Hi all

Yes Mandy, it is "just that bad to have the movie there". The ID people
are not interested in any sort of fair debate. They are pushing a
particular agenda with little to no regard for the truth. Different
viewpoints in a museum are valuable, but how is having a *dishonest*
viewpoint in a museum in any way serving truth?

Any Museum must regard its mission as being truthful to its area of
competence. As it says on the front page of the NMNH web site "The
National Museum of Natural History is dedicated to understanding the
natural world and our place in it." Anyone who examines the ID agenda
with *any* knowledge, of scientific opinion or the scientific method,
will see that ID supporters are not approaching the area of Natural
History in an honest fashion.

The Discovery Institute have scored a political coup with this film show
and just watch, they will exploit it as extensively as possible. Their
sort always do.

Michael Comiskey
Systems Manager
Ulster Museum
Belfast

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mandi Berry
> Sent: 01 June 2005 16:51
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: ID Movie at Smithsonian
> 
> All I want to say about this is that if the general public 
> could (or are) reading these listings, it would sound like a 
> bunch of people trying to say what the public wants.  Has 
> anyone thought about what kind of audience might come in to 
> see the ID movie, and that they might benefit from seeing the 
> rest of the museum?  That they may believe in ID or 
> Creationism, but will be in a place where they can learn 
> about evolution as well?  
>  
> After all of this "high-talk," lets get back to the basics of 
> what is happening.  Is having different viewpoints in one 
> museum so bad?  Isn't museum education supposed to spark 
> discussion, imagination, and open one's mind to other things? 
>  I'm just a student, and haven't had much experience in the 
> museum field (yet), but is it just that bad to have the movie 
> there?  Also, the NMNH had jazz evenings last summer, where 
> does that fit in the mission?  Did that spark so much debate 
> on this list-serv?
>  
> ***As a side note, I interned at SI last summer, and there 
> was a lot of unhappiness about the business-like quality SI 
> has adopted.  Everything at the Smithsonian is slowly 
> becoming commercialized, and the general public probably has 
> no idea.***
>  
> Mandi
> Baylor University
> Graduate Student
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