food company owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[3] Ashton was elected a CharteredTemplate:Cn Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 1992,[4] and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology in 2006.[3]

In academia, Ashton has been named an Adjunct Professor and Associate Professor at RMIT University,[5][6] an Adjunct Associate Professor at Victoria University,[7] an Honourary Associate at the University of Sydney,[8] and a principal food research scientist at the University of Newcastle,[9] and has also had roles at Deakin University and University of Wollongong.[3]

He and his wife Colleen live in New South Wales, Australia, with their four children.[10] He is a member of the Hillview Seventh-day Adventist Church in Morisset, New South Wales.[7]

Views

Ashton believes in young-earth creationism, the belief "in a literal six-day biblical creation as the origin of life on earth" that "is probably less than 10,000 years old".[11] The official Seventh-day Adventist Church theology also supports the literal interpretation of a six-day creation.[12] These views are rejected by the scientific community,[13] and Ashton has "received harsh criticism from the scientific community" due to his support of intelligent design.[14]

Ashton published his views in a series of books between 1998 and 2006, many of which attracted negative responses from scientists.Template:Syn[15] Ashton edited In Six Days: Why 50 Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation, an anthology of the belief statements of creationist scientists, engineers, and medical professionals.[11] Australian biological anthropologist Colin Groves criticised the book as an abandonment of science in favour of "sheerest pseudoscience" in his review.[16] Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote of it, "I would not have believed such wishful thinking and self-deception possible."[17] Some Christian reviewers interpreted the book as refuting the scientific consensus argument for evolution.[18] Ashton followed up with similar books including Unwrapping the Pharaohs: How Egyptian Archaeology Confirms the Biblical Timeline and The Big Argument: Does God Exist?

The Perils of Progress was authored by Ashton and Ronald S. Laura (with foreword by Charles Birch), discussing topics such as electromagnetic fields, sunscreen, food additives, fluoridated water, sound pollution and sick building syndrome.[19][20] Publishers Weekly described it as "thoroughgoing neo-Luddism".[21] Colin Keay described the book as "pandering to paranoias about our lifestyle, alarming hypochondriacs and suggesting conspiracy theories that conceal deadly hazards from those of us silly enough to enjoy our high standard of living."[22] Suggestions by Ashton and Laura led (after independent studies at the Australian Radiation Laboratories) to the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council issuing a health warning for some artificial lights.[23]

Ashton's book A Chocolate a Day, coauthored with his daughter-in-law Suzy Ashton, advocates that chocolate is a good source of various beneficial nutrients.[9][24] Because chocolate is high in phenylethylamine, Ashton also believes chocolate may help people fall in love.[25] His followup book, The Chocolate Diet, coauthored with Victoria University biomedical science professor Lily Stojanovska,[26] recommends a weight-loss diet including no more than 10 to 20 grams of chocolate per day.[27]

Bibliography

Books
Articles

External links

References

  1. ↑ Walker, T. (2007, April 17). "Chemists in Stew About Intelligent Design." Creation Ministries International.
  2. ↑ Ashton, John F (John Frederick) (1977), Some aspects of the solution chemistry of titanium (III), http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34293657, retrieved 2014-04-21 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Editor (June 2006). "New Fellow". Food Australia 58 (6): 243. https://books.google.com/books?id=tR9NAAAAYAAJ&q=ashton. "At the Council meeting on 28 March 2006 Dr John Ashton was elected a Fellow of the Institute .... He has also co-supervised 11 PhD students at Newcastle, Wollongong, Victoria and Deakin Universities .... John has been a Professional Member of AIFST since 1998 and a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (FRACI) since 1992." 
  4. ↑ "Editorial". New RACI Fellows: John Frederick Ashton. February 1993. 86. 
  5. ↑ "Ashton, Dr. John". Contact. RMIT University. 2012. http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse/About%20RMIT%2FContact%2FAll%20contacts%2FStaff%2Fby%20campus%2FUnknown%2FA;ID=f97yx91yrvhb;STATUS=A. Retrieved 26/5/02012. "Position: Adjunct Professor; School: Applied Sciences." 
  6. ↑ "ARC Linkage grants boost RMIT research". RMIT University. 14 July 2010. http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse/News%20and%20Events%2FNews%2FAnnouncements%2Fby%20title%2F;ID=40il0itcv8xez;STATUS=A. "Professor Stefan Kasapis and Associate Professor John Ashton [were successful] for the creation of a new branch of food research by using whey protein in the development of novel products of low calorie content and glycemic response." .
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Brady, Sharyn (2009-01-28). "Adventist recognised for contributions to biomedical and nutrition research". Record (Seventh-day Adventist Church). http://record.net.au/adventist-recognised-for-contributions-to-biomedical-and-nutrition-research. 
  8. ↑ Ashton, The Big Argument, cover.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Book Case." Books. Liverpool: Daily Post. 2002-03-23.
  10. ↑ "Dr. John Ashton". Authors. Macmillan Publishers. 2011. http://us.macmillan.com/author/johnashton. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Ashton, John F., Ph.D., ed. (2010) [1999-02-28] (in English, German, Italian, and Portuguese). In Six Days: Why 50 Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation. 360 pages. Sydney; Green Forest; Milan: New Holland Publishers, Ltd.; Gruppo Editoriale Armenia S.p.A.; Master Books; Strand Publishing. pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-1864364439. http://creation.com/in-six-days-preface. 
  12. ↑ Luzer, Daniel (2 February 2010). "The Evolution Debate". Washington Monthly. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/the_evolution_debate.php. "The official Seventh-day Adventist Church position supports the literal interpretation of the Bible’s account of a six day creation and a subsequent flood. Young Earth creationism as a modern theory actually originated with the 1923 writings of George McCready Price, a Seventh-day Adventist." 
  13. ↑ See for example: Evolution FAQ, PBS, or, Misconceptions about evolution, Berkeley
  14. ↑ "Editorial". Australasian Science 28 (6): 1. July 2007. http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/editorials/25855275/editorial. Retrieved 18 June 2016. 
  15. ↑ Groves, Colin (17 November 1999). "Review of 'Seventh Millennium' by John F. Ashton PhD: Little Evidence for Supernatural Theories". The ANU Reporter. Canberra. p. 10. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/creation_evolution_debate/message/87423. 
  16. ↑ Groves, Colin (1999). "A Sad Collection of Poor Excuses". The Skeptic 19 (2): 43–5. http://www.skeptics.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/theskeptic/1999/2.pdf. 
  17. ↑ Dawkins, Richard (2001). "Sadly, an Honest Creationist". Free Inquiry 21 (4). http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/dawkins_21_4.html. 
  18. ↑ Kitty Foth-Regner, Heaven Without Her, Thomas Nelson. "We keep hearing that real scientists believe in evolution. This proves that claim to be a lie, as fifty PhDs from virtually every branch of science explain why they believe in a literal six-day creation..."
  19. ↑ Jones, R. L.; Vassilakis, Noemie Maxwell (2010). "Perils of Progress". Z. Smith Reynolds Library (Wake Forest University). http://cloud.lib.wfu.edu/vufind/Record/1207036/Reviews. 
  20. ↑ Wilson, Bill (1998). "The Perils of Progress". Fluoride (International Society for Fluoride Research) 31 (2): 102. http://fluoride-journal.com/98-31-2/312102.htm. 
  21. ↑ "The Perils of Progress." Publishers Weekly. 1999-01-04.
  22. ↑ Keay, Colin (1998). ".... to the brink of destruction". The Skeptic 18 (2): 44–5. http://www.skeptics.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/theskeptic/1998/2.pdf. 
  23. ↑ Dayton, L. (15 June 1991). "Health Warning for Tungsten Halogen Lamps". New Scientist. p. 12. The warning from the medical council follows hard on the heels of a highly controversial theory about the dangers of artificial light proposed by John Ashton and Ronald Laura of Newcastle University in New South Wales.
  24. ↑ "Book Case." Books. Liverpool: Daily Post. 2002-03-23.
  25. ↑ Editorial Team (2001-02-19). "Australia: A chocolate a day may keep the doctor away". Just-Food. Bromsgrove, Worcestershire: Aroq Ltd. http://www.just-food.com/news/a-chocolate-a-day-may-keep-the-doctor-away_id92187.aspx. 
  26. ↑ "Professor Lily Stojanovska". Victoria University. 2012. http://www.vu.edu.au/about-vu/our-people/lily-stojanovska. 
  27. ↑ Davison, Katherine. "The Chocolate Diet." That's Life!. Pacific Magazines Pty. Ltd.
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