The Islamic Adam and Eve, by artist Hamid Bahrami:

(Thanks to Logos for the link.)


[tags]atheist, atheism, Islam, Christianity, Adam, Eve[/tags]

After several hours spent at the Rally for Reason, several students and I tried to figure out whether we wanted to go inside the Creation Museum. The upside would be seeing the museum first-hand. The downside would be that Ken Ham would get $20 of our money via the admission cost. (Actually, it was $15 with the coupons we had… but still.)

We decided to go into the museum. Even though we didn’t have the Creationist attire of khaki pants, tucked-in shirt, and neatly parted hair.

It should be noted that, outside major holidays, the museum is open seven days a week. What ever happened to resting on the seventh day? Isn’t that punishable by death?

You know, for the $27,000,000 they spent on the building, there were a few things they were missing out on:

• An air-conditioned place where we could wait in line to get inside. Instead, we waited in the the heat as if this was an amusement park.
• More air-conditioning inside. Walking through the crowded exhibits, the heat was getting to many people. In one area, there was a large fan… but that was it.
• An electronic credit card machine. Seriously. The long line was partly due to people wanting to pay with a credit card… and the machine being used to process the credit cards was one of those hand-held things where you slide the carbon copier over the cards. You’re telling me they couldn’t afford a computerized processor?!

Outside in the line to the museum, there was a man making balloon animals for kids. Because when I go to a museum, its credibility is always bolstered by a man making balloon animals…

Strangely enough, while in line, I was also handed a small plastic drinking glass with the Oreo label on it. There was nothing inside the glass… and there was nowhere to put it at the time, which was annoying. But is Oreo sponsoring this museum? Or do they not have any knowledge of this? And dammit, I’m still trying to figure out what the point of the glass was.

Anyway, I get inside the museum. Here’s what went down. (I should add that there are some great pictures that Zachary Lynn posted. I won’t duplicate his pictures. Just go check them out.)

One of the first things I saw was man and dinosaur living together… the man was exceptionally happy for some reason:

Then there was the timeline of fossils. Where all the geological epochs take the same amount of time. And no dates at all are provided…

Then I stepped into the line for the actual tour. You just walk through the exhibits on your own. I asked one worker how many staff members there were at the Creation Museum. She said over 300. And still, there were no tour guides.

One exhibit showed the consequences that had happened in a world where God was absent from the culture. It featured a collage of magazine covers in a dark hall with red, creepy light…

They had that collage along a very long wall. And they always used the same magazine covers. I saw the headline about the “New Atheism” from Wired magazine (“No heaven. No hell. Just science.”) used several times over. It was like they couldn’t find enough examples of God missing from our culture so they recycled certain images over and over.

Later in that same exhibit came my favorite part of the tour. While explaining how church life disappeared among young people as they got older, there was a sign that declared the alarming statistics of church attendance:

Now, they did not say “Almost 1 in 3…” or “Nearly 1 in 3…” They said “Only 1 in 3…” as if that was exact, then gave us the actual statistic of 30%. Maybe this math was brought to us by the same people who say π = 3.

There was another exhibit where there were dioramas of Noah’s Ark. Another area displayed a lifelike version of the Ark, still being built. Where they got the blueprints from, I have no idea. The Answers In Genesis people must have special editions of the Bible.

What was disturbing was hearing a mother near me telling her kids to look at the large size of the Ark and the small size of the animals. “That’s how Noah fit all the animals on the Ark!” She added that the Bible even told us how many cubits long the boat was (so it must be reliable). Her kids just nodded like this was the most normal answer in the world.

Do you realize how much effort it takes to not pull the kids aside and tell them their mother doesn’t know what she’s talking about?

Speaking of taking the museum seriously, it displayed a history of attacks on the church, including the worst one of them all…

The whole museum was structured so that the 7 Cs (Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation) were explained in order. While each of the first four Cs got their own section, we were whisked into a small movie theater to watch a movie about everything else, including Christ’s death and resurrection. The group I was with joked that they must have ran out of money after the first four Cs so they decided to lump the last three together.

Overall, and I know this isn’t exactly surprising, there was no science in the museum at all. When artifacts were presented, they were without dates. “Proof” for anything was given by a Biblical passage. And there was a dinosaur eating a pineapple.

Personally, I think it’d be a nice addition if they had a scale of some sort where you could have your IQ measured before and after you came into the museum. We all felt dumber after we left.

The whole experience reminded me of two quotations I heard the night before at the pre-rally.

My friend Herb Silverman noted:

Creationism is not good enough to be considered “bad science.”

Also, Frank Zindler, editor of the American Atheist magazine, said this:

We are witnessing the grand opening of what might fairly be called the Eighth… [Wonder] of the Ancient World. The Eighth Wonder is, of course, the museum in which the technology of the twentieth century CE is used to illustrate the scientific misunderstandings of the twentieth century BCE.

What a disappointing experience. You knew it was going to be bad. But who knew it could be this awful.


[tags]atheist, atheism, Rally for Reason, Creation Museum, Ken Ham, Creationist, Oreo, Zachary Lynn, New Atheism, Wired, God, Noah’s Ark, Answers In Genesis, Bible, Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation, Herb Silverman, Frank Zindler, American Atheists[/tags]

I spent the first part of my day at the Rally for Reason protest outside the Creation Museum.

The second half was spent inside the museum itself, which was created by the people who run Answers In Genesis (AIG).

Here’s the recap. There are a lot of pages of notes, so I tried to condense wherever possible.

…

As soon as I got to the rally site, there was already a plane flying overhead with some welcoming words.

The protesters (of which there were many more than you can see in the next picture) were standing along the lone road that led to the entrance to the museum…

… which meant that everyone who visited the museum had to get past them. This made for some interesting interactions.

Like the woman who drove past everyone screaming:

Y’all need so many prayers!

I don’t know how prayers for us will lead to her understanding science, but maybe she knew something we didn’t.

Not all the hecklers were drivers. Some came right up to us as we protested. One lady and her (relatively nicer) husband came by itching to start a fight. Besides provoking people through their proselytizing, they handed out Dum Dum lollipops which had a special message (a weak version of Pascal’s Wager) attached to the stick:

If there is no God……
A believer loses nothing at death.
If there is a God……
An Atheist loses everything at death.
Who, then, is being a dum dum?

Would anyone like to answer that last question…?

Since they were passing out Creationist propaganda, someone in our group felt it would be appropriate to hand the lady a science pamphlet. As soon as it was in her hands, she quickly threw it to the ground like it had a disease on it.

That was sweet.

Let’s get back to some more of the positive aspects of the day.

There was a lot of media coverage of the protest.

Reporters from local, national, and international news were there. So were writers for Internet sites (including Salon.com). And there was one reporter who wouldn’t say where he was from…

That guy tried interviewing as many protesters as possible. I decided to talk to him. I don’t know why. I just wanted to see what he was trying to do. But here’s essentially how our conversation went:

Him: Do you believe in Evolution?
Me: Well, it’s not a question of “belief.” It’s as much a fact as anything we know.
Him: But it’s called the Theory of Evolution.
Me: Yes, but a scientific “theory” is more than just some random idea…
Him: Do you have faith in this theory?
Me: It’s not a question of faith. The evidence shows that Evolution is true.
Him: So you’re saying it’s fact?! Even though you said it’s just a theory?
Me: You’re twisting my words. Stop that. I’m gonna go now.

Later on, standing in line for the museum with a group of my fellow college-aged protesters, that same guy walked right in front of us and called out to (I presume) his family, ahead in the line. Somehow not noticing a bunch of young protesters wearing pro-atheist shirts, he started telling his family how he had “talked to the protesters” and got it all on tape! But then, those evil protesters kicked him out! So he was going to join the family in line!

Too bad he was lying. Here’s what actually happened: Since we were rallying on the grass (see above picture), the Man was interviewing people while standing on the road itself. This was expressly forbidden by the cops. The police actually escorted him out because he was violating the rules. But he neglected to tell his family that part of the story…

He wasn’t the only Creationist trying to cut in on the protesting publicity.

At one point, I was doing an interview, answering questions about my views on the museum. In the middle of talking into the camera about why the material in the museum was not Science, a lady interrupted me and started responding to what I was saying. Did I mention I was on camera at the time…? Her name was Jeannine Vest and she was there with her friend Kaye Fish. Both were mothers of young children (none were older than eight) and both had their Masters in Education degrees. They simply wanted to be at the museum on opening day. They came to our protesting area to hand us water. While they didn’t go inside, they said they would come back for a full visit very soon.

When the cameras turned off, I asked them why they thought the museum was a good place. They responded that there were so many museums… why not one with this point of view? They later added that there was no proof that radiometric dating or carbon dating were legitimate.

Oy. It’s so hard to engage in a dialogue with people who don’t even understand the basis of the discussion…

Ok. Back to the positivity.

Look! A picture of me with Nicole Smalkowski! Because she’s just awesome.

There were many protesters who were veterans to the atheist cause. And, to my delight, there were many people who had never participated in an event like this before. The protesters were young and old. There were even some religious people in the crowd (though not as many as I would’ve liked to see).

Tim O’Connor and his fiancé Connie Brockman were among the newcomers. They weren’t affiliated with any atheist group but had heard about the rally via petitions against the non-scientific teachings of the Creation Museum circulating through some real museums in Cincinnati. They came to the rally because they felt that they were seeing a lot of “aggressive negativity from religion” and wanted to curb it. They were curious (as was I) why there weren’t more religious representatives at the protest.

Another newcomer was Michelle Duennes, an agnostic college student from the College of Mount St. Joseph. She came because science is a passion of hers– she wants to be a college professor one day– and she wanted to protect her passion. Michelle was surprised at the large turnout as she didn’t expect to see so many people at the rally. She had wanted other students from her school to join her and started a Facebook group for that purpose. But to her surprise, there was a backlash from some of her classmates. Incredibly, one of them said that protesting the Creation Museum was just like standing outside the arena while a band you don’t like plays inside.

If only it was as simple as not liking the material in the museum…

A girl named Robin, who at 14 called herself an agnostic (“or a Pastafarian”), felt that the protest was a good idea. She was frustrated, however, when people came up to her and asked where they could park…

Sophia Riehemann, on the other hand, was a veteran of the atheist movement. She’s only 16, but she has gone to Camp Quest since she was 8. Not only that, but she was also present at the Godless Americans March on Washington back in 2002. I asked her if she thought the rally was effective. She felt it was, adding she hoped children being driven past the protesters would see that there were other ways to view the world than the Biblical view they were being raised with.

The issue of whether the rally was effective or not was on the minds of several people. Thomas and Raina, a couple from Pennsylvania, said the rally might be effective… but they were there because it was for a good cause.

Ben Myers, a student at The Ohio State University, felt the rally was absolutely effective. He stated that we were there to show our dissent, which is the highest form of patriotism. I asked him how he was dealing with the Creationists in our midst. He said the way to handle them was through non-violent protest or dialogue, adding that dialogue wasn’t really their language. He was optimistic, though, that our mere presence there would reach a lot of people.

Carol Carlson was a theist in the protesting crowd. While she (obviously) supported what the pro-Science people were doing, she did have some concerns. She felt that there was an implication being made that anyone with a Southern accent was automatically ignorant. She also did not appreciate the atheist speakers who mocked Jesus and Christianity– that’s not what the event was for. I did enjoy the fact that she learned to be a liberal while in the convent. Yep, she used to be a nun. But now, she was out protesting with the rest of us.

By the way… here were some of the protest signs that amused me:

• Dumbing down children is child abuse
• Disclaimer: Views inside are not scientific
• Absolutely Inaccurate Gibberish
• Science loves you… love it back and accept it
• Get your HAM and AIGs over there

Ooh. Last thing. Here’s a picture of a porta-potty at the rally site. I think we need to insert the letter “k” somewhere…

Coming up later: Part 2: My Day Inside the Creation Museum!


[tags]atheist, atheism, Rally for Reason, Creation Museum, Answers In Genesis, DefCon, Pascal’s Wager, Creationist, science, Salon.com, Evolution, Jeannine Vest, Kaye Fish, radiometric dating, carbon dating, Nicole Smalkowski, Tim O’Connor, Connie Brockman, Michelle Duennes, College of Mount St. Joseph, Sophia Riehemann, Camp Quest, Godless Americans March on Washington, Ben Myers, The Ohio State University, Carol Carlson, Jesus, Christianity[/tags]

Here’s what I said on Sunday night for the “pre-rally” against the complete ignorance of the Creation Museum. The actual rally will take place today morning.

Who knew there would come a day when Intelligent Design would be seen as a step up from anything?

Unfortunately, here we are, at the opening of this Creation Museum. Apparently, this is a museum full of hard facts and evidence. In fact, listen to what Answers in Genesis co-founder Mark Looy said in Friday’s Columbus Dispatch when asked how the Tree of Life portion of the Garden of Eden exhibit came about, since there’s no fossilized evidence revealing what the Tree actually looked like.

“We just made it up,” Looy said.

Facts. Lots of facts.

I’m offended by this museum for a number of reasons.

As a high school teacher, I’m upset that students might consider this a worthy source for information since it’s a “museum” and it has the support of a handful of people with the letters Ph.D. after their name.

As the chair of the Secular Student Alliance, I’m shocked that a fringe religious group can claim that their world-view is a legitimate alternative to science and be taken seriously by the media that doesn’t know any better.

As a science advocate, I’m sad that there will be young kids lacking critical thinking skills who will be suckered into thinking any of these exhibits actually reflect current scientific thought.

As a person who appreciates honesty, I’m distressed that museum visitors are essentially being told that the scientists who talk about fossils that are millions of years old and biologists who write peer-reviewed papers in support of Darwinian evolution are lying to you.

As an Indian-American, I’m shocked to find out that, according to the museum, my people didn’t exist 6,000 years ago.

There is an up-side to all this, though. We can use this museum to our advantage. Educated science teachers and professors need to be willing to take their students on a field trip to this museum, walking them through the building and explaining everything that is wrong with the exhibits.

It may need to be an overnight trip.

We need someone to create a podcast of a walking tour through the museum. This way, people can download the mp3 for free before coming here, and they can listen to proper scientific responses to the garbage they’re seeing.

Let’s create a handout for students so that if they have to come here, they have a list of scientific facts in front of them, and a list of difficult questions to ask their tour guides.

As the headline from a Scientific American blog posting noted, the one piece of accurate information you do learn after a trip to this museum is that Creationists have lots of cash. But that’s where the justifiable information stops.

We know this is bad science, but it’s even worse religion. I hope that Christian pastors and leaders across the country will help us in denouncing this museum to their congregations. There are plenty of Christians out there who manage to reconcile faith with science. This museum is as much of a travesty to their beliefs as it is to ours. If they support the truth, they cannot simply stand back and watch the rest of us protest. This can’t be an atheist-only rally. It needs to be a multi-faith demonstration. Christians need to be on the front lines, too.

We’re all here because we support scientific truth and we know that young people would be in awe of science if only they had a proper understanding of it. As one blogger put it, “How many of these children might have become groundbreaking scientists were it not for the constant stream of anti-evolutionary propaganda overwhelming them since before they ever start school?“

This museum takes childlike curiosity about the world and rips it apart by telling children (and uneducated adults) lies about how the Earth and our bodies came to be. If we care at all about the future, we can’t let this museum get away with calling itself an educational institution.

Let’s get one thing straight. This is not a demonstration against the Bible. It’s not a rally against Christians’ right to literally believe what the Bible says. It’s a rally calling for people to educate themselves at a real museum. Run by real scientists. Who rely on all pieces of evidence, not just those that fit neatly, or can be forced, into the Biblical story.

Real scientists know that there is always more work to be done and so much more to be discovered. We don’t know everything, and we’ll admit that, but we have a damn good method to find the answers.

I dare you to show me one place in the Creation Museum where there’s an unanswered question. These people pride themselves on the idea that the book of Genesis tells them everything they ever needed to know about Creation. That’ll be their ultimate downfall… if we can shed light on it.

But unless we have scientists, bloggers, Christians, students, and teachers explaining exactly why this museum has nothing to do with science, and everything to do with the whims of a few fundamentalist religious people, there’s no way we will overcome this mess.

Let this museum be a wake up call to educators everyone that we need to do a better job of teaching science.

If we are spurred to do that, maybe this museum won’t be a complete waste of money. And won’t it be an amazing day when we can tell students to check out the Creation Museum because their final exam will include an essay question where they have to discuss all the mistakes they found in the science?

[tags]atheist, atheism, Intelligent Design, Creation Museum, Answers in Genesis, Mark Looy, Columbus Dispatch, Tree of Life, Garden of Eden, Secular Student Alliance, evolution, Indian-American, Scientific American, Creationist, Christian, Bible[/tags]

The Detroit Free Press’ David Crumm put out his list of the top 10 spiritual books to read over the summer. Guess which book is on there…?!

Since the list is in “no particular order,” and I’m in the middle, I’ll just assume they meant to say I was number 1 but they randomized the list to be polite to the others

In all seriousness, Crumm writes a very concise, kind description of the book:

Atheist books are everywhere this year, but Mehta’s is unique. He’s a young atheist whose clear-eyed critique of America’s religious culture is written with remarkable compassion.

By the way, I’m almost done with Christopher Hitchens’ book God is Not Great. Anyone have any suggestions for what I should read between now and when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out?


[tags]atheist, atheism, Detroit Free Press, David Crumm, I Sold My Soul on eBay, Hemant Mehta, Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows[/tags]

And I’ll get about 5 minutes to talk at each of the Sunday night and Monday morning demonstrations.

My speech is written but it’s not finalized. Is there anything you would like to add to it?

If there’s a line you want to say or a point you want made, let me know and I’ll try to incorporate it as best I can!

I’ll post my speech on this site after the events.

Well, you won’t see this video in the Creation Museum. Because it’s educational.

It’s like my entire Cell Biology course in 8 minutes.

The inner life of a cell:

(via Street Anatomy)


[tags]atheist, atheism, Creation Museum, Cell Biology, Street Anatomy[/tags]

Joe talks about why he started his new blog:

Although I am an atheist I am a bit fascinated by the idea of religion. It seems odd to me that adults walk around everyday actively believing this stuff. When I get the hankering I go to IIDB and read the “deconversion” stories. I find them infinitely interesting (maybe some day I will write up my own here.) But many atheist internet forums or blogs devolve into argument, insult, preaching.

Reading FriendlyAtheist’s blog showed me that there are people on both sides of the god question that seek understanding and discussion instead of conflict. I thought to create an atheism blog in order to increase the understanding of atheism and to put out another positive atheist voice.

Anything to help. Though even some of the threads on this page devolve into preaching/argument/other-things-that-make-me-want-to-scream. Really, I can’t understand why some people make the crazy comments that they do. You people know who you are… a pox on all of you.

Though we do need to change Joe’s blog’s name. Something more positive is in order.

If you’ve started a blog recently, what was the reason?


[tags]atheist, atheism, blog[/tags]

The nice part about speaking in different cities is that I get to meet some of the commenters from this site that I only know by screenname.

For example, tonight, I got to meet mollishka and HappyNat! I also got to hang out afterwards with some wonderful campus atheists.

Many thanks to Students For Freethought for putting the event together. The talk was a good time. I hope the audience enjoyed it.

Now I’m exhausted. I’ll write more later…