God’s rules

Nestled near the border between Indiana and Kentucky is a museum unlike any other. It does not appeal to history, logic or reason; instead, the evidence contained within is based on a more profound testimony. The exhibits tell stories not taught in the classroom or textbooks — like tales of a garden where dinosaurs and man coexisted.

Needless to say, this museum takes its inspiration from the Bible and not much else. Espousing a world view of Young Earth creationism, the museum explains away all scientific evidence by what God has to say in the New Testament.

There are no real facts contained inside. Instead dioramas and mockumentaries help guide families as they explore the linear museum. At each exhibit, parents kneeled down to explain to their wide-eyed children how the world was really created.

I found myself at the Creation Museum as a result of a road trip through the South last week. Upon entering I was offered a staff discount (presumably out of hopes I would convert from my heathen ways), and I was encouraged by the man at the ticket counter to let him know all that I had learned upon my exit.

Unfortunately, I am too biased in favor of science to have taken anything they had to say seriously. The same cannot be said for the little kids running around at my feet, delighted to see models of dinosaurs that are fictionally described as being vegetarian before the Fall.

These are the real victims of places like the Creation Museum — children too young to know fact from fiction.

The Texas Board of Education isn’t helping matters. Instead of teaching children facts, they are joining in on the trend of fabricating the truth altogether.

If new textbook standards pass, Texas children will be learning a strange, all too conservative history. Their social studies classes will tell of founding fathers and Judeo-Christian concepts, and very little attention will be paid to Thomas Jefferson, the man who advocated for the separation of church and state.

The fact that other areas of study have been stripped from the education standards entirely only makes the situation worse. References to Hispanic players in American history have been negated, while lessons about the influence of hip-hop on modern culture have been replaced with ones on country and western music.

Creationism is already promoted on the Texas school board, and the same concepts found in the Creation Museum are promoted in the classroom. This brand of pseudo-science suggests God created the earth only 6,000 years ago and rejects theories about evolution pioneered by Charles Darwin.

A trained eye needs to be kept on what future generations are being fed as fact — lest they grow up to propagate more fiction.


E-mail: danfleis@indiana.edu