Creation Museum
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== Absurdities == | == Absurdities == | ||
| − | That the "museum" was financed by a mortgage on the real estate it sits on probably won't go down too well with the Lord either, considering his outright ban on usury amongst the faithful. It would seem strange that an organisation dedicated to the idea that the Bible contains the literal, inerrant word of God should go out of their way to test that assumption considering God commands that you do no such thing | + | That the "museum" was financed by a mortgage on the real estate it sits on probably won't go down too well with the Lord either, considering his outright ban on usury amongst the faithful. It would seem strange that an organisation dedicated to the idea that the Bible contains the literal, inerrant word of God should go out of their way to test that assumption considering that in Deuteronomy God commands that you do no such thing. <ref>[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+6:16 Deuteronomy 6:16]</ref> On a related note, the Creation Museum pulled a video of Adam and Eve after learning that the actor that plays Adam owns a free love website.<ref>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/07/national/a175033D34.DTL</ref> |
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==Attendance== | ==Attendance== | ||
Revision as of 16:32, 11 August 2009
“”I think they should rename the museum — not the Creation Museum, but the Confusion Museum ... As a Christian, I was dismayed.[2]
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| —Lisa E. Park, professor of paleontology |
The Creation Museum is a USD 27 million project located in Kentucky just a few miles from Cincinnati.[3] It was founded by Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis.[4] It is devoted to the young earth creationist idea that "The Bible is true from Genesis to Revelation!"[4] -- that is, in complete opposition to the scientific consensus.[5]
The museum promotes the idea that "the Bible is the history book of the universe". This is somehow supposed to be in line with their idea that "facts don't speak for themselves" and that the Bible contains the "correct" way to interpret any and all evidence available in the physical world.
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Creation museum "science"
Lawrence Krauss, director of the Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics at Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) has stated publicly that the museum is both a "fraud" and "hypocritical" because:
“”It repeatedly misrepresents the process and results of science and distorts the scientific record. Yet in every case it takes advantage of the technical wizardry of science to get its point across, with a series of dazzling animatronic displays and explanations" [6]
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Krauss debated the AiG President Ken Ham in May 2007 on FOX News Channel’s popular propaganda program The O’Reilly Factor. [7]
On the BBC Radio programme Today (May 31st 2007), Ken Ham was interviewed about the museum. He provided an example of the "scientific evidence" that dinosaurs and humans had at one time lived together - it was a drawing on a cave wall which showed humans hunting what appeared to be dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs
The evidence that the Creation Museum presents for the co-existence of dinosaurs and humans is a verse in the book of Job mentioning a behemoth[12], whose description creationists claim fits that of a sauropod dinosaur. This has been demonstrated to be false, but they still insist on spreading the falsehood.[13] It does not bother them that the same book that talks about the behemoth also talks about dragons[14] and how the behemoth and the leviathan will fight a mighty battle at the end of the world.[15]
Creation Museum conspecifics
The Creation Museum is just the latest microevolutionary development in the creation museum kind. While no one has ever observed one creation museum kind giving birth to another creation museum kind, there is plenty of variation within the kind (micro only, of course). The closest extant relative of Ken Ham's creation is the Museum of Creation and Earth History, endemic to California, and created by the Institute for Creation Research.
The 7 Wonders Creation Museum occupies a completely different ecological niche. Located as a missionary somewhere near Mt. St. Helens this spacious double-wide trailer offers guided tours of the monument to Creation by a loving God that all volcanoes represent, but particularly this one. For a mere $10 you can send your kids to a summer camp where they can learn all about how Noah's Ark dealt with lava.
Speaking of double-wide trailers, Patriot University alumnus and federal prisoner Kent Hovind has been offering children of all ages an adventure of a lifetime at Dinosaur Adventure Land. This Florida landmark has fallen upon tough times; it seems to have been built without a permit. But it is still up and running, and for your tax deductible donation gift of $7 all the wonders of Dr. Dino can be yours.
While Ken Ham is getting all the big press, another major creation museum opened in 2008. Big Valley Creation Science Museum offers all the wonders one comes to expect from a converted garage.
As can be seen, there is a wide variety of trailers, garages, backyards, and abandoned warehouses vying for the money of Creation Science devotees. The question is whether Ken Ham's fully animated pumpkin-eating T. rex will be enough to overcome his competitors?
Absurdities
That the "museum" was financed by a mortgage on the real estate it sits on probably won't go down too well with the Lord either, considering his outright ban on usury amongst the faithful. It would seem strange that an organisation dedicated to the idea that the Bible contains the literal, inerrant word of God should go out of their way to test that assumption considering that in Deuteronomy God commands that you do no such thing. [16] On a related note, the Creation Museum pulled a video of Adam and Eve after learning that the actor that plays Adam owns a free love website.[17]
Attendance
By August 1st 2008, the Creation Museum announced it had admitted 500,000 visitors.[18]
See also
- Young Earth Creationism
- The incontrovertible evidence of common descent
- The Bible
- Creation Museum Visitor's Guide
- Expelled:Leader's Guide
- Lawrence Krauss on the "Museum of Misinformation (pdf).
Blogsnark
The following are various reports on the Creation Museum, usually based on actual visits:
- John Scalzi at Whatever
- Panda's Thumb
- BlueGrassRoots
- A photo guide to the museum (by a blogger)
- Pharyngula - following PZ Myers and a group who toured it in August 2009.
Footnotes
- ↑ Bumper sticker quoted by amunptah777 on 9/24/2007 8:52:22 PM at Belief.net
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/science/30muse.html?_r=1
- ↑ MSNBC:High-tech museum brings creationism to life
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 CreationMuseaum:About
- ↑ About.com:Geology
- ↑ Kraus, L, 2007 quoted in "Museum of Misinformation", New Scientist, May 26th 2007, p24
- ↑ Source:Answers in Genesis this has to be a first: accurate information at AiG!!!
- ↑ NYtimes:Adam and Eve in the Land of the Dinosaurs
- ↑ University of California
- ↑ Fish feet:T-Rex are coconuts
- ↑ Science blogs:Pharyngula
- ↑ http://www.telecomtally.com/blog/2007/05/this_is_not_about_dinosaurs.html Abnormal Interests
- ↑ The truth about behemoth
- ↑ Accuracy in genesis
- ↑ The Franz Neumann Project
- ↑ Deuteronomy 6:16
- ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/07/national/a175033D34.DTL
- ↑ http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/aroundtheworld/2008/08/01/500000th-visitor-at-the-creation-museum/