In America’s heartland there is a modern temple to the denial of five nines (99.999%) of what we’ve learned about the universe in the last couple of centuries. The Creation Museum is a sleek, elegant, well presented indoor theme park almost entirely lacking in actual knowledge. It is derided worldwide, and is a source of shame for our once forward thinking nation. It is also, I grant, an edifice to the principle of free speech.
The ham, showman and charlatan who created this institution in Kentucky after he was laughed out of his Australian homeland seems to be quite sincere about the project. Ken Ham is actually his name. And he has been raking in major profits for nearly three years from this place, well beyond even his early hopes. Apparently there is more than one born again every minute.
Busloads of young Christians long to go on pilgrimages to shore up their Young Earth ideology. The younger ones (under 12) can even get their picture taken on the back of a dinosaur, just like those that people rode. That is, before the old west cowboys killed the last of them off. That’s why all those T-Rexes are found out on the great plains.
You don’t have to take this from me on faith, follow the links from the Wikipedia article on the Creation Museum. See actual video tours.
So, why am I venting my bile right now? Wasn’t this already adequately covered on this site?
I just learned that a young collateral relative, a bright young man, is looking forward to his trip there this weekend! Half a dozen years ago, he was in public schools, in every advanced program they offered. Advanced science and math and lead cello in the district orchestra. Then his parents removed him from all that intellectual wealth to put him in a small Christian school. He still excelled, eventually garnering college board scores that got him invitations to Harvard and Yale and such. But he wants to go to a small school with an influential chapter of the Campus Crusade. Sigh.
Most of this is re-posted from this FaceBook note.
A sad story indeed. On a positive note: Given his intelligence, he has a chance of getting himself out of this morass eventually. Many not so clever people will sadly never achieve that.
What is the world coming to?
That's the opinion of a recovering Cath-a-holic friend, that he may climb out of the tunnel-vision world based on such a little God of such a big universe.
I feel your pain, Dan.
I do want to offer a very thin silver lining: I don't think that interest in the Creation Museum necessarily indicates permanent abandonment of skeptical intellectual vigor. Instead, I think that it indicates a craving for social stroking, which one does by engaging in expensive displays of group loyalty. That is my hope, anyway, that tortucanism (see http://dangerousintersection.org/2010/01/11/tortu… ) is only a symptom of this social craving, and that after a few years of cultivating a religion-based treasure-hunt mentality (finding and heralding simplistic answers to complex and oftentimes vague questions), this way of life loses much of its luster.
That was the story of uber-skeptic Michael Shermer and agnostic Bible scholar Bart Ehrman anyway. Neither of them were convinced of the error of their fundamentalist ways by science-loving people getting into their face. Their natural human curiosity is our best ally, combined with the passage of time. And, of course the availability of good science, that which loudly touts its successes but also show humility where it doesn't (yet) know.
I think that the best approach to your relative gone astray is to let the young man know that you will always be there to listen in a non-condescending way, if and when he's interested knowing about those things where science has shed a bright light.
Alternatively, smart people can hold firm to their mistaken views with a tenacity unseen in the weaker-minded. However, perhaps your young relative will be smart enough to keep his religious views from bleeding into his entire life outlook. Many, many smart people have intellectual stopping-points that they compartmentalize. Let us pray that his religious views are similarly shelved away at some point.
Erika said: "Let us pray…. "
haha, that just struck me funny given the subject matter. 🙂
Brynn,
I thought she said "lettuce spray".
'Scuse me, my mind is wandering. I must catch it before it gets lost.