NYT: Darwin-Free Fun for Creationists (creationist theme parks)

Darwin-Free Fun for Creationists
By ABBY GOODNOUGH

Published: May 1, 2004


PENSACOLA, Fla., April 29 — Robert and Schön Passmore took their children to Disney World last fall and left bitterly disappointed. As Christians who reject evolutionary theory, the family scoffed at the park's dinosaur attractions, which date the apatosaurus, brachiosaurus and the like to prehistoric times....

***

So this week, the Passmores sought out a lower-profile Florida attraction: Dinosaur Adventure Land, a creationist theme park and museum here that beckons children to "find out the truth about dinosaurs" with games that roll science and religion into one big funfest with the message that Genesis, not science, tells the real story of the creation.

Kent Hovind, the minister who opened the park in 2001, said his aim was to spread the message of creationism through a fixture of mainstream America — the theme park — instead of pleading its case at academic conferences and in courtrooms.

Mr. Hovind, a former public school science teacher with his own ministry, Creation Science Evangelism, and a hectic lecture schedule, said he had opened Dinosaur Adventure Land to counter all the science centers and natural history museums that explain the evolution of life with Darwinian theory. There are dinosaur bone replicas, with accompanying explanations that God made dinosaurs on Day 6 of the creation as described in Genesis, 6,000 years ago. Among the products the park gift shop peddles are T-shirts with a small fish labeled "Darwin" getting gobbled by a bigger fish labeled "Truth."...

***

The theme park is just the latest approach to promoting creationism outside the usual school curriculum route, which Mr. Hovind and others see as important, but too limited and not sufficiently appealing to modern young families. Creationist groups are also promoting creationist vacations, including dinosaur digs in South Dakota, fossil-collecting trips in Australia and New Zealand, and tours of the Grand Canyon ("raft the canyon and learn how Noah's flood contributed to the formation")....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/01/arts/01DINO.html

Evolution couldn't all be part of His plan! We have to take scripture 100% literally! </sarcasm>.

The implications of this are a little sobering, though. The article mentions that most of these families home school their kids. Now they take vacations at places that reinforce a strictly fundamentalist, non-scientific approach to natural history. The kids will grow up to know nothing about science, nothing about critical thinking, nothing about theories....

We'll have a whole generation of Chimpies!

I'm still reeling from the shock of finding out that the whole fundamentalist thing was a pack of lies! Now I crave Discovery Channel documentaries because I never learned the truth about natural history.

And the thing is, I LOVE it. I love learning about creatures that no longer exist. I love learning about evolution and how it sculpted the creatures of today. There is so much evidence for the fact of evolution, it boggles my mind that most of the people I know don't believe in it.

Hello? DNA evidence? Fossil record? Thousands and thousands of transitional fossil forms? Too many organisms to have lived on the planet at the same time?

Creationists are gullible. *shudder*

What you are saying is that you overcame your upbringing and began to explore the world for yourself. That is a wonderful story about the triumph of human spirit and intelligence over oppression. Thank you for telling your story.

I'm glad that you find so much joy in the natural world. I do, too. The more I learn about natural history and new scientific discoveries, the more in awe I am of the Creator who set all this in motion. Learning about chemistry and physics and biology and geology give me a greater appreciation for the spiritual aspect of life.

The fundamentalists are missing so much, I think.

Evolution with biblical teachings... The bible states the Earth was created in 6 days, it also states that a thousand years is but a day to God. This tells us that time and the passing of such is irrelevent, and there could have been many God driven changes (evolution) during the creation of earth.

I feel bad for these kids, they'll leave home one day and be so confused about the world around them.

I have a sister who raised some of her kids this way too, very rough, but one has turned out to be a flaming liberal and I'm very proud of him! He's still searching for the truth, but aren't we all?

I meet adults every day who are completely ignorant about science, world religions, etc. -- basically anything other than their own upbringing.

We were studying the Holocaust back in February in social studies. I was reading the kids "The Devil's Arithmetic" about a modern American Jewish girl who somehow gets teleported back to 1942 Poland and ends up in a concentration camp. First day of reading, a kid raises her hand, "What's a Jew?" she asks. My mouth dropped open. Yes, this is Georgia, but I grew up in Georgia too, and I had Jewish friends when I was a kid. I started to explain when a kid interrupted me and said, "well, Jews don't believe in God." "What do you mean Jews don't believe in God," I answered, "Yes they do. They believe in the same God as Christians." Then several of them countered with, "Well, if they don't believe in Jesus, they don't believe in God." At this point, I nearly lost it. I came back with, "Jesus was a Jew, as were all his disciples." Several of the kids were adamant that he was not a Jew. This is what these kids are learning at home and at church. I then spent the better part of the next hour explaining that there are MANY religions in the world - Christianity is but one. Thank goodness a major part of the new middle school social studies curriculum in Georgia is world religions. They will be studying Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and some of the darker aspects of Christianity (i.e. the Crusades and the Inquisition). I have tried my best to teach these kids tolerance this year, but it has been a real challenge.

These Talibornagains are just as big a threat as al Qaeda as far as I'm concerned. Unlike al Qaeda, these nutcases actually have positions of power in the highest levels of our government, and if Bush wins re-election this fall they'll be more emboldened than ever before. It's absolutely essential that we go to the polls in droves to defeat them. I shudder to think what might happen if they get a few of their own on the Supreme Court.

yesterday. I was reading aloud a book about Dolphins and how some have finger bones in their flippers. The book was saying that it was some of the evidence that dolphins used to be land animals. This kid in my class shouted at me, "That's a lie! That's evolution and evolution is a lie!" I just said, "Thank you for your opinion . . .Now anyone who would like to see the x-ray photos of the finger bones, come on up!" Ugh, this kid and his mom have driven me crazy all year. First, I wanted to read the Harry Potter series to my class (5th grade), and mom protested to the principal, so I'm not getting to read it. Then when we were studying earth science, the kid screamed out daily anytime I mentioned the age of the earth. Why don't nutfucks like this just homeschool their kids???

But if we don't fight these gullible people, no child will get a decent education based on facts.

Maybe it will drive some kids away from fundamentalism.

LEAVE us all BEHIND soon anyway? Could we get that in writing?

Sorry, but this is a very touchy subject for me. I live with these crazy fundies every day and I still am amazed by their stupidity and gullibility, the way they filter every bit of new information through their fundy-colored glasses.

None of them will listen to a word I say because I'm a dreaded atheist. I warn them about Bush and behind my back they snicker and think, "Stupid arrogant atheist. What does she know of God's plan?"

It's enough to make me spontaneously combust.

I grew up in a fundamentalist community, although my parents and neighbors were in the liberal college section of town. That was no picnic, either. I think that most of the kids I went to school with equated liberalism with satanism. No joke. Needless to say I have never gone back to school reunions.

swept up with these simpletons by mistake. Could you imagine spending eternity with these fruitcakes??

.... that the crowd that abhors the idea of Darwinian evolution embrace with uncritical acceptance the concept of social Darwinism.

you need to read in that article lol

"You're missing 98 percent of the population if you only go the intellectual route."