Retrospectacle: A Neuroscience Blog

One more reason NOT to go to Kentucky (as if I needed another one?)…..

A 25 million dollar “creationist” museum, which depicts people walking around with dinos.

Mark Looy, a vice president at Answers in Genesis, said the museum has received at least $21 million in private donations. He said two anonymous donors have given $1 million, and he expects the museum to be debt-free when it opens next May.

John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research in San Diego, an organization that promotes creationism, said the museum will affirm the doubts many people have about science, namely the notion that man evolved from lower forms of life.

“Americans just aren’t gullible enough to believe that they came from a fish,” he said.

But wait, the voice of reason????

“Genesis is not science,” said Mary Dawson, curator emeritus of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. “Genesis is a tale that was handed down for generations by people who really knew nothing about science, who knew nothing about natural history, and certainly knew nothing about what fossils were.”

Mary Dawson, ladies and gentleman!

Comments

#1 wamba
July 31, 2006

Be Afriad:

OK, what’s a Friad?
#2 Shelley Batts
July 31, 2006

Nice catch—changed!
#3 Jason Mitchell
July 31, 2006

A reason NOT to go to Kentucky? This would be the first reason I’ve seen to go… You can’t tell me a $25 million museum devoted to proving the Flintstones were real wouldn’t be the funniest vacation destination EVER.
#4 Shelley Batts
July 31, 2006

It would be hilarious, no doubt….but I couldn’t stomach *paying* to get into such a thing.
#5 Blake Stacey
July 31, 2006

Paying? Friends, this is what service entrances and scaleable fences are for.
#6 Jeffery Faulk
July 31, 2006

I’m fond of thinking that cognitive dissonance is a direct result of strong religious beliefs. Believers refuse to face the facts that science presents them and try to offset those facts by using external justifications to deny them, seeking achieve some sort of balanced state. Arguing with folks who suffer from this condition is an exercise in futility in my experience. Pointing out their fallacies is great fun though and to be encouraged.
#7 wheatdogg
July 31, 2006

Hey! We may have Ken Ham, but that’s no reason to dis Kentucky. Every state has its religious wackos. Besides, the Ken Ham “Flintstones as scientific evidence” museum is old news. Ham and AiG have been soliciting funding for this carnival for years now. It has international support among Young Earth Creationists. It just happens to be in Kentucky near Cincy, Ohio — the state that wants to “teach the controversy” in schools. Besides, Ham is from Australia.

What is more scary about Ham and AiG is their targeting children in churches with their YEC claptrap, thereby creating a whole generation of kids who will take Fred and Dino as the literal (pre-Flood) truth. He somehow glosses over the Bible not mentioning anything about dinosaurs missing the boat, as it were.

Kentucky is a great place to visit in spring and fall, when many of your fellow Michiganders are cruising through in their RVs. I’m from Long Island and have lived in Ky for 26 years. It’s been a fine place to live, though I do miss the Atlantic shore, NYC and really fresh bagels and blintzes.
#8 Michael Hopkins
July 31, 2006

Kentucky is hardly alone. Arkansas already has one though not as big as the AiG one. There are several small ones out there as well.
#9 Michael Hopkins
July 31, 2006

Kentucky is hardly alone. Arkansas already has one though not as big as the AiG one. There are several small ones out there as well.
#10 Shelley Batts
July 31, 2006

Yeah, on roadtrip last year w/ some friends, we stumbled across one in Georgia (i think). Now mind you, we *should* have known better than to stop given that it was co-advertised with highway concrete dinosaurs and a place called *ahem* Foam-Henge.

And yes, Foam-Henge is exactly what it sounds like.
#11 Lisa
July 31, 2006

Having been on of the aforementioned friends who experience Foam Henge, I want to let everyone know that it is in fact in the historic town of Natural Bridge, VA (and yes, there is in fact an actualy brige in the town too…don’t miss it, it’s only about $25 to check it out). Plan your next road trip now!
#12 Shelley Batts
July 31, 2006

Yes, Natural Bridge! Thanks so much for reminding me, Lisa.
#13 Corkscrew
August 1, 2006

I’m fond of thinking that cognitive dissonance is a direct result of strong religious beliefs.

Nah, cognitive dissonance only occurs with weak religious beliefs. True Believers know that they’re right no matter what the “evidence” appears to show. No dissonance needed
#14 Erwin
August 1, 2006

To laugh or to cry, that’s the question.
Article: “http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i1/creation.asp” by Ken Ham.
How much twisted reasoning can a person come up with.
#15 wamba
August 1, 2006

lengthy list of Creation museums

For “balance”, they even list some secular online museums.