"Los Angeles Times" December 9, 2001 Sunday
Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
December 9, 2001 Sunday Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 42; National Desk
LENGTH: 1525 words

T. Rex Meets Biblical Text at Museum;
Religion: New Kentucky center will present creationism as science, alarming 
experts.

STEPHANIE SIMON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
FLORENCE, Ky.

There is no mention of Noah's Ark in most science museums. No mention of 
the Tower of Babel or the Garden of Eden, either.

Instead, you get dinosaur replicas, fossils, models of spiraling DNA. And 
informational text promoting what millions of Americans regard as drivel: 
the idea that all life on Earth evolved over 4 billion years from genetic 
scraps.

It's tantamount to brainwashing. Or so Ken Ham believes. Ham directs the 
global ministry Answers in Genesis. And he is building a $14-million answer 
to evolution here in far northern Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from 
Cincinnati.

The Creation Museum & Family Discovery Center will offer all the classic 
science museum exhibits, but with a twist. Each one will be interpreted as 
proof of the biblical account that God created the Earth and all that's in 
it over six days, just 6,000 years ago.

The huge double-helix of DNA will be used to argue that living beings are 
so complex, there's no way they could have evolved by random mutation from 
an undifferentiated blob. Fossils will be used to make the point that old 
bones don't come with a date stamped on them--and to argue that scientific 
methods such as carbon dating are wildly inaccurate.

Life-size dinosaurs will illustrate the theory that Adam and Eve lived 
alongside T. rex in a blissful Eden, free from violence. An informational 
placard might identify a dinosaur model this way: "Thescelosaurus. Means 
wonderful lizard. Height: 4 feet. Length: 11 feet. Created on: Day 6."

Critics worry the Creation Museum will legitimize an account of Earth's 
history that they see as a fable. But Ham, brusque and passionate, insists 
it's evolution that's the fraud. And he's determined to expose it.

He sees the museum as a long-overdue offensive against the scientific 
establishment--and against the many Christians who maintain that they can 
be true to their religion without taking every word of the Bible as fact.

"This is a cultural war," Ham said. "It's heating up. They need to know: 
We're coming."

Answers in Genesis has plenty of experience developing catchy packages to 
promote creationism. With an annual budget of $7 million, the ministry puts 
out a "faith-strengthening" family magazine, a technical journal exploring 
what they call the science of creation, a radio program broadcast on 400 
U.S. stations and pamphlets translated for audiences around the world on 
topics such as: "Where did the races come from?"

The publications are glossy and engaging. Ham expects the museum to be 
equally slick. He's even hired the designer of the King Kong attraction at 
Florida's Universal Studios to come up with exhibits that he vows will 
rival Disneyland's in quality.

There is only one other museum in the country dedicated to creation 
science--a 3,500-square-foot "journey through time" at the Institute for 
Creation Research near San Diego. The Answers in Genesis facility is far 
more ambitious: It will boast 50,000 square feet of exhibit space plus 47 
acres of outdoor trails and displays (including, perhaps, a full-size 
replica ark) just five minutes from the Cincinnati airport. If donations 
keep coming in on pace, the museum should open by summer 2003.

Already, Ham has filled several warehouses with potential exhibits, some 
purchased from a defunct science museum in Baltimore. There are 
walk-through replicas of a human cell and a sea bass, as well as extensive 
displays on DNA. Then there are the dinosaurs, dozens of them, snarling, 
scowling, astoundingly real. As Mark Looy, a ministry spokesman, proudly 
noted: "This is not papier-mache junk from a miniature golf course."

And that has some critics alarmed.

They see the Creation Museum as a sham, sermon disguised as science. But if 
the disguise is good enough, they fear, visitors to the museum will be 
snookered.

"The authoritative presentation of this information is likely to confuse 
people into thinking these are scientifically valid views," said Eugenie 
Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education.

The vast majority of scientists dismiss the biblical creation account as a 
fairy tale. They hold instead that all life evolved from bits of genetic 
material that appeared on Earth 3.9 billion years ago. It's a grand sweep 
backed up by fossil record, from the squid-like creatures that ruled the 
sea 430 million years ago to the lumbering dinosaurs that became extinct 65 
million years ago to modern Homo sapiens, who first emerged 50,000 years back.

Although it's termed a theory, evolution generally is accepted as fact 
among the scientific establishment.

The public, however, is not convinced. Polls consistently show that just 
10% of Americans believe in evolution unaided by external force. In 
contrast, 45% accept the biblical account that God created man within the 
last 10,000 years. Most others blend the two stories of man's origins, 
holding that God guided a process of evolution that lasted millions of years.

Given their own convictions, it's not surprising that many Americans would 
like their children to learn the Bible in biology. A 1999 Gallup poll found 
that 68% favored teaching creationism along with evolution in public schools.

The Creation Museum could provide an easy way to satisfy that craving for 
balance, through field trips or "virtual tours" online.

The president of the Cincinnati Museum Center, for instance, has said he 
values any venture that challenges students to consider different theories 
about the world. While his own science museum treats evolution as fact, 
Douglass McDonald said, he would not presume to shut kids off from other 
avenues of study. "We realize that within the theories of science, there 
are as many questions as answers," he said.

Such tolerance infuriates Scott. "The equal-time argument is persuasive but 
it's irrelevant, because science is not a democratic process. Once an idea 
is proved wrong, you don't continue to present it. And the idea that 
everything on Earth appeared all at once 10,000 years ago has been disproved."

That's where the new museum is dangerous, she added: With its snazzy 
exhibits and scientific jargon, it may make creationism look legitimate. 
"Students will not be well served."

Creationists hear such statements with glee. They interpret them as 
evolutionists running scared.

"I grin ear to ear when I think about it," said Mike Rogers, 46, a sales 
manager in Phoenix. "Why are they so concerned about a little creation 
museum in Florence, Ky.? If they're so confident about their theory of 
evolution, they should welcome the critique."

Like other Answers in Genesis donors, Rogers long has been frustrated with 
what he perceives as evolutionist propaganda at every science museum, zoo 
and national park. He debriefs his kids after every educational outing to 
help them mesh what they've learned with the Book of Genesis.

If the zoo declares the lion a carnivore, creationists take pains to remind 
their children that they believe all animals were vegetarian in Eden, 
before man's sins brought violence into the world. If the park ranger 
insists the Grand Canyon was formed over millions of years, creationists 
take their kids aside to tell them a flood like the one Noah rode out on 
his ark could have carved the gorge in a flash.

"Everywhere we go, it's 'This took millions of years to evolve' or 'This 
took billions of years to form,' and we just sit there rolling our eyes," 
said Rick Sale, 52, a Manhattan Beach marketing consultant. "We're getting 
a very one-sided view."

Added Frank Di Pasquale, a film producer from Culver City: "Never have I 
come across an opportunity for my kids to see evidence that there is 
another option."

The Creation Museum will provide that alternative. And supporters hope it 
will attract even committed evolutionists by keeping the focus on science, 
on analysis, rather than on Christian dogma.

"A lot of the exhibits wouldn't be that different from what you would see 
in any good science museum," said David Menton, a retired anatomy professor 
at Washington University in St. Louis, who will serve as a museum 
consultant. "The difference is in the interpretation, in the philosophy 
behind it."

Menton suggests, for example, an exhibit on the humble hair follicle. 
Studying the ingenious complexity of the structure would be enough to turn 
most visitors into creationists, convinced that random genetic mutations 
could never have produced so exquisite a design, Menton said. But the 
exhibit could make the point without referring explicitly to Genesis.

"This isn't about just hitting [visitors] over the head with the Bible," he said.

Yet Ham, a former science teacher, is not averse to some good strong Bible 
thumping. He expects up to 100,000 visitors a year to tour the museum. And 
he is not going to pretend to present them with an evenhanded analysis.

"We're not doing this to say, 'Here's the evidence for and against, now you 
decide.' We admit our bias right from the start," Ham said. "The Bible is 
not a science textbook. But where it touches on science, we can trust it. 
We make no bones about it: This is the truth."

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis plans to use dinosaur 
sculptures to promote the idea that all life was created in six days. 
PHOTOGRAPHER: PATRICK REDDY / Cincinnati Enquirer