Dear Friends & Colleagues,
Thank you for all of your comments. Some of you have written to me
personally, and some have replied to the list. I've taken the best
emails (in my opinion!) and made notes. I especially like the
suggestions for introducing an element of humor into my responses to
visitors.
Tomorrow is our film "Flock of Dodos" and I'm basically going to begin
the program with a short introduction, saying (1) the reason we're
showing this film is that it's the 150th anniversary of Darwin's famous,
world-changing book, On The Origin of Species. And (2) Give some
background information about the film--and how (in my opinion) it's a
fairly even-handed, fair representation of both sides of the
evolution/creationism debate.
I'll go on to say that I realize that we appreciate that there are many
opinions and beliefs about evolution--but we're not going to debate them
here. [Personally, I'm not prepared to hold a "brown bag discussion" or
"debate" after the film--although many list subscribers have suggested
this]. I'll close my comments by saying that if anyone would like to
help organize a "public forum" at our museum to discuss the
evolution/creationist debate, to be held at some point in the future,
then please see me after the film.
Before I close this email I must point out that I was trained as an
evolutionary biologist (in botany) and (personally) I have a very small
appetite for creationism or intelligent design arguments. If it were up
to me, I would not provide a forum for those jokers in any institution I
worked in. I don't feel that creationists should be given the time of
day--their arguments are not scientific; indeed, they are dangerous, in
the sense that they threaten undermine decades of scientific research
and send society back into the Dark Ages. I believe that there is, in
fact, no "debate" worth having over this issue.
But of course, I'd never make my views "policy" into any place I worked
:)
Thanks again to everyone,
Scott
Scott LaGreca, PhD
Natural Science Coordinator
Berkshire Museum
39 South Street
Pittsfield, MA 01201 USA
TEL 413-443-7171, ext. 17
FAX 413-443-2135
[log in to unmask]
Ring in the Holidays with the 25th annual Festival of Trees at the
Berkshire Museum from Nov. 14 to January 3, 2010. This year's Festival
is proudly sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union.
For more event information please visit www.berkshiremuseum.org
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
