Salocin

The Creation Museum

In Cincinatti, a museum is being built to 'educate' those of us not graced with knowledge of the truth in the Genesis story - that God made the world, and all things in it.

Our increasingly anti-Christian country must return to a belief in the authority of the Bible and be presented with the life-changing gospel message. Evolutionary indoctrination has undermined the Christian foundations in America.

Let me run that by you again.

Evolutionary indoctrination has undermined the Christian foundations in America.

What we teach human beings old enough to attend school is labelled as indoctrination, whereas what is told to infants, over and over and over, by those they see as the source of all they know to be right - their parents - is a "Christian foundation". The hypocrisy of this statement beggars belief. I didn't make it up, it's the first item on their frequently asked questions page.

In the lobby, you will find...

...soaring cypress trees, the sounds of waterfalls and children playing with dinosaurs!

This is part of the walk through, some other gems are...

• Bible Authority Room: The Bible is true. No doubt about it! Paul explains God's authoritative Word, and everyone who rejects His history-including six-day creation and Noah's Flood-is ‘willfully’ ignorant.
• Them Dry Bones: One set of bones, two interpretations. How can two paleontologists, digging the same dinosaur fossil in the field, reach opposite conclusions? The answer: starting points. Fossils don’t come with labels. We must begin with assumptions! But which is correct?
• Creation: Explore the wonders of creation. The imprint of the Creator is all around us. And the Bible’s clear—heaven and earth in six 24-hour days, earth before sun, birds before lizards.
• The Great Flood: Don’t panic! Inside the Ark you’re safe from the raging storm. But tread carefully along the shifting floor, under the flickering lanterns. It’s certainly not a pleasure cruise or child’s fairytale!

Ah yes - the great flood, where God decided he doesn't like where the world is going, and everyone and everything (including all but two of each species of animal) deserved to die. It's not their fault, it's mankind's fault, but hey - let's get rid of the lot. Tabula Rasa. A sort of divine Ctrl-Alt-Delete moment.

What I find most amazing is the carefully cultivated sense of victimhood espoused by the parent organisation of the Creation Museum, Answers in Genesis. Take, as a particularly laughable example, this essay, quoted on their website under the articles section. What raises the hackles when reading an article of this kind is the fact that, while those of us equipped with critical thinking can see through the hypocrisy and misdirection of a piece of work like this, I can easily imagine a person less exposed to the rigors of science, logic, deduction and the rules of evidence raising their eyebrows and muttering "hell yeah" under their breath, tricked into feeling as though a light has gone on in their head and they have been revealed a new and valid point of view.

While it may seem crass to suggest reading a book so clearly biased to one side of the argument, I feel it justified in this case to encourage you to read The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins, which is linked to on Amazon to the right. I feel it is justified because (a) Creationism is the belief in myth overcoming the scientific curiosity that advances our civilization and combats ignorance, and Dawkins makes this point better than I can hope to, and (b) because Dawkins is right, based on all the abilities we have developed that allow us to think for ourselves, his is the conclusion that we come to - Creationism is the conclusion we are led to by those who would allow a centuries-old childs story to do our thinking for us.

I cling to the hope that this is all some joke by people that had a huge amount of time on their hands to build such an intricate website.

Posted by nlvp at November 22, 2006 05:06 PM