Thanks Stephen,

Very pertinent to our times. Training volunteers to deal with sort of thing
is an excellent idea. Much like preparing for a terrorist attack. You can
not stop them from attacking, nor know when they will do so, but you can
defend yourself and your institution when they do. Unfortunately
pre-emptive strikes seem to be frowned upon by my local authorities. They
simply will not listen when I warn them of creationist cells and training
camps in our very backyards.

I have run into this a couple times in my institutions, but the encounters
were somewhat less than constructive for both parties. I have often wished
for the opportunity to train volunteers to deal with this sort of thing.
One of my visitors was "on" about the biological nature of the works on
exhibition at the time(viruses and bacteria on a large scale), and seemed
rather disturbed by the matter of fact nature of the text, which included
some few words on evolution. I was not sure whether he disliked the art or
the science behind it, or perhaps both. Another instance involved a woman
complaining about a painting because there is a satyr in it, and her
opinion was that representations of mythological beasts and pagan creatures
are somehow inappropriate/evil. I think what he is doing to the nymph in
the image was also of concern to her, but we did not go into that. I was
very kind to both, but was not completely sure what to say.

The author is very correct in that it is pointless as well as incendiary to
just tell people that they are wrong about evolution or anything else being
groundless for religious reasons. Why they are wrong has to be explained to
them very carefully, with a great deal of tact, and with absolutely no
humor. Unfortunately, this option is very time consuming and may involve
talking over prayer. So far in my experience, they will universally fail to
grasp their egregious errors in judgement and scientific understanding, but
in addition to your exhibition, you will have at least done all you can.

Cheers.

Mark Janzen
Registrar/Collections Manager
Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art
Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection
Wichita State University
(316)978-5850


                                                                           
             Stephen Nowlin                                                
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September 20, 2005
Challenged by Creationists, Museums Answer Back
By CORNELIA DEAN

ITHACA, N.Y. - Lenore Durkee, a retired biology professor, was volunteering
as a docent at the Museum of the Earth here when she was confronted by a
group of seven or eight people, creationists eager to challenge the museum
exhibitions on evolution.

They peppered Dr. Durkee with questions about everything from techniques
for
dating fossils to the second law of thermodynamics, their queries coming so
thick and fast that she found it hard to reply.

After about 45 minutes, "I told them I needed to take a break," she
recalled. "My mouth was dry."

That encounter and others like it provided the impetus for a training
session here in August. Dr. Durkee and scores of other volunteers and staff
members from the museum and elsewhere crowded into a meeting room to hear
advice from the museum director, Warren D. Allmon, on ways to deal with
visitors who reject settled precepts of science on religious grounds.

Similar efforts are under way or planned around the country as science
museums and other institutions struggle to contend with challenges to the
theory of evolution that they say are growing common and sometimes
aggressive.

One company, called B.C. Tours "because we are biblically correct," even
offers escorted visits to the Denver Museum of Science and Nature.
Participants hear creationists' explanations for the exhibitions.

So officials like Judy Diamond, curator of public programs at the
University
of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln, are trying to meet such challenges
head-on.

Dr. Diamond is working on evolution exhibitions financed by the National
Science Foundation that will go on long-term display at six museums of
natural history from Minnesota to Texas. The program includes training for
docents and staff members.

"The goal is to understand the controversies, so that people are better
able
to handle them as they come up," she said. "Museums, as a field, have
recognized we need to take a more proactive role in evolution education."

Dr. Allmon, who directs the Paleontological Research Institution, an
affiliate of Cornell University, began the training session here in
September with statistics from Gallup Polls: 54 percent of Americans do not
believe that human beings evolved from earlier species, and although almost
half believe that Darwin has been proved right, slightly more disagree.

"Just telling them they are wrong is not going to be effective," he said.

Instead, he told the volunteers that when they encounter religious
fundamentalists they should emphasize that science museums live by the
rules
of science. They seek answers in nature to questions about nature, they
look
for explanations that can be tested by experiment and observation in the
material world, and they understand that all scientific knowledge is
provisional - capable of being overturned when better answers are
discovered.


Full Story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/science/20doce.html


Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

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