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In the beginning . . . Adam walked with dinosaurs [Creationist Park]
Telegraph.co.uk ^ | 02 January 2005 | James Langton

Posted on 01/02/2005 12:20:11 PM PST by PatrickHenry

With its towering dinosaurs and a model of the Grand Canyon, America's newest tourist attraction might look like the ideal destination for fans of the film Jurassic Park.

The new multi-million-dollar Museum of Creation, which will open this spring in Kentucky, will, however, be aimed not at film buffs, but at the growing ranks of fundamentalist Christians in the United States.

It aims to promote the view that man was created in his present shape by God, as the Bible states, rather than by a Darwinian process of evolution, as scientists insist.

The centrepiece of the museum is a series of huge model dinosaurs, built by the former head of design at Universal Studios, which are portrayed as existing alongside man, contrary to received scientific opinion that they lived millions of years apart.

Other exhibits include images of Adam and Eve, a model of Noah's Ark and a planetarium demonstrating how God made the Earth in six days.

The museum, which has cost a mighty $25 million (£13 million) will be the world's first significant natural history collection devoted to creationist theory. It has been set up by Ken Ham, an Australian evangelist, who runs Answers in Genesis, one of America's most prominent creationist organisations. He said that his aim was to use tourism, and the theme park's striking exhibits, to convert more people to the view that the world and its creatures, including dinosaurs, were created by God 6,000 years ago.

"We want people to be confronted by the dinosaurs," said Mr Ham. "It's going to be a first class experience. Visitors are going to be hit by the professionalism of this place. It is not going to be done in an amateurish way. We are making a statement."

The museum's main building was completed recently, and work on the entrance exhibit starts this week. The first phase of the museum, which lies on a 47-acre site 10 miles from Cincinatti on the border of Kentucky and Ohio, will open in the spring.

Market research companies hired by the museum are predicting at least 300,000 visitors in the first year, who will pay $10 (£5.80) each.

Among the projects still to be finished is a reconstruction of the Grand Canyon, purportedly formed by the swirling waters of the Great Flood – where visitors will "gape" at the bones of dinosaurs that "hint of a terrible catastrophe", according to the museum's publicity.

Mr Ham is particularly proud of a planned reconstruction of the interior of Noah's Ark. "You will hear the water lapping, feel the Ark rocking and perhaps even hear people outside screaming," he said.

More controversial exhibits deal with diseases and famine, which are portrayed not as random disasters, but as the result of mankind's sin. Mr Ham's Answers in Genesis movement blames the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, in which two teenagers killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves, on evolutionist teaching, claiming that the perpetrators believed in Darwin's survival of the fittest.

Other exhibits in the museum will blame homosexuals for Aids. In a "Bible Authority Room" visitors are warned: "Everyone who rejects his history – including six-day creation and Noah's flood – is `wilfully' ignorant.''

Elsewhere, animated figures will be used to recreate the Garden of Eden, while in another room, visitors will see a tyrannosaurus rex pursuing Adam and Eve after their fall from grace. "That's the real terror that Adam's sin unleashed," visitors will be warned.

A display showing ancient Babylon will deal with the Tower of Babel and "unravel the origin of so-called races'', while the final section will show the life of Christ, as an animated angel proclaims the coming of the Saviour and a 3D depiction of the crucifixion.

In keeping with modern museum trends, there will also be a cafe with a terrace to "breathe in the fresh air of God's creation'', and a shop "crammed'' with creationist souvenirs, including T-shirts and books such as A is for Adam and Dinky Dinosaur: Creation Days.

The museum's opening will reinforce the burgeoning creationist movement and evangelical Christianity in the US, which gained further strength with the re-election of President Bush in November.

Followers of creationism have been pushing for their theories to be reintegrated into American schoolroom teaching ever since the celebrated 1925 "Scopes Monkey Trial", when US courts upheld the right of a teacher to use textbooks that included evolutionary theory.

In 1987, the US Supreme Court reinforced that position by banning the teaching of creationism in public schools on the grounds of laws that separate state and Church.

Since then, however, many schools – particularly in America's religious Deep South – have got around the ban by teaching the theory of "intelligent design", which claims that evolutionary ideas alone still leave large gaps in understanding.

"Since President Bush's re-election we have been getting more membership applications than we can handle,'' said Mr Ham, who expects not just the devout, but also the curious, to flock through the turnstiles. "The evolutionary elite will be getting a wake-up call."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; Philosophy; US: Kentucky
KEYWORDS: creationism; cretinism; crevolist; darwin; evolution; kenham; themepark
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To: Dataman
I was responding to this:

If memory serves me, PH is a lawyer. Couple that with his rabid anti-Christian stance, his condescending remarks and his apparent self-importance...

321 posted on 01/03/2005 11:06:26 AM PST by js1138 (D*mn, I Missed!)
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To: shubi
Corrected Post. Please address the questions.

I suspect you got your quote from a creationist crapsite, because abiogenesis is not in the Theory of Evolution.

I hope your homework in other areas is more thorough. I gave you the reference for my quote (Post #87) [corrected portion] which, in turn, gave the original reference. (You could have aimed before you fired.) It is not, to use your words, “a creationist crapsite.” Perhaps if you had bothered to look before drawing such an unfounded conclusion, you would appear less ignorant and insultingly arrogant in your responses.

The fact is the whole creationist nonsense is a strawman.

“From God’s lips to your ear,” no doubt. Perhaps there is shred of humbleness that would allow you to admit that there is room for multiple opinions in this area. On the other hand, perhaps you are someone who can “walk on water when it isn’t frozen or call forth some dead person from the tomb before my eyes.” If so, I would really like a demonstration. Until such a demonstration, maybe you’ll excuse my reticence at accepting your assertions as unadulterated truth.

Evolution works from the point of creation forward.

OK, who or what “created” evolution (not the theory but the “fact” by your interpretation)? Is this evolution creator bound by the naturalistic processes posited by the theory?

Since you are using sources that are wrong, we might expect your conclusions based on this misinformation to be wrong, as well. You are correct that the debate is a tempest in a teapot because evolution is a fact and creationism is nonsense based on a strawman.

I invite you to check my sources before you reach any more unfounded conclusions concerning them. As for your assertion “evolution is a fact and creationism is nonsense,” I think you will find that the topic is still listed in the legitimate scientific community as the theory of evolution not the natural law of evolution.
322 posted on 01/03/2005 11:08:06 AM PST by Lucky Dog
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To: shubi

My reference was cited by the original poster of the original article.


323 posted on 01/03/2005 11:09:13 AM PST by Lucky Dog
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To: alessandrofiaschi

LOL That great!!!


324 posted on 01/03/2005 11:11:38 AM PST by DannyTN
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To: alessandrofiaschi

LOL That great!!!


325 posted on 01/03/2005 11:11:55 AM PST by DannyTN
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To: Lucky Dog

Stop playing games. What is the reference?

Please list creationist positions that are not nonsense.

Biology doesn't care what created evolution. I personally believe that God created everything in a way we will never know, because if we did we would be God.

"As for your assertion “evolution is a fact and creationism is nonsense,” I think you will find that the topic is still listed in the legitimate scientific community as the theory of evolution not the natural law of evolution."

Science does not use theory as "guess". The statement above shows you have little knowledge of how science really works. Science doesn't deal with natural laws anymore. I think that is more of a philosophical issue, but don't let that stand in your way any more than any other creationist has.

Why talk about science that you don't know about when you can obfuscate talking philosophical abstractions?

Before I answer anymore of your "questions", answer this:

What is an allele and how does it work and why is it important to understand this before you can intelligently talk about evolution?


326 posted on 01/03/2005 11:14:49 AM PST by shubi (Peace through superior firepower.)
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To: Lucky Dog

"My reference was cited by the original poster of the original article."

Oh, Answers in Genesis, the penultimate creationist crapsite. That is what I said. Thank you for clearing that up.

It is now obvious why you were so reluctant to reveal your source and demonstrate that I was right the first time. Thanks for wasting my time.


327 posted on 01/03/2005 11:18:02 AM PST by shubi (Peace through superior firepower.)
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To: shubi
Oh, Answers in Genesis, the penultimate creationist crapsite. That is what I said. Thank you for clearing that up. It is now obvious why you were so reluctant to reveal your source and demonstrate that I was right the first time. Thanks for wasting my time.

You are in error, sir. Below is the original post (#1) for your information (sorry the links did not transfer):

Those who oppose evolution might achieve some credibility in these threads by making an effort to understand what they're arguing against.

The Theory of Evolution. (Excellent introductory encyclopedia article.)

It would also be useful to learn what science is: The scientific method.

Everybody be nice.

328 posted on 01/03/2005 11:22:48 AM PST by Lucky Dog
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To: shubi
Thanks for wasting my time.

Perhaps you could address the questions posed to you, now... Or do you plan to ignore them because you cannot answer them?
329 posted on 01/03/2005 11:24:38 AM PST by Lucky Dog
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To: shubi
I don't need to work with vowel points. In fact, I find it to be restricting, since it tends to interpret the Bible in a Masorite fashion.

LOL! No wonder. A anti-nikkud snob. So what makes you think a beit sounds like a beit, and not always like a veit? Your distain for the Masoretes is not shared among most Biblical Hebrew scholars. You couldn't even speak Hebrew today without the Masoretes painstaking accuracy. Let me guess, you come from a camp that thought that the Masoretes corrupted the text... and yet when the great Isaiah scroll was discovered were left stammering how faithful all the renditions were to the ancient text.
330 posted on 01/03/2005 11:37:59 AM PST by safisoft (Give me Torah!)
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To: shubi
You know, calling someone a liar is a bannable offense.

OK, I'll play. I have 3 earned PhDs. I am a billionaire. I broke the world's speed record on a stainless steel snowboard. Remember you cannot call anyone a liar (remind Dimensio of that, #168). A quick scan of the last 10 days produces several posts in which your credentials have been doubted. I wonder why?

Now, either get back to the subject at hand and stop this tactic of distracting from the real issues, or prepare to be shunned.

Please oh please! Not that!

331 posted on 01/03/2005 11:49:13 AM PST by Dataman
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To: js1138
Where is any mention of hereitics as in:

JS: ...one who goes around denouncing others as heretics.???

Your response still makes absolutely no sense.

332 posted on 01/03/2005 11:53:33 AM PST by Dataman
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To: Dataman

I acknowledge the fact that you are unable to understand my post.


333 posted on 01/03/2005 12:03:58 PM PST by js1138 (D*mn, I Missed!)
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To: johnmilken
So sex with first cousins is OK? Cool... And was there a black wife, an asian wife and a blonde?

Which ones preserved all those nasty venereal diseases from extinction?

334 posted on 01/03/2005 12:23:06 PM PST by balrog666 (I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.)
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To: Dataman

LOL. And I have a billion trillion dollars, just in my wallet, a mansion, a coachhouse, lots of racing horses. Oh yeah, and 18 PhDs from every school in America, and one in England


335 posted on 01/03/2005 12:29:44 PM PST by D Edmund Joaquin (I swear as Evolution is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly! Vade Retro)
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To: shubi

shubi-doo, shubi-dooo, no one believes you, shubi-doo


336 posted on 01/03/2005 12:38:59 PM PST by D Edmund Joaquin (I swear as Evolution is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly! Vade Retro)
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To: balrog666
Which ones preserved all those nasty venereal diseases from extinction?

Not to mention Smallpox. Does anyone know how many diseases have humans as the only vector?

337 posted on 01/03/2005 12:44:31 PM PST by js1138 (D*mn, I Missed!)
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To: Thatcherite
Here's what AiG says regarding the water for the flood:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/flood12.asp

338 posted on 01/03/2005 12:47:28 PM PST by Hawkeye
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To: Hawkeye

And God for some reason completely destroyed the evidence after doing it? I say this since the geological record shows not the slightest evidence of any such thing, neither does modern DNA show a genetic bottleneck 6000 years ago, which would be completely apparent.


339 posted on 01/03/2005 1:11:27 PM PST by Thatcherite (Conservative and Biblical Literalist are not synonymous)
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To: Thatcherite
neither does modern DNA show a genetic bottleneck 6000 years ago, which would be completely apparent.

Wouldn't the flood have to be a bit more recent?

340 posted on 01/03/2005 1:14:09 PM PST by js1138 (D*mn, I Missed!)
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