ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Ugh.  I like to think I'm an open-minded and tolerant person, but .... any
parents who teach their kids this stuff as fact should be reported to DYFS.
:)

LOL, is it okay to be intolerant in cases where the target subjects are just
idiots?  I have plenty of friends who are religious, yet they're still
perfectly capable of teaching their children that religion is just parable
and that it certainly doesn't supplant science.

-----Original Message-----
From: Amanda Chesworth [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 5:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ISEN] another creationist museum in the works

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*

An article of possible interest to some of you. The comment that concerns me
the most is when the curator says ".. raise their children to fear the
Lord." What benefit to children does this have? 

Happy New Year, Amanda

***

Adam, Eve and T-Rex: Museums feature science and God

http://www.cushingdaily.com/religion/cnhinsfaith_story_363090651.html?keywor
d=topstory

By Brianna Bailey
THE NORMAN TRANSCRIPT (NORMAN, Okla.)

NOBLE, Okla. - Thomas Sharp holds science degrees from Purdue University and
the University of Oklahoma but believes dinosaurs and humans once walked the
Earth together and the world is somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years
old.

The office of the Creation Truth Foundation, founded by Sharp in 1989 and
based in a Main Street storefront in Noble, is decorated with fossils and
framed Bible verses. Sharp sees no contradiction between the two. A
prehistoric petrified shell is showcased next to a plaque in the front room
that reads "Trust in the Lord with all your heart."

"If we reject the book of Genesis, then where do we pick up after that?"
Sharp said. "If you want to believe in the legitimacy of God, then you have
to start from the beginning."

His latest endeavor is opening a museum devoted to debunking the theory of
evolution in Dallas. The 20,000-square-foot museum just off of Interstate 35
in Dallas will feature 15-18 first-generation replicas of dinosaur skeletons
and exhibits on the Great Flood and the Garden of Eden. 

The building that will house the Museum of Earth History in Dallas is
already near completion, Sharp said, and he expects the facility to open its
doors to the public sometime in 2007. Christ For the Nations Institute, a
Christian educational organization based in Dallas, is helping fund the
museum's completion. 

Sharp said his agenda isn't to get creationism taught in public schools, or
convert people to his belief system, but he wants to give Christians a way
to teach their children about science. 

"I don't believe we can change our multi-cultural environment," Sharp said.
"But I'd like to help Bible believers to hold their heads up and raise their
children to fear the Lord." 

CFT, with its staff of nine, produces Biblical creationist school curricula
for Christian schools and home-schoolers with titles like "Putting the
Pieces Together," a two-semester guide for grades 7-12 on science, history,
philosophy and political science from a Biblical perspective. The CFT Web
site sells children's books with titles like "Dinosaurs of Eden," which
teaches children that Noah brought Dinosaurs aboard the Ark.

Sharp, a former pastor who holds a doctorate with an emphasis in the
philosophy of religion and science from South Florida Bible College and
Seminary, has toured the country with a trailer of dinosaur bones and
fossils, speaking to churches and other religious groups. 

"Creation isn't a scientific debate, its a religious one," Sharp said. 

Sharp said he struggled to justify his Christian beliefs while studying
evolution in college and believes young people reject Christianity as they
grow up because of the public school system's secular curriculum, he said. 

"I struggled with (evolution), feared it, and was challenged by it in
school," Sharp said. "I was 33 years old before I got up the courage to read
Darwin's 'The Origin of the Species,' and when I finally did, I said, 'Is
that all there is to it?'" 

Sharp is already the president and co-founder of the Museum of Earth History
in Eureka Springs, Ark., which has attracted more than 60,000 visitors from
all 50 states and more than 10 foreign countries since it opened in 2005,
Sharp said. 

The Dallas museum will be twice the size of the Eureka Springs branch, he
said. 

Sharp said he hope to open five or six more museums across the country in
his lifetime. 

While reactions to his efforts have been positive for the most part, Sharp
said, he does get hate mail every once and a while.

"It's a reaction to clashing world views," Sharp said. "I choose not to
insult my opponents; I choose to win." 

Brianna Bailey writes for The Norman (Okla.) Transcript.

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