Well put, Maggie.
 
The real worry is that if this place is allowed to pass itself off as a
science museum, where does that leave other science-based museums?  I
think museum professionals are right to be concerned if anything can
call itself a museum and display religious beliefs as though they were
provable facts.  Is it ever ok to take an object, such as a fossil, and
deliberately misinform the public as to what it is and how and when it
was formed?  Isn't this behaviour against the principles that guide the
vast majority of museums and what we base our professional standards
upon?
What would happen if all museums decided to put their own 'spin' on
their objects.

Meredith Greiling

 

>>> [log in to unmask] 03/08/2006 12:12 >>>
The problem is that there is a logical fallacy in your statements.   
Science 
is the very OPPOSITE of "believing in something."   Science is based on

repeatable experiences....facts....not premises that have to be taken
"on faith."   
Creationism is a religion.   Just as it is OK to base a museum on
religion, 
so, I'm sure, it is OK to base a museum on Creationism...but the
fallacy is 
where creationism tries to equate itself to science as two different
beliefs or 
two different "approaches" to the world.   Creationism is faith based
and is a 
religion and cannot be proved or disproved....that is the nature of
faith.   
But it attempts to position itself as a viable "science" of sorts...and
that is 
the danger.   It is a distortion of thought to bend what is essentially
a 
religious approach in order to make it appear a "science."   Most
creationists 
work overtime to attempt to deny the religious basis of this thinking. 
 It is 
faith-based and cannot be tested in the accepted manner of scientific
testing.


Creationists often use the word "theory" as if creationism is just
another 
"theory."   But a "theory" in science is a repeatable experience, that
can be 
proven by repeating the same sets of actions to get the same result,
i.e. a 
PROOF.  Example would be that water consists of two different elements
that can be 
separated by heat.   This can be demonstrated scientifically by boiling
water 
and getting the separation of hydrogen and oxygen that can actually be

measured and proves that there are two parts hydrogen to one part
oxygen in water.   
This can be done over and over again and get the same result.

 A scientific theory is not an "idea," it is a provable demonstrable
thesis.  
 Distorting the use of the word "theory" to imply that creationism is
simply 
another "theory" may work for those ignorant of the meaning of the word
in 
science, but it should not be utilized to confuse people and distort 
understanding.   And therein lies the concern of educated individuals. 
 Creationism 
confuses people by purposely and meaningfully distorting the idea of a
"theory" to 
make is seem to embrace creationism.    

Also, it is entirely untrue that creationism tolerates science.   The 
end-goal of creationists is to take evolution out of the classroom or
have it taught 
as if it is only another "idea" about the world.
That effort to confuse understanding of our world is a serious problem.
If 
the museum teaches creationism for what it is and also for what it is
not...that 
would be good.
Maggie




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