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Posts with tag: creationism | Return to ScienceNewsBlog.com Homepage
Creationists Don't Want Turkana Boy Displayed
 The Associated Press is reporting that a radical group of creationists is literally trying to keep Turkana Boy confined to a back room in his home at the Kenya National Museum in Nairobi. Turkana Boy is a nearly complete skeleton of a 1.5 million year-old hominid boy. Turkana Boy is believed to be about eleven or twelve years-old according to the Wikipedia entry. He is due to move to a much more prominent display at the museum. He will be the center piece of a $10.5 million renovation of the National Museums of Kenya.
But his first public display later this year is at the heart of a growing storm - one pitting scientists against Kenya's powerful and popular evangelical Christian movement. The debate over evolution vs. creationism - once largely confined to the United States - has arrived in a country known as the cradle of mankind.
"I did not evolve from Turkana Boy or anything like it," says Bishop Boniface Adoyo, head of Kenya's 35 evangelical denominations, which he claims have 10 million followers. "These sorts of silly views are killing our faith."
He's calling on his flock to boycott the exhibition and has demanded the museum relegate the fossil collection to a back room - along with some kind of notice saying evolution is not a fact but merely one of a number of theories.
The last thing we need are creationists trying to destroy the skeletons and fossils they don't believe exist. Pushing science to the back of the room is a great way to head mankind straight towards another middle ages. Many archaeologist including Richard Leaky, whose team discovered the skeleton in 1984, are concerned about the Turkana Boy's safety. Fortunately, there will be high security at the museum.
Leakey fears the ideological spat may provoke an attack on the priceless collection, one largely found during the 1920s by his paleontologist parents, Louis and Mary Leakey, who passed their fossil-hunting traditions on to him.
The museum, which attracts around 100,000 visitors a year, is taking no chances.
Turkana Boy will be displayed in a private room, with limited access and behind a glass screen with 24-hour closed-circuit TV. Security guards will be at the entrance.
"There are issues about the security," said Dr. Emma Mbua, the head of paleontology at the museum. "These fossils are irreplaceable and we wouldn't want anything to happen to them."
The museum's attendance should soar once the famous skeleton is on display. The website for the National Museums of Kenya can be found here.
Posted on February 8, 2007
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Bush Wants Creationism Taught in Science Class
The Media Cynic reports that President Bush wants intelligent design taught in science classes alongside evolution. Intelligent design is just a Christian right marketing spin on creationism. It would be an extremely bad idea to teach this in schools because not only does it force a religious belief on students but it also takes valuable time away from teaching science. The Washington Post also reports on Bush's announcement about intelligent design.
Much of the scientific establishment says that intelligent design is not a tested scientific theory but a cleverly marketed effort to introduce religious -- especially Christian -- thinking to students. Opponents say that church groups and other interest groups are pursuing political channels instead of first building support through traditional scientific review.
The White House said yesterday that Bush's comments were in keeping with positions dating to his Texas governorship, but aides say they could not recall him addressing the issue before as president. His remarks heartened conservatives who have been asking school boards and legislatures to teach students that there are gaps in evolutionary theory and explain that life's complexity is evidence of a guiding hand.
Posted on August 8, 2005
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