A field trip to the Creation Museum

SAIU trip to the Creation Museum from Secular Alliance on Vimeo.


The Secular Alliance at Indiana University took a field trip to the Creation Museum and made a video of what they experienced.

The video is worth watching for two reasons. It will kill any further curiosity you might have about the Museum, and you will be amazed and appalled that this kind of a monument to ignorance and superstition should even exist in 2008.

It is truly sad that so many people are willing to be deceived into believing Creationist crap!

And anyone bringing their young children to the Creation Museum should be arrested for child abuse!

h/t to PZMyers at Pharyngula

Cincinnati's Zoo and the Creation Museum

What were they thinking, those good folks in charge of the Cincinnati Zoo? Somehow they concluded it would be a good idea to do a little cooperative marketing with Kentucky's most famous monument to superstition and ignorance, the Creation Museum.

So, representatives from both institutions got together and worked out a system whereby visitors could buy a "combo ticket" which would admit them to both "attractions" for one price.

Sounded good ... at first.


But soon the zoo began "receiving dozens of angry calls and e-mails about the partnership, which offered reduced prices to anyone who bought tickets to the zoo's Festival of Lights and the museum's Christmas celebration, Bethlehem's Blessing."

Some folks said the zoo was scientific and the museum was religious. The zoo, being a scientific institution should not be, in any way, linked "to a place that argues man once lived side by side with dinosaurs."

Or, as Dr. James Leach, a Cincinnati radiologist, put it: "They seem like diametrically opposed institutions. The Cincinnati Zoo is one of this city's treasures. The Creation Museum is an international laughingstock."

PZ Myers, the University of Minnesota scientist, who writes at Pharyngula, claimed that "The Cincinnati Zoo is promoting an anti-science, anti-education con job run by ignorant creationists. ...

"I believe," said Myers, "the Cincinnati Zoo has betrayed its mission and its trust in a disgraceful way, by aligning themselves with a creationist institution that is a laughing stock to the rest of the world, and a mark of shame to the United States."

Myers also suggested people write to the zoo as well as to the Cincinnati papers to protest the zoo/museum alliance.

Within a few days, a worldwide e-mail campaign was in place, along with a zoo boycott.

The zoo caved, and called off the alliance.


Kenneth Ham, the creationist founder and promoter of the museum, was unhappy; he was "personally saddened."

"It's a pity," said Ham, "that intolerant people have pushed for our expulsion simply because of our Christian faith. Some of their comments ... reveal great intolerance for anything have to do with Christianity."

I find that most interesting. Ham has always bragged that the museum, while creationist, was not about Christianity but about science. In fact, creationists around the world struggle on a daily basis to try to determine some kind of scientific basis for their creationist nonsense.

And, in fact, the opposition to the zoo/museum alliance as well as opposition to the museum in general, has nothing to do with Christianity. Those opposed are opposed because the Creation Museum is not simply bad science, but isn't science at all, and simply confuses simple people with it's moronic biblicism.


PZ Myers, something of a lightning rod for creationists and other whack jobs, has received a number of e-mails attacking his position. Fortunately, he has a great sense of humor, and has provided one written by a true wingnut for our review here.

His original post dealing with this issue is here.

The Creation Museum - a monument to ignorance & superstition

A few days ago, I wrote a "mocking" little post on that monument to ignorance and superstition, the Creation Museum, located just south of Cincinnati, in the great state of Kentucky.

A small number of Xtian fundys got their hackles raised and started whining about my lack of biblical understanding and how I needed Jesus and they would keep praying for me so that I would find Jesus (I didn't know he was lost!) and have my sins taken away and live forever in the heavenly realm (wherever that is) with their skygod.

Lest anyone is even a tad confused that the Creation Museum and/or what is oxymoronically called "creation science" is anything more than a scam perpetrated by Xtian fundamentalists who believe they are called to force this nonsense down the throats of our "innocent" little school children, I'm including a link to a post on PZ Myer's blog, Pharyngula, which provides a wealth of information dealing with the Creation Museum and the crap it promotes as science. Myers is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota.

Myers wrote this post on May 27, 2007. His introductory comments follow:

"This week, the creationist Ken Ham and his organization, Answers in Genesis, are practicing the Big Lie. They have spent tens of millions of dollars to create a glossy simulacrum of a museum, a slick imitation of a scientific enterprise veneered over long disproved religious fables, and they are gathering crowds and world-wide attention to the grand opening of their edifice of deceit. You can now take a photographic tour of the exhibits and see for yourself--it's not science at all, but merely a series of Bible stories dolled up in dioramas.

"The blogosphere is also giving them some attention -- almost none of it favorable. What I've done here is collect recent reactions from all over to the Creation Museum, and compile[d] them down into a link and a short and (I hope) representative extract. Browse through this long, long list, and when you find some quote that tickles your interest, follow the link to find the complete article. The National Center for Science Education has also compiled reactions from journalists, educators, scientists, and scientific organizations for yet more reading on the subject."


There are many links in Myers' post. If, however, you've been fooled by this pseudo-scientific, religious hokum, you should seriously consider reading through at least some of the material that is available.

One last thing: One gentleman asked if I had visited the Creation Museum, as if that would make a difference in my outlook. No, I have not. For one thing, I have not felt the need, as I've studied carefully material made available by the museum and have no interest in looking at what Myers calls "Bible stories dolled up in dioramas." Pictures of these dioramas are enough, thank you.

The other reason I won't soon visit the Creation Museum is the same reason I quit reading Mickey Mouse comic books years ago. I have no need for such fantasies as a grown-up adult.

You will find Myers' blog post here.

P.S. I "borrowed" the above photo from Pharyngula.