Web Traffic Data for Reformed and Creationist Sites

I am updating some web traffic data and adding a few new sites.   I was wondering how the traffic of some of the prominent creation evangelism sites such as Answers in Genesis (AIG) and the Institute from Creation Research (ICR) compared to that of other general Christian web sites and reformed Christian organizations.  I got these numbers from Quantcast.com and they represent numbers of visitors (not pageviews) visiting each site for the month of February 2012.

Reformed or reformed-leaning web sites:

  • Desiring God  (www.desiringgod.org, John Piper)  – 349K – this is the highest it has been in the past yea
  • Ligonier ministries (www.ligonier.org, RC Sprouls)  – 74K –  Has been as high as 110K over past year
  • Truth in Action (truthinaction.org) – DJ Kennedy’s ministry – 125K – ranges from 35 to 130 over the past year
  • Orthodox Presbyterian Church official site (ww.OPC.org) –  30K – varies between 15-30K per month
  • Presbyterian Church of America official site (www.Pcanet.org) – 51K  – varies between  20-51
  • Douglas Wilsons’ web site (http://www.dougwils.com/)  – 15K – up to 25K over the past year
  • http://www.Monergism.com –  44K – fairly consistent over the past year
  • Vision Forum (www.visionforum.com – Doug Phillips) – 87K – has been up to 140K in December presumably for Christmas shopping

General Christian Resources:

Origins/creationism web sites:*

  • Answers in Genesis  – Ken Ham (www.Answersingenesis.org – young earth creationist) – 233K – has been consistent over past 2 years
  • Institute for Creation Research – John Morris (www.icr.org – young earth creationist) -88K – Highest it has been in past 2 years
  • Creation Ministries International (www.creation.com – young earth creationist) – 71K
  • Creation Today – the recently rebranded site of YEC Dr. Dino  (aka Kent Hovind), http://www.creationtoday.org –  32K
  • Reasons to Believe – Hugh Ross, Old Earth Creationists (www.Reasons.org) – 47K – 30-58K in the last year
  • http://www.Biologos.org – Evolutionary creation –  13K

As I had noted before the traffic to AIG (Answers in Genesis) is more than that to ICR and CMI combined so they are the face of young earth creationism.   AIG’s traffic (233K) puts it in the category of a significant Christian ministry despite its focus on just one issue in the Church.  However, AIG has been increasingly promoting itself as a more evangelical organization and is developing curricula on a much wider range of issues.  Interestingly, at its current growth rate Ken Ham will (and maybe already is) one of the most influential evangelical leaders in the US.   Considering his lack of theological or scientific training his increasing ability to influence so many in the church on a wide range of topics should be of concern.

I was surprised by the numbers for Doug Phillips (vision forum) but this site includes a significant retail component. Nonetheless Vision Forum is a strong proponent of young earth creationism (YEC) with ties to Answers in Genesis. As a result it greatly increases the reach of AIG and could be considered one of the top four YEC destinations.

*The numbers for these sites are probably not as reflective of credible visitors as the other numbers.  I expect that these web site are hit by large numbers of people searching for information on a topic like dinosaurs and hit a page and leave right away and so the numbers are certainly inflated to some degree.

8 thoughts on “Web Traffic Data for Reformed and Creationist Sites”

  1. Young-Earth Creationism has been refuted so often that I’m surprised anyone still visits Answers in Genesis. These folks drive me crazy because they misrepresent the book of Genesis and create great confusion. I’m presently posting essays refuting the 5 key assumptions of Young-Earthers.

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    1. Alice, Thanks for your comment. For those that might be outside of YEC it always does seem amazing but AIG fills a need for many in the church that have questions about origins but for many of which have little background to begin answering those questions themselves. The popularity of YEC, I take it is partly to be blamed on the lack of science education in the church at large and some avoidance of really difficult topics in the past. The avoidance over time has lead to a vacuum on strong voices in the church and that vacuum has been filled by people like Ken Ham who are willing to provide an answer to every question. It is probably going to take a lot more than just showing how wrong YEC science is to change minds, rather a convincing response to the theology and science of YEC is needed. I think there are good reasons to reject YEC on all levels but it takes a long time to educate people to think Biblically again.

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  2. You wrote, “AIG has been increasingly promoting itself as a more evangelical organization and is developing curricula on a much wider range of issues. Interestingly, at its current growth rate Ken Ham will (and maybe already is) one of the most influential evangelical leaders in the US. Considering his lack of theological or scientific training his increasing ability to influence so many in the church on a wide range of topics should be of concern.”

    I do find this very disturbing. I’m not saying people who aren’t experts or don’t have formal training can’t excel in certain areas, but there is something to be said, particularly in science, about the need to have some kind of training. But within theology it is perhaps even more important to have some kind of background so that one can avoid some of the simple category mistakes too many fall into.

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  3. Ken Ham is also a rich man. Between the books, the Creation Museum in Cincinnati (ugh!) and the future Noah’s Ark Amusement Park in KY, he is making a fortune.

    Evangelicals in the BioLogos group don’t buy what he is selling, and while I don’t agree with them, I don’t buy it either. Both approaches cause confusion and don’t align with the body of evidence.

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  4. Pingback: Really Recommended Posts 4/26/2012 « J.W. Wartick -"Always Have a Reason"

    1. Hi Richard, Thanks for the update! I didn’t look it up again but the numbers I was reporting were US visits only so maybe that could account for the differences. Passing up AIG would be an impressive accomplishment.

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