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October 07, 2007
Recent Creationist Activity in Indiana
There have been a couple of recent creationist events in the state. These folks are very tenacious, which is admirable, but they don't seem to understand that you cannot disprove almost 150 years of good science that has vast amounts of supporting evidence by holding conventions.
From September 21st through the 27th The Creation Evidence Expo was held in Indianapolis. According to the billing this event:
Is an incredible experience of exploration into the mysteries of our universe and the Truth of how we were all created! The Darwinian evolution theory will be exposed!
These kind of events never seem to contribute anything to science, but hey, people hold science fiction conventions where they spend a week talking about Klingons. Not everything has to contribute to science.
What worries me is the section of their website that says:
Parents! There are school field trips being planned - contact and encourage your child's school principal to RSVP a tour date NOW before they are all booked up!
More discussion of that in a moment.
The other recent event that caught my eye was a presentation to public school children in Wabash County (Wabash Plain Dealer, 2007-09-28) given by Dr. G. Thomas Sharp, president of the Creation Truth Foundation, Inc. For those who don't pay attention to creationist politics, the Creation Truth Foundation maintains the tiny (about 3000 square feet) and dubiously named Museum of Earth History in in Eureka Springs, AK.
Now the article in the Wabash Plain Dealer assures us that:
[Dr. Sharp's] presentation to the school children did not delve into religious interpretation.
So what is the concern? Both of these incidents illustrate the deceitful way that creationists are trying to bend the rules to get themselves into public schools. Parents are urged to pressure school officials to take children on field trips to creationist events. Creationists go into public schools and instead of really teaching about the past they present a narrative about dinosaurs and the scientific method so confusing and wrong that children are bound to be puzzled when they are exposed to the real science.
These people have tricked a lot of well meaning teachers, who may be very religious themselves, into believing that religion and evolution are completely incompatible. They then make the teachers complicit in their plans to smuggle religion and bad science into the classroom. The amount of deceit involved is staggering. What is so defective about their world view that they can't just explain it to people in the marketplace of ideas like everyone else?
Posted by nolandda at October 7, 2007 06:37 PM