Creationism museum to be built in KY
 

Bible as biology
Creation Museum outside Cincinnati readies its exhibits
Friday, February 10, 2006
Dennis M . Mahoney
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


PETERSBURG, Ky. — Ken Ham admits that the Creation Museum rising on 50 acres of former farmland in northern Kentucky uses dinosaurs to attract people.

But while the giant creatures are a hook, they also help his organization, Answers in Genesis, get across its fundamental message: If the Bible says it, it’s got to be true.

"Every doctrine of theology is found in that history, and all of Christian morality," Ham said. "And so in a sense, the museum is standing here saying, ‘The Bible’s history is true; that’s why its message of morality, its message of the Gospel is true.’ "

What is true for Answers in Genesis, and what the 30,000-square-foot museum will depict, is:


• The Earth is about 6,000 years old, not millions as many say.


• God created everything in six days.


• Adam and Eve and all other creatures were vegetarians — until the first couple sinned. Meat-eating and death then followed.


• Dinosaurs must have lived at the same time as humans. Because death came only after Adam and Eve sinned, the dinosaurs couldn’t have lived and died before them.


• A great flood destroyed much of the Earth and killed the dinosaurs, but Noah and the animals in the ark were spared.


• God chose the Israelites to bring his word to the world.


• Jesus died and was resurrected to end human separation from God caused by sin.

Thwarted by foes


Answers in Genesis was co-founded by Ham in Australia, his native country, in the late 1970s. He came to the San Diego area in 1987, and in late 1993 started a U.S. office of the organization with fellow Australian Mark Looy.

Ham, a 54-year-old former science teacher, and Looy, 51, moved the U.S. office to Florence, Ky., just south of Cincinnati, in 1994 because it was more centrally located to a large portion of the U.S. population.

Looy said building a museum was always a goal of Answers in Genesis, which also has offices overseas in five countries. But the organization was stymied in its first attempt to do so.

In the mid-1990s, it met stiff resistance when it sought the rezoning of land just outside Big Bone Lick State Park, southwest of Florence, to build the museum and offices. The park’s museum displays fossils of prehistoric animals found on the site in the 18 th century.

Among those leading the opposition were Edwin and Helen Kagin of nearby Union. Mr. Kagin is director of the Kentucky chapter of American Atheists and its legal representative.

"Many educated people simply didn’t believe or could not comprehend that anyone was actually claiming that dinosaurs that became extinct 65 million years before the advent of humans on the planet lived at the same time," Mr. Kagin said. "They really thought it was sort of a joke."

When it became clear Ham and Looy weren’t kidding, Mrs. Kagin helped gather about 1,000 signatures opposing the rezoning. She said opponents thought the site had been chosen to contrast with the archaeology of the park.

The Kagins said their opposition was based on legal issues, not religious ones.

"They have an absolute right to build their museum of nonsense," Mr. Kagin said. "My opposition was based solely on their failure to meet the zoning requirements."

The rezoning was denied. After that, Answers in Genesis found the current site, where Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky come together in one of the few undeveloped areas along I-275.

Elaborate presentation


The museum — scheduled to open in spring 2007 — will include 70 dinosaur models, some of which are animatronic. Visitors will view displays that tell the story of creation, the sinful fall of Adam and Eve and its aftermath, and the great flood.

The final part of the tour deals with the coming of Jesus, his death and resurrection, and the final judgment.

The museum will include a $500,000 planetarium, which seats 84, and a special-effects theater, seating 175, that cost about $1 million. There will be cafes, a gift shop and a chapel where clergy people will answer questions.

The building encompasses 95,000 square feet, with about 30,000 being the museum. The rest is for Answers in Genesis offices and museum workshops.

Travis Wilson, 19, is a Rochester, Mich., native who is working at the museum as a sculptor. He learned of the museum when an Answers in Genesis speaker came to his church.

Wilson, who lives in nearby Burlington, said his experience has been "awesome."

"You can go to work every day and be like, yeah, I did something that was worthwhile. It’s cool," he said.

Georgia Purdom is leaving her job teaching molecular and cell biology at Mount Vernon Nazarene University this summer to work for Answers in Genesis because she says her new post will allow her to be more creative.

Purdom, who earned her doctorate in molecular genetics from Ohio State University in 2000, will teach, write and develop curriculum for Answers in Genesis.

She also will be doing research for an Institute for Creation Research project that is analyzing and comparing the genomes of humans and chimps. The goal is to show that the two have no common ancestor, according to the institute’s Web site.

Purdom said the Bible molds her thinking as a scientist.

"Because I believe in the authority of the Bible, and what we call plain reading of the Bible, then I have no reason to doubt that God created the world in six, 24-hour days," she said.

"And so that is the foundation. That’s my presupposition. And so everything, science, it doesn’t matter what field, is interpreted in light of that."

Developing the Answers in Genesis complex — where 155 currently work — is costing about $25 million, with about $20 million in the bank so far, Looy said. The organization’s budget last year was $15.5 million.

About two-thirds of its revenue comes from donations, he said. The rest is from product sales and book royalties, and fees it charges at some of the several hundred seminars it conducts each year nationwide, Looy said.

Struggle for minds


The museum is another part of Answers in Genesis’ effort to flood the culture with information and change its thinking, Ham said. Another big part of that is an Internet site (www.answersingenesis.org) that has more than 1 million visitors monthly, he said.

Ham said creationists were not set back by a recent decision by a Pennsylvania judge that "intelligent design" — the notion that life results from an unknown intelligent plan — can’t be taught in public schools.

"The fact that these battles are occurring, even if they’re losing . . . the fact that it’s bringing it to the forefront in the culture, to me means something is happening," Ham said.

"So I don’t see a loss here or a loss there. If you’re going to change something, you’ve got to expect those sorts of things."

Ham said the organization’s research shows that more than just true creationist believers will visit the museum because everyone is interested in their origins.

"There are people today that won’t go to a church," he said. "But they’ll come to something like this because it’s interesting. And that’s why we’re doing it in a first-class way.

"We’re up front about who we are and what we believe. But the statistics indicate we’re going to have quite a large percentage of non-Christians coming."

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:lol

I heard about this a while back. Answers in Genesis is a pain. :(

when are they going to make an answers in super nintendo museum :x

Because the Lord prefers hyper active blue hedgeogs over greasy Italian plumbers.

what a gyp!

That clip from Family Guy with the IQ chart with creationists below retards fits this thread nicely.

"• Adam and Eve and all other creatures were vegetarians — until the first couple sinned. Meat-eating and death then followed. "

Shit.

Actually, that's misleading by Scriptural standards. According to Genesis, humans and all animals were vegetarian until after the flood.

no way

Pssh. I just find it hilarious that they cling to one and only one book, and they don't even know it well enough.

I thought the title of this thread meant they were going to build the museum out of sex jelly. :(

This is just offensive. I'm ashamed that we've got a constitutional amendment protecting this sort of behavior. We kinda have to rely on public backlash to derail this kind of thing, right? And doesn't persecution only justify their cause?

Would perhaps firebombing be the proper solution?


There is nothing more furstrating than hopeless idiocy.

I will deffinitely visit this museum the next time I'm in Kentucky, where I frequently go for the affordable farm animal sex.

Why do they pick 4,000 bc as the starting date of all dates? If they pushed it back another 5,000 years or so it would be outside the scope of our "Known history".

There are exactly two flaws in their reasoning.

1- Noah should have saved the dinosaurs.

2- They are fucking insane.

First the chicken, now this. Fuck it, I'm moving to Canada.

I recommend Bruce Hanlon's place. His studs will leave you satisfied. ;)

where do dinosaurs fit in the bible? were they stomping around the garden of eden or did god place fossils to test our faith?

this is probobly the better answer
http://raptorjesusstory.ytmnd.com/

That's probably the highest ratio of effort to amusement I've seen on YTMND.

"And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Especially those big lizard guys, them's some mean fuckers."

Are you serious about this? You want the state to prohibit wrong ideas?

I don't have a problem with it from a Constitutional sense, I just think it's retarded. When they say that ID should be taught in schools, however.

I could make a hundred qualifying statements before saying yes and I still wouldn't have covered all of the bases. I think it borders on dangerous to be teaching blatant religous fiction as fact. I don't advocate the outlawing of fiction, but wholesale disinformation and the intentional breeding of ignorant citizens is something that needs to be examined when these sorts of ideas become so prevelant as to manifest an entire museum.

So, no, in some massive Orwellian sense I do not want the state to prohibit wrong ideas. I do however find the fact that these people will be operating and perpetuating their absolute lunacy and fabricated science under the guise of freedom of religion rather offensive.
You have a right to your faith.
You do not (or rather should not) however, have a right to teach it as fact when there is conclusive proof that it is false.
A museum based on a literal interpretation of Genesis is nothing more than organized miseducation.

I could make a hundred qualifying statements before saying yes and I still wouldn't have covered all of the bases. I think it borders on dangerous to be teaching blatant religous fiction as fact. I don't advocate the outlawing of fiction, but wholesale disinformation and the intentional breeding of ignorant citizens is something that needs to be examined when these sorts of ideas become so prevelant as to manifest an entire museum.[/quote]

Uh, it's a museum. You have to choose to physically walk in the door and hear what they have to say. There's museums in Roswell, NM dedicated to UFO landings, aren't there?

This isn't being pasted into school books in Kentucky, it's just a small group of people building a silly museum.

Seems rather silly to only represent one side of an issue in museums and the like, so I fully support such a place. A person who disagrees with the THEORY of Evolution could say the same thing about museums that include teaching evolution as the origin of life. Then there would be fewer museums and less of a burden of the Federal budget... Wait a minute, here is my proposal no more museums that make reference to the origins of the universe. Got to get the budget under control somehow.