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Another less contemptous way to put this same idea is that honoring  
religious beliefs is fine, as long as they are not described as  
scientific.  I think that the widely disseminated starlab curricula  
have a component on native american beliefs about the stars, so that  
teachers can use starlab in social studies classes.  Similarly, greek  
understanding of the heavens is presented without controversy.  I  
think there *is* a bias toward safely distant -- hindu, ancient  
greek-- beliefs, or safely powerless -- like native american --  
beliefs.  To that extent, I think the folks forcing their agenda on  
the Tulsa zoo have uncovered a weak link in the argument that says  
that no science institution or program can present religious beliefs.

That said, the idea that creationism should be presented at the Tulsa  
Zoo because it is a "majority belief" is both laughable and terrifying.

Eric Siegel

On Jun 8, 2005, at 3:10 PM, Jonah Cohen wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> *******
>
> You know, I see a potential upside to this.
>
> Picture it: the zoo has a whole display about animals in human  
> culture and
> religions. They've got the statue of Ganesha, explaining the role  
> of that
> God in Hinduism. And other stuff about how various tribes around  
> the world
> have seen animal deities. And then, just one among a whole  
> collection: "In
> Judaism and Christianity, animals were created by God on the 5th  
> day [?] of
> the world. One Judeo-Christian story tells of how the animals were  
> saved
> from a terrible flood by Noah, who collected two of each animal on an
> ark..."
>
> Get it? Imagine the creationists' response to seeing their stories  
> about
> creation + animals simply placed next to a bunch of similar stories  
> from
> other faiths, all told in an equal, non-judgmental way. I bet  
> that'd really
> piss them off.
>
> Because (I'm hypothesizing here, but I don't think I'm really going  
> out on a
> limb) I suspect the creationists don't just want people to know  
> ABOUT their
> beliefs, they want their beliefs to be presented as THE TRUTH (tm) and
> clearly superior to other beliefs.
>
> Let them show their true colors by whining about how offensive it  
> is to have
> their beliefs grouped with differing beliefs without pointing out  
> how wrong
> those other beliefs are.
>
> I don't know if it'll happen this way (hmm, in fact, it probably  
> won't), but
> it's a nice thought.
>
> Jonah Cohen
> Outreach & Public Programs Manager
> Science Center of Connecticut
>
> "On blind faith they place reliance, what we need more of is science."
>         -MC Hawking
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Donald S. Stidsen [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 2:53 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Tulsa Zoo and Creationism


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