The Australian who ascended to the helm of a Republican-linked fundamentalist Christian group
“Martyn, just quickly before we let you go … do you believe that homosexuals go to hell?”
Only a few years ago, Martyn Iles was tussling with the broadcaster Lisa Wilkinson on The Sunday Project. Then head of the Australian Christian Lobby, Iles had become one of Israel Folau’s loudest supporters (and fundraisers) after the rugby player was fired over a social media post that claimed hell awaits “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters”.
Resisting a yes or no answer, Iles assured Wilkinson that everyone was a sinner. “We will be judged by God and we will be found wanting,” he said.
Cast as the future of Christian politics in Australia, Iles fronted the cover of the Weekend Australian magazine in 2019 complete with his signature quiff and pocket square. The headline said he had “seized the moment” over Folau. His YouTube series The Truth of It dove into “culture war” topics, claiming that Victoria risked criminalising Christians over LGBT conversion practices and that the Uluru statement was a “pagan statement”.
Then he was gone.
Iles was let go by the ACL board in February 2023 for, in his words, not being “the right person to lead the revised strategy, which focuses more primarily on political tactics, less on the gospel”. Among the things he wouldn’t miss about Canberra after his ouster, Iles listed on Facebook “the profound spiritual deadness. Truly, a God-hating city.”
Far from the Australian capital, Iles is now set to lead a politically connected creationist organisation that built a “life-size” Noah’s Ark replica and theme park in the US state of Kentucky – and which has fresh ambitions for Australia.
The fundamentalist Christian organisation Answers in Genesis (AiG), which got its start in Queensland, is closely associated with the new Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. Led by the former Queensland schoolteacher Ken Ham, AiG is part of a movement called “young Earth creationism” that preaches a literal interpretation of Genesis.
Iles’ ascent to “executive CEO” of AiG was a swift one. He spoke at an AiG event in late 2022. Then in May 2023 he was announced as chief ministry officer of the organisation, as well as leader of its Australian office.
By November he had been promoted to executive CEO – with Ham in an “oversight role” as “founder CEO” – and was being groomed to take over one of the world’s largest creationist organisations. In 2022 AiG brought in about US$62m and held US$112m in assets, according to US tax documents. The ACL, by comparison, had revenue of about A$10m in 2022.
Iles said he was “honoured to have the confidence of Ken Ham and the Board”.
The push into Australia
Iles toured Australia to large crowds during his seven-year tenure at ACL but by 2023 the organisation’s political influence seemed to be waning. Iles also made his annoyance with the political status quo known. In January 2022 he posted on Facebook about his “disaffection with the Morrison government” over everything from Covid-19 vaccines to religious freedom.
“Martyn was a fine preacher, but a poor lobbyist,” according to Greg Bondar of Christian Voice Australia. Bondar, who knows Iles, said his new role at AiG “suits him down to the ground”.
Under Iles, AiG is pushing back into Australia.
“I believe God has brought Martyn to AiG not only to help take this ministry in the US to higher levels but also to impact Australia and other countries as we have never done before,” Ham wrote in September.
Iles and Ham have a speaking tour planned in Australia beginning this month, and have been fundraising for its Australian operations. In December Iles sent emails on behalf of AiG asking for donations to help send young Australians on an “Ark Encounter” and develop educational resources.
They also hope to use funds to “facilitate annual rallies where Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham and I will seek to equip Christians like you to stand firmly on the truth and to share your faith with confidence”.
Meanwhile, Iles has documented his move to the US on Facebook, including his new AiG office complete with a box of American snacks and redwhite-and-blue streamers, and visits to the Daytona International Speedway in Florida, where the Ark Encounter sponsors a car.
Despite assimilating into US life and shooting a “.50 caliber ‘tank buster’ just for fun”, his ties to Australia remain.
Iles is still a director of the Human Rights Law Alliance, which launched in 2016 to defend freedom-of-religion cases. Its 2022 filing with the charity regulator shows it had an income deficit of almost $122,000. A spokesperson said that was the result of increased staff hiring, among other expenses, and that its 2023 accounts “confirm that it is in a strong financial position”.
According to its newsletter, the alliance has assisted the former ACL boss Lyle Shelton with the vilification case brought against him by two drag queens.
Creationist camps at loggerheads
AiG’s roots are in Australia, where it was embroiled in a dispute between two creationist camps for the better part of the 2000s.
Ham, a former science teacher at Dalby state high school, and Dr Carl Wieland were early leaders of the Creation Science Foundation in Australia. Ham moved to the US in 1987 and created an outpost in Kentucky, which would later become AiG.
As Ham’s branch began to grow, tensions emerged with Wieland and other members of Answers in Genesis International, as detailed in court documents, kicking off a battle for control.
According to a statement of claim filed in the supreme court of Queensland in 2007 against AiG and Ham, one disagreement centred on the distribution of creationist magazines, the US subscriber list of 39,000 and its trademark. The dispute was settled in 2009, according to a statement on the Creation Ministries International website.
Wieland, now retired, told Guardian Australia the eventual resolution of the suits and countersuits involved a commitment by each organisation not to comment on the dispute. “I intend to honour that commitment,” he said.
Ham did not respond to detailed questions sent by Guardian Australia but said in a statement he was “thrilled” his succession plan was approved “to ensure stability for the Answers in Genesis ministry for the future”.
Powerful friends
Johnson’s relationship with Ham and AiG has been a particular focus in the US press since the Louisiana congressman was elected Speaker of the House in October 2023. In 2015 Johnson represented the Ark Encounter in its fight against Kentucky’s tourism cabinet for refusing to grant it a tourism tax incentive, and has personal ties to Ham.
As well as blogging for AiG and hosting Ham on his podcast, Johnson has praised the Ark Encounter as a “strategic and really a creative means to defend and advance the truth of scripture”.
“It’s one way to bring people to this recognition of the truth that what we read in the Bible are actual historical events,” he said.
In April the House Speaker and his wife are due to speak alongside Iles at an AiG conference titled Answers for Women.
Johnson’s creationist beliefs as well as his attitude to environmental issues and the climate emergency are another area of alignment. Ham has written that climate action is “a false religion with false prophets” and Iles has echoed such views. In 2019 he made a video for the ACL in which he said “climate change alarmism is one of the many suits of clothes being worn in the modern west by Marxism”.
Bill Trollinger, who studies US evangelicalism and creationism at the University of Dayton, Ohio said observers often overlook how inherently political AiG is as a religious organisation. Ham is a critic of the US president, Joe Biden, calling him “anti-biblical and escalating the war on children” and Iles has not shied away from political commentary.
His video on Kamala Harris, who he described as “very very very very very very very leftwing”, is still the ACL’s second-most-watched video. In a 2020 clip in the aftermath of the US election, Iles speculated about what a “radical strand” on the left would do to prevent the election of Donald Trump. “Do you really think that they wouldn’t … have a little tamper with a vote to stop a man who they believe is literally Hitler,” he said. “Of course they would.”
Trollinger said: “What Ham figured out … is that what works with people is culture war. The fact that Iles is not a scientist, he’s political. You know, an attorney, a debater. That’s perfect for Answers in Genesis.”
David MacMillan, who grew up as part of the AiG movement but has since become a critic, said there had long been speculation about who might succeed Ham.
“Because he’s been so successful, he can really … pass on a mantle without much interruption, if he finds the right person,” he said. “He has enough power and enough weight to throw around now.”The ACL said it wished Iles “every blessing” in his new role.
Do you know more? Contact ariel.bogle@theguardian.com
What Ham figured out … is that what works with people is culture war
Bill Trollinger