Secular Group Plans Visit To Creation Museum
Secular Student Assocation Plans To Visit Museum To Protest Views
© Jon Pike
Jul 28, 2009
A Minnesota biology professor is asking a secular group to accompany him on a visit to a notable museum. Paul Z. Myers, is a professor of biology at the University of Minnesota-Morris. He is also an outspoken atheist. He has often taken the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky to task for what he says is a deliberate misrepresentation of evolution and the origins. The Creation Museum is organized by a group called Answers In Genesis, that promotes the idea of Intelligent Design. This is the idea that life was deliberately planned by a creator and is not the result of natural processes, like evolution.
The Secular Student Alliance and the Visit to the Museum
The trip by Myers is kind of being held in conjunction with a gathering by the Secular Student Association. The Association is holding a conference at the Ohio State University. The group has registered for a group tour of the facility. Myers will be speaking at the conference.
The Museum Responds to Myers
Myers has regularly attacked the museum and its director, Ken Ham, and its sponsoring organization, Answers in Genesis, on his blog entitled, Pharyngula. Pharyngula refers to an embryonic shape that many animals share in common and is cited as one indicator of evolution. The Museum has been in contact with Myers about this visit and has expressed it concerns in an e-mail that Myers posted on his site:
“We understand that your group (which you have described as a ‘horde" or ‘mob’) will consist of over 200 persons, many of whom have posted comments on your Pharyngula blog ridiculing Ken Ham and the Creation Museum, using profane language, and some are indicating that it is their intent to conduct themselves in a manner that is provocative, overtly homosexual in behavior, or otherwise socially unacceptable for guests of this privately owned Christian facility. As I'm sure you're aware, some of those statements reference intentions to be "loud" and also to wear "armbands" and T-shirts or other clothing with images or wording that would be considered offensive to our staff and others at the museum. Such conduct will not be tolerated.”
Myers has posted on his blog how he expects his group to behave:
“EVERYONE in our group will be firm, rational, and will not shy away from asking hard questions. You will feel free to wear some distinguishing clothing — a scarlet A, a Darwin fish, a t-shirt, something so that we can tell we are members of the same group. You will discuss the material on display with your peers, but with other visitors to the ‘museum’ if and only if they invite it.”
Myers is cautioning members of this group to not be provocative or disruptive. The group will visit the museum on August 7.
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