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.
why not? They teach the fable of evolution in schools- and besides- IF you cared to look into the matter further- you WOULD see there is plenty of evidences that support design and creation and discount and expose the fables they teach us in schools regarding evolution and origen.
bull it's junk- That's a biased and ignorant stance Central- (not insinuation you're ignorant- just not informed on this subject)
Wanna prove evolution? Didn't think so- and don't feel bad- a few hundred secualr scientists back in the 70's and 80's who met in Cleveland didn't either- they concluded evolution was NOT a viable explanation due to lack of evidence to support the theory- Yet- these dogmatic fables are STILL taugh in our schools- perhaps we should be stating "Don't teach those fables in our schools- huh?"
My wife would love to live that way. She hates the PC.
The raise my own food thing? I already do some, want to increase it though.
And I'm working on the clothing thing, one step at a time. Right now I'm just trying to get back to buying clothes made in the USA.
Again, I don't knock real science......
g'night
Why do you call evolution a fable? There are millions and millions of studies on thousands and thousands of species. Real studies, real data, real science.
Creationism still equals "God said it, I believe it, that settles it"
Creationism has NO place in rational thought, it exists only in the most radical evangelical circles. But, take heart 50 years ago, snake handling was the big thing in evangelical cericles.
Show me some proof! Show me the proof that disproves evolution. Show me the quality scientists publishing the papers doing so!
You can't, because Creationism is a dogmatic belief, and the fact that, in 2007, you want it foisted on children is represhensible.
You are a eukaryote, along with every other example of multicellular life. Also, I'm not sure how symbiosis between protoeukaryotes and the bacteria that were eventually to become mitochondria disqualifies "transitional species." There are no extant species that are in any way similar to protoeukaryotes and the endosymbiosed aerobic bacteria. And it is extremely unlikely that any of these would have been fossilized.
Not an ignorant stance, its based on real science, sorry you missed it while you were at church.
Guess what? All the high courts have rejected creationist BS in the schools, so who the hell cares about some isolated cases in the 70's and 80's?
(Show me some proof, not just your babbling)
Secular........LOL
Teacher, who designed the designer?????
I am a Catholic that was raised and taught by intelligent and scientifically savvy priests. Show me where the Catholic church teaches the creationist nonsense.
Noah's ark was taught as a story, a fable, designed to teach the ignorant masses of the day.
As for the Kerry and Kennedy blarm, give it a rest. I know several Catholic priests that know science, teach evolution and are not so weak in faith that they allow their dogma to refuse science.
Who created God?
God, as a theological concept does not need a creator. One believes in Him based on faith. So called Scientific theories about an "intelligent designer" require a scientific, verifiable, falsifiable proof.
there's plenty of scientific papers showing the facts of creation theory. You can go ahead and believe your darkside that tells you it's not a theory but it's just making you look foolish. There are plenty of reputable scientists that do good scientific research into creationism and you are aware of that. You're just trying to frame the debate excluding a theory that doesn't aggree with your belief. A theory doesn't neccessarily prove itself but leads one in the direction of the truth. So I don't understand your request to have proof? Although the amazing dna code really is proof of an author.
The great thing about Catholicism is its depth...the long, long history of involvement with Christianity. As I said in a couple of other messages, I believe the core message of Christianity is valid, but the physical manifestations of faith are not holy, viz: the Bible, images, etc. Those things are very worthwhile...just not holy. That said, I am a big fan of EWTN, the Catholic television network and Mother Angelica.
yup soft bodies species can'rt usually be fossilized- hover the millions of supposedly evolving har bodied species could- even Darwin himself said his theory was wrong due to lack of transitional species- AND we've since learned- as I said previously- it is biologically impossible- there HAS to be gene transference in order for the necessary NEW information needed for evolution to happen to change a species outside of it's own kind.
No sorry- I aint no eukoroyte- The gene information that I have is unique to my species- not to eukoroyte species.
Symbiosis is not evolution- it is a parasite existing entirely off another- they are both unique species- they do not together become an entirely different species.
Trust me- I've looked into this- it's too late tonight- but it has been proven to be false in regards to evolution and has been dropped by science when it was exposed as symbiotic- they tried to pass it off as evolution- but the facts did not support that at all, and htey had to admit that- you won't find much on this however, when it was pressed- the truth was begrudgingly admitted and pretty much not reported on much- but the reports are out there
Dude, turn off the Flintstones and read a book.
isolated incidents huh? Not liekly- it was a MAJOR meeting of leading secular scientists- but poo poo it if you like- While you're at it- poo poo darwin as well because he ALSO came to the same conclusion that evolution had no legs to stand on and that it couldn't even evolve any to stand on.
Nice, show me them. Show me where they were accepted by real science.
You have posted all over this thread, but have offered nothing other than your BS.
No darkside, just reason and logic that seems to fly in the face of your dogma and fables.
lol thqt's rich comming from mr "That's bull- I refuse to beleive it"
Why not? Its nice to frame your arguments around dogma, that way you can't ask questions. What created God? If nothing did, than why should I believe that there is a God that created everything, especially in a simplistic way that flies in the face of the fossil record, carbon dating, and evolutionary science?
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