"Creationism Museum" bad for kids, bad for the country, just bad allover -- but the dumbfuck hoylrol

There is a great educational injustice being inflicted upon thousands

of children in this country, a large percentage of whom come from the

Kentucky, Ohio and, Indiana areas. The source of this injustice is a

sophisticated Christian ministry that uses the hook of dinosaurs, the

guarantee of an afterlife, and the horrors of hell to convince

children and their families to believe in a literal interpretation of

the Bible. The tax-exempt ministry, Answers in Genesis, and its new

$28 million creation museum in Boone County has become the de facto

source of science information to thousands of Christians who are

throwing away reason and 500 years of scientific inquiry and replacing

it with ignorant dogma.

If adults want to believe in a 6,000-year-old Earth, that dinosaurs

and humans lived together in harmony (all dinosaurs were vegetarians,

you see) and that Noah saved all of the Earth's animal species by

placing them on his ark, then they have the right to do so. What I

object to is that thousands of children, particularly the growing

number of Christian home-schooled children in this country, are

visiting the museum in droves, much to the delight of the museum's

founder, Ken Hamm.

These kids are learning that despite a fossil record that clearly

shows a progression of simple life forms becoming more complex life

forms over billions of years (the first bacteria are believed to have

established themselves approximately 3.8 billion years ago), they are

taught that the first man was made from clay and that the first woman

was made from the man's rib. Instead of learning that the process of

natural selection, over 3,800 millions of years, has changed

populations of organisms into the approximately 10 million species

(conservative estimate) that inhabit the Earth today, they are taught

the "poof" theory of creationism.

What is particularly sad about this ministry is that because they are

so fervent in their mission to get people to believe (or rather make

believe) in their simplistic world view, many Christian scientists and

secular scientists are playing catch-up to counter the damage they are

doing.

The obstruction of scientific information is nothing new in the

history of fundamentalist theology. What is new is the way this

organization is using the power of radio (AIG is broadcast over 850

radio stations), the Internet and, now, a pseudo-natural history

museum to convince well-meaning, hard-working people that science is

not to be trusted, that the theory of evolution is evil and that

belief in scientific theories of our creation leads to barbaric

behaviors. As Mark Twain once said, "A lie can travel half way around

the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

Last month in England, I toured the Natural History Museum in London.

(It's free by the way.) They too have animatronic dinosaurs. However,

that's where the similarity between this "real" museum and the AIG's

creation museum ends. The NHM of London has 55 million preserved

animal specimens, nine million fossils, six million plant specimens

and more than 500,000 rocks and minerals.

They have a staff of over 300 scientists working on various projects

to gain a better understanding of the Earth and the creatures that

inhabit (or did inhabit) our planet. Is there not something wrong when

thousands of people are flocking to Northern Kentucky and paying $20 a

pop to see a Flintstones-like interpretation of pre-history, and yet

anyone who lives in or visits London can see one of the world's

greatest real science centers for free?

It seems fraudulent to me that the hard work and knowledge of

generations of truth-seeking scientists from Galileo to Sagan, from

Darwin to Dawkins, is now being hijacked and twisted to teach our

children that the sciences of paleontology, evolutionary biology,

astronomy, geology, physics, etc., are not to be trusted, and that

unquestioning faith in ancient texts is the only way to know truth.

The Christian community, especially, needs to speak out against this

injustice, and speak out loudly.

There are several scientific/faith-based organizations that are doing

just that. One in particular, the American Scientific Affiliation

(http://www.asa3.org) is a group of Christians who have reconciled science

with their faith in ways that allows the pursuit of knowledge to move

forward unencumbered, unlike ministries such as AIG.

Christian home-school organizations should follow the lead of this

organization when suggesting science curricula to its members, and

discontinue using the creation museum as a source of any scientific

information.

One other change needs to occur to keep home-schooled children from

being misled by creationists. The Kentucky home-school statutes are

terribly vague. In fact, science education is not even mentioned in

the regulations. If a student is never taught the scientific method

and how science is the best method we humans have of collecting

unbiased, factual information about the natural world, and instead

taught that blind obedience to an ancient text is all that is needed

to lead a happy, meaningful life, how can this child ever expect to

make informed, science-based decisions as an adult? These statues

should be changed so that science education, real science education,

is a requirement in all home schools.

If the beginning of the 21st Century is any indication of how the rest

of the century unfolds, we must prepare future generations of

Americans for a bumpy ride. We need citizens who understand that human

activity does have an impact on the environment so that methods can be

developed (largely by scientists and other creative thinkers) to

reduce our footprints. We need artists, scientists, politicians,

teachers, etc., who seek to understand (not necessarily change) people

from different cultures, so that avenues of peaceful cooperation and

dialogue always remain open.

We do not need citizens who are closed-minded, anti-knowledge

fundamentalists who want to see the world move closer to the Biblical

prophecies of an Armageddon. (AIG also believes in a literal

interpretation of the Book of Revelation.) Unfortunately, the creation

museum in Northern Kentucky has been very successful at encouraging

their non-thinking, anti-reasoning philosophy, especially among young,

dinosaur-loving children. Inaction in this matter may come back to

haunt us in the future.

James K. Willmot is a former science teacher at St. Francis School in

Goshen, Ky., and an environmental laboratory director. He is the

author of many articles on science, science education and science

understanding. Formerly from Louisville, he now lives in Virginia

Water, England.

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