Paleontologists Insulted By Creation Museum

Paleontologists visiting the Creation Museum at the conclusion of a convention got more than they bargained for when they found their life’s work under attack.   

After having a few laughs and taking some pictures, most were surprised and offended to see the way in which evolution was being  ridiculed by the museum, which some call a “creationist Disneyland”.

"It’s sort of a monument to scientific illiteracy, isn’t it?" Jerry Lipps, professor of geology, paleontology and evolution at University of California, Berkeley, told the AFP news agency.

"Like Sunday school with statues… this is a special brand of religion here. I don’t think even most mainstream Christians would believe in this interpretation of Earth’s history."

Some 715,000 patrons have visited the $27 million  museum since it opened in mid-2007 to "bring the pages of the Bible to life."  The 70,000 square-foot facility presents a literal interpretation of the Bible, and suggests that disbelief of this view leads to moral relativism and the breakdown of social values.  

University of Akron paleontology professor Lisa Park was moved to tears as she walked down a hallway displaying flashing images of war, famine and natural disasters that the museum blames on belief in evolution.

"I think it’s very bad science and even worse theology — and the theology is far more offensive to me," Park told the AFP news agency.

"I think there’s a lot of focus on fear, and I don’t think that’s a very Christian message… I find it a malicious manipulation of the public,” said Park, an elder in the Presbyterian Church.

Phil Jardine, a graduate student in paleobiology at University of Birmingham, posed for a picture below an enormous dinosaur display.
The museum says the fossil record has been misconstrued, and that dinosaurs were actually vegetarian before the time of Adam and Eve.

Jardine said he enjoyed tour, but was dismayed by the museum’s portrayal of teachers and scientists.

"I feel very sorry for teachers when the children who come here start guessing if what they’re being taught is wrong," Jardine told AFP.

University of Cincinnati paleontologist Arnie Miller, chairman of the convention, said he hoped the tour would provide the scientists with a firsthand look at what’s being put forth in a place that has drawn fierce criticism from the scientific community.

"I think in some cases, people were surprised by the physical quality of the exhibits, but needless to say, they were unhappy with things that are inaccurately portrayed," he told the AFP.

"And there was a feeling of unhappiness, too, about the extent to which mainstream scientists and evolutionists are demonized — that if you don’t accept the Answers in Genesis vision of the history of Earth and life, you’re contributing to the ills of society and of the church."

Howard University anatomy professor Daryl Domning shook his head several times throughout his tour of the museum.

"This bothers me as a scientist and as a Christian, because it’s just as much a distortion and misrepresentation of Christianity as it is of science," he told the AFP.

"It’s not your old-time religion by any means."

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