After the mastodon is what I think is supposed to be a brief “introduction” to the museum. Aka, getting right to calling scientist delusional liars and preparing you to witness dinosaurs and humans mingling together:
This museum is overflowing with dinosaurs. I initially found it strange; I mean, this is supposed to be about all creation, right? There are other animals in the exhibits, but no where near the number of dinosaurs. I can think of millions of interesting things you could say about amphibians or birds or mammals or insects or whatever, and I’m sure they have millions of ways they can twist those facts to fit their own agenda.
But once you look at the usual demographics of the museum, you know why there’s all the dinosaur hype: kids. Nearly all of the theists there (recognizable by their lack of a name tag and their looks of shock) were with families. When I saw a large group of 7-ish year olds walk in on what seemed to be some kind of field trip, my heart sank. The Creation Museum isn’t for the believing adults whose faith is strong, or the atheists who come to giggle and likely won’t be converted: it’s for the impressionable youth. These kids are getting brainwashed, and who knows if they’ll ever be taken to a real natural history museum. And what better way to brainwash children than to have exciting dinosaurs? I know I loved dinos as a kid, and I would also believe whatever an adult would tell me. This sort of million-dollar-budget indoctrination is hard to undo.
The other thing the museum beats over your head is that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time. It’s preposterous, but necessary for them. Creationists already have their “conclusion” as told to them by the Bible, and they have to take reality and warp it to fit their preconceptions. They know the Earth is 6000 years old, so how do they explain dinosaur fossils? Apparently it’s less crazy to say humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time than to claim God buried fake dinosaur fossils to test people’s faith. I mean, that would just be silly.
And to be honest, the fake humans really freaked me out. They fell right smack dab in the middle of the uncanny valley. This little girl was especially freaky because she was animatronic, and her eyes would shift back and forth. I think I died a little inside when her eyes stared right at me. Made me wonder if they’re really some sort of video camera, like in one of those old haunted houses. I can just imagine Ken Ham sitting behind a bunch of surveillance cameras, watching as the atheists file through his museum.
The pre-main exhibit display cases were attempts to make people doubt evolution and raise questions that would later be answered (Spoilers: The answer is always “God did it.”). Since I’m studying both genetics and evolution, parts like this in the museum really made me want to cry. For example:
Standard creationist argument, right? There’s not enough time for evolution even in a billions of years (which is an outright lie), and we all know the Earth is only 6,000 years old because all “facts” are provided by the Bible. Therefore, evolution is a lie. The weird thing about the museum is that they actually try to use genetics and natural selection in their later exhibits, but they’re just setting themselves up to fail. Their stance isn’t even consistent through the museum (not surprising). For example:
Here, there’s no way all this diversity could have evolved, right? God made all the finches unique (they even had about 7 beautifully colored live finches in a display to make their point). Sounds like the standard creationist argument: Except the Creation Museum believes in natural selection. They have whole exhibits explaining how a single “Kind” of animal that was brought on the Ark had enough variation that through natural selection it produces lots of different species. For example, two proto-horses brought on the Ark would later produce modern horses, donkeys, and zebras.
I honestly don’t understand how they say the appearance of new species over time from a common ancestor is not evolution – it’s like staring at an apple and asserting it’s an orange, or more appropriately, sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling “LA LA LA!” But regardless of that inanity, why didn’t they use that explanation for the finches? Why not say Noah brought a “Kind” on the Ark that was a basic finch, and after the flood it turned into different finches? You would think if they’re just making stuff up, they would at least be consistent about it – of course, look at the Bible. I’ll talk about what’s actually wrong with the “Kind” hypothesis once I actually get to that part of the museum.
(Thanks to Vanessa and Josh for extra photos)
Part1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9
Makes me cry a little inside when you discuss kids being taken to this terrible place. I'm loving to read it, though…
Makes me cry a little inside when you discuss kids being taken to this terrible place. I’m loving to read it, though…
Yet they insist gays and atheists are "indoctrinating" children.
Yet they insist gays and atheists are “indoctrinating” children.
There's nothing wrong with indoctrination, as long as it's the indoctrination they want done.
There’s nothing wrong with indoctrination, as long as it’s the indoctrination they want done.
I have to mirror Veritas' sentiments; the thing I remember most from reading your post, other than the half-amusing and half-disturbing silliness and ignorance, is the indoctrination and borderline brainwashing that's going on with the kids. To be quite frankly, it seriously pisses me off. It's just so, totally, unfair – only a few years old, not able to think for themselves yet, and they're being spoonfed lies and bullshit, therefore assuredly turning them into creationists and morons as they grow older.
I can only wonder how many of them will be able to grow critical thought and think for themselves after that … it's truly sad and disheartening, but at the same times, only reminds us atheist bloggers why we're blogging about this stuff in the first place, doesn't it?
Enough rambling from me …
I have to mirror Veritas’ sentiments; the thing I remember most from reading your post, other than the half-amusing and half-disturbing silliness and ignorance, is the indoctrination and borderline brainwashing that’s going on with the kids. To be quite frankly, it seriously pisses me off. It’s just so, totally, unfair – only a few years old, not able to think for themselves yet, and they’re being spoonfed lies and bullshit, therefore assuredly turning them into creationists and morons as they grow older.I can only wonder how many of them will be able to grow critical thought and think for themselves after that … it’s truly sad and disheartening, but at the same times, only reminds us atheist bloggers why we’re blogging about this stuff in the first place, doesn’t it?Enough rambling from me …
God loves Variety…he aparently reads the tabloids.
God loves Variety…he aparently reads the tabloids.
And what better way to brainwash children than to have exciting dinosaurs? I know I loved dinos as a kid, and I would also believe whatever an adult would tell me. This sort of million-dollar-budget indoctrination is hard to undo. That's a lesson the AIG people know quite well.
And what better way to brainwash children than to have exciting dinosaurs? I know I loved dinos as a kid, and I would also believe whatever an adult would tell me. This sort of million-dollar-budget indoctrination is hard to undo. That’s a lesson the AIG people know quite well.
Dinosaurs, I think, are a universal constant, entirely indifferent to gender. If a child is not fascinated by dinosaurs, it is because that child has not been introduced to the concept.
Dinosaurs, I think, are a universal constant, entirely indifferent to gender. If a child is not fascinated by dinosaurs, it is because that child has not been introduced to the concept.
I don’t agree with the theory put out by this museum, but I also don’t agree with the theory of evolution. I believe in the theory of Creation. The common word here is “theory”. Our country has been teaching, in our schools, a “theory of evolution” since the 1960’s, therefore, how do we know that we haven’t been “brainwashed” into that “theory”?
Don’t be an idiot. We understand evolution to have happened because there is EVIDENCE that supports it. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence, if you’d only bother to look for it (these days you don’t need to look very hard; just pick up The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins or Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne, for starters).If you understood the meaning of the word “theory” in the scientific sense, you would never have said anything you said there. “Theory”, in science, refers to “a scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomena; a hypothesis that has been confirmed or established by observation or experiment, and is propounded or accepted as accounting for the known facts; a statement of what are held to be the general laws, principles, or causes of something known or observed” (definition provided by Dawkins in TGSOE on page 9).”Theory” and “hypothesis” do not mean the same thing in science, no matter how often people use the word “theory” to mean “hypothesis” in common parlance. Creationists like yourself take advantage of this misunderstanding, but all you are doing is equivocating.
Ok, look, not all creationists think this way. It kind of disgusts me that this museum exists, just like it disgusts me that Joel Osteen and Pat Robertson exist, because the majority of Christians I know don’t believe that crap. Unfortunately it’s only the loud obnoxious ones that get face time. Also, don’t tell me that atheists don’t teach their impressionable youth the same things that they believe. Kids will grow up and learn and believe what they want to. YOU did, didn’t you?
There is no “theory” of creation. It’s a religious fairy tale, unsupported by scientific examination.Theories are *defined* by objective analysis of evidence.What you are really saying is your science education was so ineffective you don’t even know what the word theory means when used as a science term.How incredibly sad.
LOL, thank you. I have needed a good laugh for weeks and finding you did just that for me. All these accusations of brainwashing aimed at the Creationists, though the museum is known for having several facts off line from the real facts, while referring to other natural museums as “real” because they push your mistaken religion of Darwinism(make no mistake it is a religion and has very little to do with REAL science) is comical to say the least! Once the general scientific community sought evidence and facts and came up with theories to fit them but in the last 50 years in particular it has changed to so many coming up with theories and then just accepting the evidence and facts that support or can be twisted to support their theory. That is what has happened with evolution. There is evidence of Micro-evolution in that there are changes within a species but that evidence was taken to prove that macro-evolution is true and that one species can change into another. There is NO evidence of that what so ever! Anyone that actually goes looking for that will find out real fast that it does not exist and I encourage you to open your eyes and look for yourself! Don’t just follow that favorite teacher or other Darwinist leader because it is against your parents or whatever else you are rebelling against, like the entire state of Indiana, just to snub them.
“Darwinism”?!? What the hell is that? You have Darwin’s Theory of Evolution through natural selection, using THEORY in the scientific sense. Geeez, if SOME people had been paying attention in 7th grade science class, they would understand that the term “theory” is as close to “fact” as you get in science, that a scientific theory has stood up to testing and review, etc, etc, etc. I learned that in Catholic school, for crying out loud. And no evidence of evolution? Please get yourself to a proper science museum and look at all the fossils. PLEASE. There are millions of fossils. I mean, my 4 year old, FOUR YEARS OLD, child looked at pictures of hominid skulls and asked if they were how humans had changed through time. Or do you think that all these fossils are fakes?And evolution is supported not just by biology but by chemistry, physics, and geology.