Evolution Is A Dirty Word
This is an Advice Goddess Blog exclusive!...insider information on the growing chill in Washington on science and reason:
The National Health Museum (press release in the following link) is seeking a "master planning partner for programs and exhibits." They're down to the final four bidders now.
According to my source, who says I cannot use his or her name, "somebody on high" at the museum "made it clear" that the world "evolution" should not appear in any program or exhibition text of any firm which wants the job. It seems the Museum doesn't want any "biological controversies." Here's an excerpt from the press release from the Museum, which "hopes to choose a planning partner" inoffensive enough for the theocrats and their flock by May:
The National Health Museum is a non-governmental, non-profit corporation led by leaders in health, medicine, and public service and funded by a mix of individual, corporate, foundation, and government contributors. It plans to build and operate a 300,000 square foot museum complex at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with a mission of inspiring Americans to live healthier lives through access to the knowledge and wonders of the health sciences. NHM’s complex will be the largest institution of its kind when it is completed about the end of the decade.
...Inspiring Americans to live healthier lives...perhaps through the kind of "science" that says man ran around with the dinosaurs, the earth was created in five days, and the Grand Canyon was an overnight deal, created by Noah's flood.
What is this we're in right now, a NASCAR race to primitivity?
We are on the road to theocracy. Also, not only did dinosaurs and man apparently live at the same time....... but, T-Rex was put on earth to eat man for his sins. The reason that dinosaurs became extinct? They didn't make it aboard Noah's Ark.
http://theocracywatch.org
JustMe at May 2, 2005 2:15 AM
You'd think people who are so obsessed with making drug policy would sound a little less like they just sucked down a lot of LSD.
Amy Alkon at May 2, 2005 6:59 AM
So, apparently, personal creed is now grounds for discrimination. As long as the person does their job, who cares what they believe?
Patrick at May 2, 2005 1:23 PM
Dilbert calls such people, "in-duh-viduals". As they drive around in their SUV, it never occurs to them that the geologists who made that possible have actual, physical evidence that no "flood" occurred.
Radwaste at May 2, 2005 5:25 PM
I don't get the connection between the article on faith based parks (which I agree is silly) and this museum that is supposedly exhibitng the science behind healthier lifestyles. All that matters in the health sciences is that we are here; how we got here is really quite irrelevant from this point forward.
RKN at May 2, 2005 6:24 PM
>As they drive around in their SUV, it never occurs to them that the geologists who made that possible have actual, physical evidence that no "flood" occurred
Uh, I'm agnostic, but I also remember reading that the sphinx shows signs of having suffered massive water damage all at once, a few thousand years ago.
A tempest in the middle east doesn't have anything to do with the grand canyon, though.
Little ted at May 3, 2005 12:22 AM
The fact that there's a chill on any science that doesn't fit with people's irrational religious beliefs is insane.
Amy Alkon at May 3, 2005 4:54 AM
Since the e word is so highly charged, and since issues dealing with evolution have only the most remote connection with health, I come down on the side of the prospectus writers. If you really wanted to promote the scientic method (ie. critical thinking), you'd stick with pommes de terre rather than pommes chaudes. Discretion is the better part of valor. The Big Topics get everyone riled up. Take the approach advocated by the world's greatest philosopher, Epicurus, who argued that the gods and forces supernatural may reside in some higher place, but their existence (on non existence) has no bearing on how we arrive at values and lead the fulfilled life. So let creationism go and stay with the here and now, with the science of nutrition, genetics, etc.
tom merle at May 4, 2005 11:30 PM
Their supposed existence has a huge bearing on your life if you live in a land where highly irrational people who believe in these gods without proof try to shove through legislation according to the supposed dictates of their imaginary dieties.
Amy Alkon at May 5, 2005 1:04 PM
People hold a variety of indefensible beliefs, Amy. Personally, I find Christianity in particular to be among the least threatening of them.
RKN at May 7, 2005 8:17 AM
Tell that one to the kids who chased me around my neighborhood calling me "dirty Jew" and telling me I killed Jesus, or anybody who died in the Inquisition, or because the church told people in South America and Africa lies about condoms.
Amy Alkon at May 7, 2005 8:38 AM
Not to worry Amy. We're in blue land, shielded against the theos. Let the past go (unless, of course, you need to weave it into a column). Stick with those issues you can do (= profitably say) something about, like the one's that afflict those seeking your guidance on personal relations.
Tomasso
tom merle at May 7, 2005 10:27 PM
Tom, there's state and there's Federal, and Federal is distinctly theo at the moment.
Amy Alkon at May 8, 2005 12:27 AM
You may find this site fun. Don't worry - it's satire.
Radwaste at May 13, 2005 4:17 PM
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