I have resisted this thread because I have my own personal prejudices,
but this comment is one I needed to respond to. 

I think that the concept of conservative Christians and Young Earth
Creationists and a fringe population is incorrect. In reading the NYT
article, I was struck by not only the sophisticated design, but also the
number of mainstream artists, designers, and technicians involved in the
creation of the museum. Their ranks include many highly respected and
highly educated people. In fact, I think you would find that the group
includes some of your colleagues and other museum staff - although I
suspect many are "in the closet" about their beliefs at work.

Additionally, as a museum with a dinosaur exhibit in the heart of the
Midwest, we see a great deal of visitation from Young Earth
Creationists. The groups do not avoid us as a secular institution, but
visit just as anyone would. In fact we have had a some visitation
specifically to refute our displays. But for the most part, visitors who
do not believe in evolution merely interpret the labels to their
children with the disclaimer that "this is what the museum says, but not
what we believe."

My views about the museum are my own, but I caution against dismissing
the museum as a place appealing only to a fringe group. 3 of 10
Republican presidential candidates stated that they do not believe in
evolution. The Pew research center shows that 42% of the general
population does not believe in evolution at all. And of the 51% who do
believe, only half of those believe that evolution occurs through
natural selection. This is not a fringe belief, but something firmly
rooted in American culture.

 


Sarah Cole
Special and Temporary Exhibits Manager
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
317-334-3835
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Deb Fuller
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 11:04 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] The Creation Museum

On 5/25/07, Candace Perry <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I expect that these museums are quite literally tapping into an 
> untapped audience of persons who would otherwise not set foot in 
> museums.  And at the risk of being woefully pessimistic, I don't think

> we're going to rope them in, no way, no how.

I went to a fundamentalist church as a child and Candy is right. The
types of people who are going to the Creation museum would probably
never go to any other museum. They are very insular and tend to live by
the creed "be in the world but not of the world." The interpretation of
this is usually: don't socialize with people outside of your church,
don't watch anything that is secular on TV or the movies, send your
children to Christian schools or homeschool, and go to church several
times a week for services, Bible studies, women's/men's groups, youth
groups, etc. etc.

Very few of the visitors have probably ever gone to a museum before nor
would even consider going to a museum because of the stigma against
them. They are "secular". Some like history and thus will visit historic
sites and homes. But I doubt any of them would go to an art museum if
given the chance and certainly not a science museum.
None of the parents or members of my old church seemed to do any of
that. Most of them wouldn't buy or sell on Sundays either. They'll flock
to revivals, spiritual retreats, or conferences but they would seldom do
anything that didn't have a religious connection to it.

Deb

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