Posted on 01/14/2007 5:31:07 PM PST by Tim Long
PETERSBURG, Kentucky - Ken Ham's sprawling creation museum isn't even open yet, but an expansion is already underway in the state-of-the art lobby, where grunting dinosaurs and animatronic humans coexist in a Biblical paradise.
A crush of media attention and packed preview sessions have convinced Ham that nearly half a million people a year will come to Kentucky to see his Biblically correct version of history.
"I think we'll be surprised at how many people come," Ham said as he dodged dozens of designers working to finish exhibits in time for the May 28 opening.
The $27 million project, which also includes a planetarium, a special-effects theater, nature trails and a small lake, is privately funded by people who believe the Bible's first book, Genesis, is literally true.
For them, a museum showing Christian schoolchildren and skeptics alike how the earth, animals, dinosaurs and humans were created in a six-day period about 6,000 years ago -- not over millions of years, as evolutionary science says -- is long overdue.
While foreign media and science critics have mostly come to snigger at exhibits explaining how baby dinosaurs fit on Noah's Ark and Cain married his sister to people the earth, museum spokesman and vice-president Mark Looy said the coverage has done nothing but drum up more interest.
"Mocking publicity is free publicity," Looy said. Besides, U.S. media have been more respectful, mindful perhaps of a 2006 Gallup Poll showing almost half of Americans believe that humans did not evolve, but were created by God in their present form within the last 10,000 years.
Looy said supporters of the museum include evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews and conservative Catholics, as well as the local Republican congressman, Geoff Davis (news, bio, voting record), and his family, who have toured the site.
FROM 'JAWS' TO EDEN
While the debate between creationists and mainstream scientists has bubbled up periodically in U.S. schools since before the Scopes "monkey trial" in nearby Tennessee 80 years ago, courts have repeatedly ruled that teaching religious theory in public schools is unconstitutional.
Ham, an Australian who moved to America 20 years ago, believes creationists could have presented a better case at the Scopes trail if they'd been better educated -- but he's not among those pushing for creation to be taught in school.
Rather than force skeptical teachers to debate creation, Ham wants kids to come to his museum, where impassioned experts can make their case that apparently ancient fossils and the Grand Canyon were created just a few thousand years ago in a great flood.
"It's not hitting them over the head with a Bible, it's just teaching that we can defend what it says," he said.
Ham, who also runs a Christian broadcasting and publishing venture, said the museum's Hollywood-quality exhibits set the project apart from the many quirky Creation museums sprinkled across America.
The museum's team of Christian designers include theme park art director Patrick Marsh, who designed the "Jaws" and "King Kong" attractions at Universal Studios in Florida, as well as dozens of young artists whose conviction drives their work.
"I think it shows (nonbelievers) the other side of things," said Carolyn Manto, 27, pausing in her work painting Ice Age figures for a display about caves in France.
"I don't think it's going to be forcing any viewpoint on them, but challenging them to think critically about their evolutionary views," said Manto, who studied classical sculpture before joining the museum.
Still, Looy is upfront about the museum's mission: to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with nonbelievers.
"I think a lot of people are going to come out of curiosity ... and we're going to present the Gospel. This is going to be an evangelistic center," Looy said. A chaplain has been hired for museum-goers in need of spiritual guidance.
The museum's rural location near the border of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana places it well within America's mostly conservative and Christian heartland. But the setting has another strategic purpose: two-thirds of Americans are within a day's drive of the site, and Cincinnati's international airport is minutes away.
The project has not been without opposition. Zoning battles with environmentalists and groups opposed to the museum's message have delayed construction and the museum's opening day has been delayed repeatedly.
The museum has hired extra security and explosives-sniffing dogs to counter anonymous threats of damage to the building. "We've had some opposition," Looy said.
To say is the key word here, and you've failed to demonstrate that he explicitly stated any such thing.
Personally, I think your argument of libel is ridiculous, and not worthy of bothering Jim Robinson repeatedly.
You're lucky I'm not a Moderator. I'd suspend you just for being a pain in the ass.
Yup. But I wasn't there.
thanks for the link metmom- but this threrad has pretty much shown the shallowness of their tactics- I see you're being attacked by dictionary dorks that equate spelling with intellect- wonder if they calltheir docs retarded when they mispell things? Yeah, probably not- seems that rather than wieghing the content of the messages we giv3, it's more important for them to ignore the topics being discussed and attack the messengers- seen enough of htis childish tactic in the past- but thanks anyways.
--Milk and Pepsi--
For me it was Milk and orange soda.
"many complain I am overly literal... this would not be a problem if fewer people were under-precise
You certainly won't receive that complaint from me. You may, however, hear the sound of laughter off in the distance...
I actually don't think I have ever posted to the Hobbit Hole, though I have heard of it.
oh, ok, nitpicker: DLR did not say ("to utter aloud") his accusations concerning ichneumon - he typed them and published them in a text format.
as that is the textbook definition of libel, you've just made my case stronger.
congratulations.
--Bringing up some idiot's prior posts is only illegal on the Religion forum.--
Why isn't this in the religion forum?
What are you, an idiot? What other form of communication is there in this type of medium besides the printed word. To say is to print. Maybe you should consult your team of fourth graders before proceeding any further.....
The Judge's decision is not the transcript.
The Judge was clearly a puppet in the case. I asked for the presented evidence as evidenced by the transcript.
Don't you have to be able to read their handwriting to tell if it's misspelled?
The first ones to whine about pettiness when someone points out THEIR spelling errors. Must be nice to be so perfect that you can point out others MINOR errors. But then again, if someone was that perfect, they would not likely be so petty.
You're not supposed to reveal your mantra.
Keep chanting it until you turn into butter.
Why are you fixating on KP's notice of spelling errors rather than the substance of his post?
Why is he obsessing on spelling errors?
Do you have a transcript? The best I could find was this "ongoing project" - here you'll find the reasons why "[...] the actual trial transcript with its documentation of the stances of the various witnesses and arguments of the attorneys is not generally available.
So, is this your stand: "You can't show me in the transcript that creationists were when asked, unable to present any examples of creationist articles which had been refused publication in a scientific journal. So we have only the judge's decision, and that is wrong?"
The judge played the same game that you are playing here.
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