The world's first Creationist museum - dedicated to the idea that the creation of the world, as told in Genesis, is factually correct - will soon open. Stephen Bates is given a sneak preview and asks: was there really a tyrannosaurus in the Bible? Just off the interstate, a couple of junctions down from Cincinnati's international airport, over the state line in rural Kentucky, the finishing touches are being put to an impressive-looking building. When it is finished and open to the public next summer, it may, quite possibly, be one of the weirdest museums in the world. The Creation Museum - motto: "Prepare to Believe!" - will be the first institution in the world whose contents, with the exception of a few turtles swimming in an artificial pond, are entirely fake. It is dedicated to the proposition that the account of the creation of the world in the Book of Genesis is completely correct, and its mission is to convince visitors through a mixture of animatronic models, tableaux and a strangely Disneyfied version of the Bible story.

Its designer, Patrick Marsh, used to work at Universal Studios in Los Angeles and then in Japan before he saw the light, opened his soul to Jesus, and was born anew. "The Bible is the only thing that gives you the full picture," he says. "Other religions don't have that, and, as for scientists, so much of what they believe is pretty fuzzy about life and its origins ... oh, this is a great place to work, I will tell you that."

View: Full Article | Source: Guardian Unlimited

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Eww. How can you have a museum for stories with no factual evidence

That pretty much says it all right there.

"wheres the actual evidence?"
"what do you mean? its the bible."
"the bible isnt evidence! it requires faith."
"exactly, you have to BELIEVE in the evidence."
"...that defeats the purpose of it being evidence.....how is this any different than church?"

i imagine a convo like that will occur

mu·se·um (myū-zē'əm) pronunciation
n.

A building, place, or institution devoted to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical, or artistic value.

if the "museum" consists of fake exhibits, it shouldnt be called a museum.

Could this be the word you are looking for?

Interesting as said were is the proof that these stories are true?

Myself i do believe in a relgion, but as of yet theres no hard proof it's simpley faith.

Whoa ... thats some crazy stuff there. Religion can be good for those who need spiritual involvement in their lives, but this is ultra extremism to the max.

YOUR WRONG- Wouldn't this count as 'Artistic Value' or an 'Exhibition' or 'study' of the bible story?

And for those saying there is no 'proof' of the bible account- Who Cares, no-one said in this article that the bible account IS true, all they said is that they 'BELIEVE' it is, and that they were creating this museum 'AS IF THE BIBLE ACCOUNT WERE FACTUALLY CORRECT'

There is speculation over who is the face of 'Mona Lisa' and does the woman even actually exist.... so should they take the Mona Lisa painting out of the Lourve Museum because it isn't a proven painting of a real existing person? Or should the Lourve not be called a museum because it has this painting in it????


I think this is a fantastic idea and would be an amazing place to go see.

This is pretty stupid because it's sending out the wrong signal to people. I hope for humanity's sake that we eventually learn to live without religion. This 'museum' is giving out the wrong message to people. A little quote I remember but I can't remember who it was by:

"When someone is called delusional it is called insanity. When many people are delusional it is called Religion."

Actually I'm pretty sure they did.

Why is it stupid? Because you don't believe in it?

What is the wrong 'signal/message' that this is sending out to people?

What are you saying? That for 'Humanity's' sake, we all must think like you and believe that we are a mistake/just blobs of mass walking the Earth with no purpose what so ever!?!

Yes, and lets go back to the heading where it says: 'dedicated to the idea that the creation of the world, as told in Genesis, is factually correct' So therefor the museum is the bible story, as truth.


Do you know what a 'proposition' is/means?

People can believe what they to.

[prop-uh-zish-uhn]

–noun 1. the act of offering or suggesting something to be considered, accepted, adopted, or done.

Who cares about the heading?

In the body of the artilce it states:



Not only do they "propose" that the Book of Genisis is "completely correct", but they're mission is to convince the visitors as well.

I think the intent here is pretty clear.

Ultimately, they are calling it a museum for the sole purpose of mooching off the credibility that real museums have. Just like Intelligent Design tries to mooch off the credibility that real science has.

This is retarded.
Christians do themselves an enormous disservice by espousing this rubbish. Literalists harm the body of knowledge and its ridiculous to think that there's actually a debate between the biblical account and science. There isn't because magic and other ideas that require you accept on "faith" or just "believe" do no respond to empirical evidence.

The worst part of it is that one this lunacy actually opens people will go, lots of people will go, and lots of people will become convinced or extoll this nonsense as actually having happened. Luckily people who believe these things arent the ones we rely on to make advances in the sciences. I personally know some bible literalists, luckily they're poor uneducated red-necks who wield no power and wont ever be able to spread this crap around -of course, thats what this "museum" is for. Sigh.

I personally believe that if there is a god (i'm an agnostic and the case doesnt look good for him) then the bible is still rubbish....why would a theoretical creator of the universe, so incomprehensibly expansive and enormous give two craps about what we, the stupid monkey people on a rock somewhere, think about why or how he/she/it/whatever "did" what it did? Its so arrogant to think that we can incapsulate the cosmos in this petty childish little being we call "God" and on top of that to think we've discovered its supposed design. Oh please.

God is a crutch. Creationism is a lie. Deal with it.

I feel sorry for all of you who are so against faith that they close their hearts to the possibility of it.

How does that old saying go? “I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.” Albert Camus

So what if there is a museum dedicated to a different opinion than yours? It will not change your view on the world so DEAL WITH IT...

No one is objecting to faith in general here. They are objecting to one rather ludicrous extremist form of it, which goes counter to pretty much everything we have learned in the past five hundred years, with little to show in defense.

Yes, yes thats it exactly

Just to clarify here: So I should embrace god as an insurance policy on my soul?
-So I should live in fear of something horrible happening to me and because of this be bullied into believing in the petty ghost in the sky?

Anyway, dont feel sorry for me. It is I that pity you and your willingness to believe whatever rubbish they put in fron of you, it is you that will live your life blinded to the true beauty and ugliness, the joy and terror, all of magnificent, that is the life of man on earth. I am a value unto myself.

For your final point -Presenting totally unverifiable and unscientific MYTHOLOGY is not something that I can even justify as an differing "opinion". There are things you simply cannot have an opinion about, these pesky things are called facts: 1+1=2, a triangle has three points. I reiterate, creationism is NOT a valid response to the scientific explanation.

Such things belong in churches, not in "museums". What drivel.

*sighs*

Okay here we go.

Everything in this life is an opinion/belief of one person convincing another person of that same thing. Even at the beginning someone had to believe that 1+1=2 and then set out to prove it. History is filled with people like this that were shunned because they thought differently of the world yet were determined to prove and show others what they thought. Just because there is not enough "conclusive proof" for you to believe in creationism does not mean that one day it will not be proven correct. Until that time some of us hold the line and believe despite not being accepted by others such as yourself that do not believe in it... (yet )

Yes I do agree with you that in your terms (a non believer) that the word "museum" is incorrect but if you look at it from a believers perpective that what is shown is the truth then it is the correct word to use.

Also nobody is forcing you to go. People know before hand what the museum stands for(they are not hiding it away or anything) so people should visit it to make up their own minds on what they consider the truth.

I respect your position on this matter and I do understand that you do not want people being lead "astray" from scientific ways of thinking but we are not all the same and it is this conflict of interest that makes life so interesting... Wouldn't you agree?

"Also nobody is forcing you to go. People know before hand what the museum stands for(they are not hiding it away or anything) so people should visit it to make up their own minds on what they consider the truth.

I respect your position on this matter and I do understand that you do not want people being lead "astray" from scientific ways of thinking but we are not all the same and it is this conflict of interest that makes life so interesting... Wouldn't you agree?"

I agree that everybody has the right to believe whatever they chose to believe.
This are extraordinary times, however. A small, religiously fanatical group is waging a determined war to destroy science and replace it with their own narrow, rigid interpretation of an ancient book that can and has been interpreted in any number of ways. The fanatics waging this war have gathered vast wealth and power and are twisting the very pillars of government in their war to force their irrational, intolerant belief system down everybody's throats.

This "museum" is obviously a weapon intended to destroy the validity of real museums just as Creation "Science" and Intelligent Design are intended to destroy the teaching of science to children and young adults, leaving them unprepared to rationally question training in mythology and mysticism. These are all parts of the "Wedge" attack against freedom and rational thought:
http://www.antievolution.org/features/wedge.html

No, we cannot continue to sit quietly and let a determined group of mad people get away with these attacks against reason. The time when we could give any religious group, or religion itself, special treatment is past. "Church", "Mosque", "Synagogue" are no longer sacred places. The religious fanatics have turned them into weapons of conquest.
Religion in personal life is fine. Religion in government is disastrous.

We must defend ourselves.

He He. Paranoid a bit are we?

True there are people out there that do go to far with things but then you get that in every facet of life here on earth.

And yet the eternal optimist in me says that a "museum" is not going to cause the total conversion of everyone to a single method of thinking. Humans are to volatile for that I doubt we would ever come to a point where we would unite (unless maybe the end of the world and then you would still have a few stragglers trying to make it on their own) there are just to many individual thinking minds on this planet.

The main problem is religion/belief exists in every human (even if you do believe in nothing this is still your belief) therefore it will find a way into everything we do be it politics, science or just everyday living. It is a catch 22 situation, everyone wants everyone else to believe in what they believe but because we are all unique this does not happen. No one can control your thoughts (yet! ) so rest assured that even though behind the scenes there are probably lots of little "battles" and negotiations going on to decide the fate of the world, we are still free, we can still decide for ourselves what we want to believe in.

Be careful that you do not tire yourself out looking for conspiricy theories...

I want to visit the snack bar in the museum.

"Yes, I'll have the Noah Burger ... and make sure the antelope is well cooked, it was kinda pinkish last time ... and ... lemme see ... a side of Faith Fries ... and a Jesusberry Shake .. um .. how many sheckels is that?
Thirty pieces of silver?!!!!
Forget it! Gimme the All You Can Eat fishes and loaves buffet, instead!