Did you know that dinosaurs lived peacefully alongside Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, some 6,000 years ago? Or that T. rex and the stegosaurus survived the Great Flood aboard Noah's ark—or that the same flood carved out the Grand Canyon? Such is the history of our world depicted inside the $27 million Creation Museum in Kentucky, where 'œevolution gets its continual comeuppance,' said Edward Rothstein in The New York Times. The museum, which opened this week, is the handiwork of the Answers in Genesis ministry, a fundamentalist Christian group that believes the Bible is literally true. To advance this message, the museum uses the high–tech trappings of mainstream natural–history institutions, including interactive displays and animatronic dioramas. In a special–effects theater, vibrating seats are used to evoke the flood, while the planetarium displays the wonders of the universe as proof of 'œGod's glory.' The displays are disorienting, but surprisingly sophisticated—perhaps because they were designed by the same guy who created the 'œJaws' and 'œKing Kong' attractions at Universal Studios in Florida.
It would be easy to dismiss the museum as just another 'œbizarre roadside novelty,' like the World's Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, Kan., said the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch in an editorial. But the Creation Museum is intended to sway schoolchildren, and thus might 'œdo some real harm.' In its displays, the museum's creators deceptively use 'œpseudoscientific explanations' to support biblical revelation, insisting, for example, that biology, geology, and astronomy all support the idea that Earth was created in six days. American students are already lagging in the sciences, said astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss in New Scientist. The last thing they need is a museum that uses 21st–century animatronics to give fairy tales 'œan air of authority.''
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Wine-tasting in TuscanyThe Week Recommends From biodynamic vineyards to historic cellars, the picturesque region is a wine lover's dream
-
Ukraine-Russia: is peace deal possible after Easter truce?Today's Big Question 'Decisive week' will tell if Putin's surprise move was cynical PR stunt or genuine step towards ending war
-
The bougie foods causing international shortagesIn the Spotlight Pistachios join avocados and matcha on list of social media-driven crazes that put strain on supply chains and environment
