ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************
If you look at the CNN article, science centers are now associated with
backing down on evolution. Here is the article pasted in:
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) -- IMAX theaters in several Southern
cities have decided not to show a film on volcanoes out of concern that
its references to evolution might offend those with fundamental
religious beliefs.
"We've got to pick a film that's going to sell in our area. If it's not
going to sell, we're not going to take it," said Lisa Buzzelli,
director of an IMAX theater in Charleston that is not showing the
movie. "Many people here believe in creationism, not evolution."
The film, "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea," makes a connection between human
DNA and microbes inside undersea volcanoes.
Buzzelli doesn't rule out showing the movie in the future.
IMAX theaters in Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas have declined to show
the film, said Pietro Serapiglia, who handles distribution for Stephen
Low, the film's Montreal-based director and producer.
"I find it's only in the South," Serapiglia said.
Critics worry screening out films that mention evolution will
discourage the production of others in the future.
"It's going to restrain the creative approach by directors who refer to
evolution," said Joe DeAmicis, vice president for marketing at the
California Science Center in Los Angeles and a former director of an
IMAX theater. "References to evolution will be dropped."
It's not Joe's fault, but it's saying California Science Center and
"References to evolution will be dropped" in the same sentence.
We, as a group, as ASTC, as individual science centers, need to
respond. Why?
Because while I agree with most everything Lisa says, the big
difference between science and religion is this: We don't get to choose
what science we believe in.
This is my candidate for a sign we put in all our science centers:
Please feel free to send back any edited versions of it that you think
will work better. Let's get something out there, pronto.
Science, Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design
There is a big difference between science and religion: no one gets to
choose which science they believe in. Science is a rigorous process.
We can choose a theory to put forth, but the theory that fits the facts
the best is the present science we must all follow. There is no
wiggle room. We don't choose science. We can propose ideas of what
we think is science, that is what a science theory is. But what
happens next is what makes it science. Every science theory is tested,
weighed, accepted or rejected on the merits of what fits the facts.
Only then does it become science- reliable knowledge about our world.
Evolution has gone through this process, it is now science.
Creationism comes from religion and yet is a central part of the
science behind evolution. All of the theories proposed by creationism
have been weighed in the scientific process and have been rejected
because they don't fit the facts as well as evolution. Creationist,
please keep trying. Come up with an answer that fits the facts best
and we can then call it science. At present evolution is science-
reliable knowledge about our world.
Religious beliefs have clashed with science before. Galileo looking
through his new instrument, the telescope could see that Jupiter had
moons that orbited around Jupiter. It made him realize that Earth was
not the center always, as implied in the Bible. What fit the facts
best, Galileo realized is that the Earth revolved around the Sun. We
know this is scientifically true.
Evolution is scientifically true. We didn't choose it, it fits the
facts.
In the science process happening now there is a movement called
Intelligent Design.
Intelligent Design is the asking isn't it possible there is a God
behind all that got done? The answer is Yes! There can be a God
behind it all. But this is something science cannot at present
answer. We can choose to believe it and we welcome all to try and
prove it, but it is not science. We can choose our religion, we
can believe in God or Gods, but that is not science. Science is
Science and Religion is Religion. We can choose our religion but we
can't choose our science. As scientists choosing our religion, many
of us look at the world and say "Wow, that is how God did it! Looks
like God chose evolution. God gets to choose. Scientists don't.
We need science to stay pure. We can't let religion decide science, it
can get it wrong. We need reliable knowledge about what has and is
happening in our world, based on science, not on religious beliefs.
Clifford Wagner
>
On Mar 23, 2005, at 5:48 PM, Lisa Jo Rudy wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> ***********************************************************************
> ******
>
>
> From my perspective, while there is CERTAINLY no need to get into all
> this in
> a museum exhibit, there's no obvious clash between the religious and
> the
> scientific perspectives.
>
> As a museum professional with Masters in Divinity (albeit a
> Unitarian!!),
> I've never really understood the need to separate science from
> religion. It
> seems to me that the two are simply complementary approaches to what
> really is,
> from all perspectives, a mysterious universe.
>
> Why can't science be seen (by those who so choose) as the unveiling of
> a
> created universe (as opposed to a random universe)? Why can't
> evolution be
> understood (by those who so choose) as a process designed by a deity?
>
> Of course, I live in a blue state, and went to "blue" universities --
> which
> means I'm not really exposed to the more fundamentalist perspectives.
> Maybe we
> blue-ish folk just think too much... LOL!
>
> Lisa
>
>
> Lisa Jo Rudy, Writer/Consultant
> 625 Chelten Hills Drive
> Elkins Park, PA 19027
> http://www.lisarudy.com/
> 215-635-9735
>
> ***********************************************************************
> More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
> Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at
> http://www.astc.org.
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>
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