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Hosting the movie at the Smithsonian will no doubt be spun into the Smithsonian's "endorsement" of the film; the Discovery Institute and other proponents of intelligent design/scientific creationism/God of the Gaps have shown no compunction about spinning and editing the facts before. Imagine someone who does not read this article hearing about this event. What conculsions would they draw?
(in fact, when I first read the article, I though the last line was a quote from the staff of the Smithsonian. Only after reading it twice did I catch Chapman's verbal tilde beforehand.)
Clearly there are a hundred other places the film could have been screened. Washington has no shortage of massive hotels with huge conference spaces, not to mention cineplexes which rent out theatre space.
Any sense of what the policy would be at, say, the Imax theatre of a major science center? Has this come up?
Marc Taylor
Coordinator, Andrus Planetarium
Hudson River Museum
511 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10701
914 963 4550 x223
Fax 963 8558
[log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: martin weiss [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2005 3:01 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Smithsonian to Co-Sponsor a movie that promotes Intelligent
> Design
>
>
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of
> Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and
> related institutions.
> **************************************************************
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>
> Memorial Day Saturday is a slow news day but Mr Kremer, and
> Smithsonian, have you no shame!
>
> Martin
>
>
>
> May 28, 2005
> Smithsonian to Screen a Movie That Makes a Case Against Evolution
> By JOHN SCHWARTZ
> Fossils at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural
> History have been used to prove the theory of evolution. Next month
> the museum will play host to a film intended to undercut evolution.
> The Discovery Institute, a group in Seattle that supports an
> alternative theory, "intelligent design," is announcing on its Web
> site that it and the director of the museum "are happy to announce
> the national premiere and private evening reception" on June 23 for
> the movie, "The Privileged Planet: The Search for Purpose in the
> Universe."
> The film is a documentary based on a 2004 book by Guillermo Gonzalez,
> an assistant professor of astronomy at Iowa State University, and Jay
> W. Richards, a vice president of the Discovery Institute, that makes
> the case for the hand of a creator in the design of Earth and the
> universe.
> News of the Discovery Institute's announcement appeared on a blog
> maintained by Denyse O'Leary, a proponent of the intelligent design
> theory, who called it "a stunning development." But a museum
> spokesman, Randall Kremer, said the event should not be taken as
> support for the views expressed in the film. "It is incorrect for
> anyone to infer that we are somehow endorsing the video or the
> content of the video," he said.
> The museum, he said, offers its Baird Auditorium to many
> organizations and corporations in return for contributions - in the
> case of the Discovery Institute, $16,000.
> When the language of the Discovery Institute's Web site was read to
> him, with its suggestion of support, Mr. Kremer said, "We'll have to
> look into that."
> He added, "We're happy to receive this contribution from the
> Discovery Institute to further our scientific research."
> The president of the Discovery Institute, Bruce Chapman, said his
> organization approached the museum through its public relations
> company and the museum staff asked to see the film. "They said that
> they liked it very much - and not only would they have the event at
> the museum, but they said they would co-sponsor it," he recalled.
> "That was their suggestion. Of course we're delighted."
> Mr. Kremer said he heard about the event only on Thursday. He added
> that staff members viewed the film before approving the event to make
> sure that it complied with the museum's policy, which states that
> "events of a religious or partisan political nature" are not
> permitted, along with personal events such as weddings, or
> fund-raisers, raffles and cash bars. It also states that "all events
> at the National Museum of Natural History are co-sponsored by the
> museum."
> Evolution has become a major battleground in the culture wars, with
> bitter debates in legislatures and school boards, national parks and
> museums. Although Charles Darwin's theory is widely viewed as having
> been proved by fossil records and modern biological phenomena, it is
> challenged by those who say that it is flawed and that alternatives
> need to be taught.
> When asked whether the announcement on the Discovery Institute's Web
> site meant to imply that the museum supports the film and the event,
> Mr. Chapman replied:
> "We are not implying in any sense that they endorsed the content, but
> they are co-sponsoring it, and we are delighted. We're not claiming
> anything more than that. They certainly didn't say, 'We're really
> warming up to intelligent design, and therefore we're going to
> sponsor this.' "
>
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> Martin Weiss, Ph.D
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> New York Hall of Science
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