Hugh Ross

Hugh Norman Ross (born July 24, 1945) is a Canadian astrophysicist, Christian apologist, and old-Earth creationist.

Ross obtained his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Toronto and his B.Sc. degree in physics from the University of British Columbia. He established his own ministry in 1986, called Reasons to Believe.

Ross rejects both abiogenesis and evolution as explanations for the origin and entire history of life, contrary to the scientific consensus. Ross' position overlaps with that of intelligent design, but Ross argues that the evidence points to Jesus Christ as the designer, instead of an undefined intelligent designer.

Early life and education Hugh Ross was born in Montreal, Quebec, and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, after moving there at the age of five. His parents were James Stewart Alexander Ross and Dorothy Isabel (Murray) Ross. He was interested in science from a young age, often reading science textbooks as a child.

As a teenager, Ross read works by philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Rene Descartes, but felt their works contained inconsistencies and contradictions. Ross also read Eastern holy books from religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. He soon became convinced that the expansion of the universe and the Big Bang required a divine "cosmic beginner". While in Toronto, Ross began meeting with his fellow Christian students to share their faith. While at Caltech Ross met astronomer Dave Rogstad and joined his Bible study group, which included his future wife, Kathleen Ann Drake.

In 2012, Ross won the Trotter Prize, delivering the Trotter Lecture at Texas A&M University on "Theistic Implications for Big Bang Cosmology."

Ross has made radio and television appearances, and his work has been covered by news outlets including Christianity Today, The Houston Chronicle, The LA Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, and CBN.

In July 2022, Ross stepped down as CEO of Reasons to Believe to focus his efforts on research, writing and other endeavors.

Beliefs Ross believes God has revealed his existence and divine nature through both the Bible and creation. He also believes that his creation model is empirically testable, and equally plausible as the evolutionary model. Ross also believes that the Earth is fine-tuned for life, and that science and Christianity intersect rather than contradict each other. Ross believes that God has created the universe for several reasons and desires a relationship with humans.

Ross believes the record of nature is "like the 67th book of the Bible." He attempts to use science to find common ground with people, including secular scientists who reject the idea of God.

Old-Earth Creationism Ross believes in progressive creationism, a view which holds that while the Earth is billions of years old, life did not appear by natural forces alone but that a supernatural agent formed different lifeforms in incremental (progressive) stages, and day-age creationism, a system of reconciling a literal Genesis account of creation with modern scientific theories on the age of the universe, the Earth, life, and humans. He rejects the young-Earth creationist positions that the earth is younger than 10,000 years and that the creation "days" of Genesis 1 represent 24-hour periods. Ross instead asserts that these days (translated from the Hebrew word yom ) are historic, distinct, and sequential, but not 24 hours in length nor equal in length. Ross agrees with the scientific community that any version of intelligent design is inadequate if it does not provide a testable hypothesis which can make verifiable and falsifiable predictions, and if not, it should not be taught in the classroom as science.

Ross has critiqued young-Earth creationists, in particular Russell Humphreys, Ken Ham and Henry Morris. He was influential in chemistry Nobel Laureate Richard Smalley becoming a Christian and spoke at his funeral.

Personal life Ross married Kathy in 1977 and they have two sons.