The Creation Museum – An Analysis
At Quantumaniac, I would never openly discriminate against anyone for holding a particular religious belief, as I understand that such beliefs can be very personal for some people. However, occasionally I stumble across something so egregious that it must be brought up – harboring beliefs is one thing, but spreading fallacies in this way is outrageous. I know that I’m going to get tons of hate mail for this post, but nonetheless – enter the Creation Museum.
The Creation “Museum” is an institution in Kentucky, USA, opened by Ken Ham, that aims to “present an account of the origins of the universe, life, mankind, and man’s early history according to a literal, young earth creationist perspective of the Book of Genesis in the bible.” Here are just a few of the “scientific facts” presented at the museum:
- the Earth and all of its life forms were created 6,000 years ago over a six-day period
- humans and dinosaurs once coexisted, and that dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark.
- the reason there are different races is because of birth defects which caused early black people’s skin to discolor.
- the waters of Noah’s flood carved out the Grand Canyon in a matter of days.
- there are no fundamental physical laws of the universe, everything is subject to disruption and miracle.
- that all logic is irrelevant, and to never trust “man’s word,” only “God’s word.” They go as far as to tell children that what they may be learning in schools about science is wrong.
- there are guards present to suppress criticism and nonbelievers (you must sign a document upon entering that requires you not to discuss any contrary ideas!).
The most disconcerting fact about this establishment is that all of its claims are presented as tested and legitimate scientific theories. This is inexcusable. It is one thing for a person to be a “young-Earth creationist,” but they are already lost to science and reason, they’re not who I’m concerned about.I pity the children. Hundreds of thousands of young, impressionable children visit this museum every year, and have these ideas thrust upon them as irrefutable facts. The ideas presented in this “museum” are flagrant lies that stomp on the legitimacies of science, shutting the door on disciplines such as biology, physics, cosmology, chemistry, and reason. Presenting these as simply religious beliefs is fine and a perfectly acceptable, and you will hear no argument from me – but everything in this museum is presented as facts. Scientific, proven, facts. In a country where only about 28% of the population is “scientifically literate,” establishments like this are a legitimate problem that must be addressed.If you’d like to learn more about the museum, here are features by various other sites:Let the hate mail begin.I’m friends with many fellow science-lovers who have no idea this is a problem. It’s about time they knew.