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Darwin-free dinosaur park

Flaherty

Critical Thinker
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PENSACOLA, Fla., April 29 — Robert and Schön Passmore took their children to Disney World last fall and left bitterly disappointed. As Christians who reject evolutionary theory, the family scoffed at the park's dinosaur attractions, which date the apatosaurus, brachiosaurus and the like to prehistoric times.

"My kids kept recognizing flaws in the presentation," said Mrs. Passmore, of Jackson, Ala. "You know — the whole `millions of years ago dinosaurs ruled the earth' thing."

So this week, the Passmores sought out a lower-profile Florida attraction: Dinosaur Adventure Land, a creationist theme park and museum here that beckons children to "find out the truth about dinosaurs" with games that roll science and religion into one big funfest with the message that Genesis, not science, tells the real story of the creation.

Kent Hovind, the minister who opened the park in 2001, said his aim was to spread the message of creationism through a fixture of mainstream America — the theme park — instead of pleading its case at academic conferences and in courtrooms.

Mr. Hovind, a former public school science teacher with his own ministry, Creation Science Evangelism, and a hectic lecture schedule, said he had opened Dinosaur Adventure Land to counter all the science centers and natural history museums that explain the evolution of life with Darwinian theory. There are dinosaur bone replicas, with accompanying explanations that God made dinosaurs on Day 6 of the creation as described in Genesis, 6,000 years ago. Among the products the park gift shop peddles are T-shirts with a small fish labeled "Darwin" getting gobbled by a bigger fish labeled "Truth."

"There are a lot of creationists that are really smart and debate the intellectuals, but the kids are bored after five minutes," said Mr. Hovind, who looks boyish at 51 and talks fast. "You're missing 98 percent of the population if you only go the intellectual route."

The theme park is just the latest approach to promoting creationism outside the usual school curriculum route, which Mr. Hovind and others see as important, but too limited and not sufficiently appealing to modern young families. Creationist groups are also promoting creationist vacations, including dinosaur digs in South Dakota, fossil-collecting trips in Australia and New Zealand, and tours of the Grand Canyon ("raft the canyon and learn how Noah's flood contributed to the formation").

Dan Johnson, an assistant manager of the park, said there were also creationism-themed cruises, with lectures on the subject amid swimming and shuffleboard.

A Kentucky creationist group called Answers in Genesis says it is building a 100,000-square-foot complex outside Cincinnati with a museum, classrooms, a planetarium and a special-effects theater where moviegoers can experience the flood and other events described in Genesis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/01/arts/01DINO.html?8hpib
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Lying to small children is rather profitable, it seems. Let's hope they nail the b*stard for tax dodging before he does any more damage.
 
When Hovind is quoted as saying "You're missing 98 percent of the population if you only go the intellectual route." I think he has a good point. It's also clear which side of the percentage one can include him in.

I wonder if he intended such rich irony.
 
When Hovind is quoted as saying "You're missing 98 percent of the population if you only go the intellectual route." I think he has a good point
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Practically sig material, if you ask me.
 
having a crap museum in cincinnati is going to make this town suck even more than it already does.
 
Dinosaur digging for creationists??? Haw haw haw! Even AiG gave that up as a bad joke because the answers just kept on coming out wrong (for them, anyway).

And as far as I know, there have been no publicised fossil-digging tours in Australia for overseas visitors. There's been one of two organised by AiG and suchlike which they report on. Imagine a bunch of fat thickheads getting off a bus in central Australia and wandering about for 10 minutes looking for fossils beside the road, then getting back on the bus to complain of the heat and lack of Mcdonalds. Scientists they ain't.
 
As a Pensacola native, I am ashamed that my home city hosts this nonsense.

I do find it interesting that the article refers to MR. Hovind, and not DR. Hovind. I wonder if that reporter did a little more research than usual...

If you want a laugh, go to www.webshots.com and do a search on "pensacola dinosaur". I cant get the damn image to link, but these kids are hilarious.
 
In James Morrow's Towing Jehovah, God dies, and his mile-long body falls into the ocean. Various adventures ensue...

In the sequel, Restless in Abbadon, the body has been obtained by a coalition of fundie sects, who set up an enormous theme park featuring a tour of the preserved remains...


Morrow is a treasure.
 
Kent Hovind, the minister who opened the park in 2001, said his aim was to spread the message of creationism through a fixture of mainstream America — the theme park — instead of pleading its case at academic conferences and in courtrooms.
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Yes, because:

academic conferences = being comprehensively ripped apart by people who actually know about this stuff.

courtrooms = losing (repeatedly) due to teaching of "creation science" in public schools being in violation of First Amendment.

Therefore:

Make a theme park to bypass the academic and educational system, so you can spew your lies to brainwashed, gullible, ignorant people, and (most sickeningly) to their children who don't know any better.
 
the thing that annoys me about stuff like this is the stupidity doesn't end up taking them out of the gene pool.

Just think if the fundies didn't believe in the so called theory of gravity. they'd fall out of planes, tall buildings etc. it'd be a darwin award a day.



Virgil
 
I remember visiting a dinosaur park as a child, 30+ years ago or so, and walking around the place posing for pictures with my siblings...and I also remember the weirdest part was that there was a brontosaurus (apatasaurus now) with a set of stairs so you could climb into its body...and when you were there, you could look up its neck...and see...a backlit portrait of Jesus, with the words "for god so loved the world..." or some such. Now, my folks were religious, but my mom also taught high school biology, and I knew enough about dinosaurs to know that it was highly unlikely that their innards looked like that.

Does anyone here know the park I am speaking of? And no, I can't narrow it down to a state...it could be michigan, ohio...but it could also be ontario, or about a dozen western states...we traveled a lot.
 
Evolution does not tell any story of "creation"


They are saying evolution tries to explain creation? What a freaking oxymoron! Now they have this joke that "tells the real story of creation"? Evolution is not about creation.

Dammit, it would be like me trying to prove the dinosaurs were the "real gods" if I figured I found the other gods were so offensive.

When are the creationuts going to get that through their heads?

Evolution doesn't try to explain the origins of life. Sure, it shows how we came to be walking about, but we are hardly the originators of all life on the planet.

Yes, stick your heads in the sand and snort up worms. All you're going to get is an empty head.
 
Virgil said:
the thing that annoys me about stuff like this is the stupidity doesn't end up taking them out of the gene pool.

Just think if the fundies didn't believe in the so called theory of gravity. they'd fall out of planes, tall buildings etc. it'd be a darwin award a day.



Virgil
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Kinda like the ones that don't believe in vaccinations?
 
Mercutio said:
I remember visiting a dinosaur park as a child, 30+ years ago or so, and walking around the place posing for pictures with my siblings...and I also remember the weirdest part was that there was a brontosaurus (apatasaurus now) with a set of stairs so you could climb into its body...and when you were there, you could look up its neck...and see...a backlit portrait of Jesus, with the words "for god so loved the world..." or some such. Now, my folks were religious, but my mom also taught high school biology, and I knew enough about dinosaurs to know that it was highly unlikely that their innards looked like that.

Does anyone here know the park I am speaking of? And no, I can't narrow it down to a state...it could be michigan, ohio...but it could also be ontario, or about a dozen western states...we traveled a lot.
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Wierd, I think I've actually been there, though I can't think of where...I think California? It was also in a movie with the kid from the Wonder Years, and it's about his little brother being sad, or something.
 
How long, after the world was proven to be round, did views about the earth's flatness still exist? What about other ideas that science proved wrong?
 
Originally quoted by Flaherty
... Among the products the park gift shop peddles are T-shirts with a small fish labeled "Darwin" getting gobbled by a bigger fish labeled "Truth."
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In essence symbolizing that Darwin has become a part of the larger truth.
 
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