Birth Of An Idea – PZ Goes To The Creation Museum – 1 Year Anniversary
I would like this post to be a reminder that we all need to do our share. Please do a blog post, make a video or just tell your friends about the silly creation “museum”. I also ask that you take a moment to make a donation to the Secular Student Alliance. My I suggest that you become a life member!
1 year ago – I had an idea but, I did not have a blog then and never had a chance to talk about it - so I would like to tell the story now. On June 24th PZ put up a post about Ken Ham. He was complaining that PZ did not understand what was really in the creation “museum” and PZ suggested the Ken Ham Fly him in so he could see it all in person.
Since Mr Ham is so concerned about my accuracy or lack thereof, and is obviously stressed at the poor publicity I’m giving his little monument to ignorance, I’ll make him an offer. I’ll give him a whole day of my time if he’ll fly me in and give me a personal tour, during which he can point out all the things I’ve gotten wrong about Creation, and I will dutifully write them down and post a complete report of his various rebuttals. Thorough coverage for the price of a plane ticket. How can he possibly turn down such an offer?
If he was really confident of the legitimacy of his museum, I could probably even gather a small group of mouthy, obnoxious, and culturally prominent godless scientists who’d also take advantage of such an offer, and he could shepherd us all through at once, evangelizing as much as he wanted. It would be great! Come on, Mr Ham, put a little bit of your money where your mouth is.
At this time I was on the board of the SSA (Secular Student Alliance). PZ was our big speaker for the upcoming student conference in Columbus OH. PZ would only be two hours away from the “museum”.
So, I sent him an e-mail!
PZ,I read your post on the creation museum and had an idea….When you go to the SSA Convention in Columbus Ohio, you will be quite close to the creation museum (2 hour drive).would this work for you…-You fly to Ohio one day early (Thursday)- We drive down to Kentucky and stay the night (Thursday).- first thing Friday we get to the museum as the doors open (10:00 AM).- we spend ~4-5 hours there.- at ~2-3 we drive back to Columbus OH to start the convention Friday evening.
Several people have asked when I’m going to visit Ken Ham’s temple. It’s been settled! It’s all arranged, but no thanks at all to Ham. Here’s the deal: I’m going to be speaking at the Secular Student Alliance conference in August, which is being held in Columbus, Ohio…only two hours away from the museum! Sharp-eyed and chronologically aware Phil Ferguson noticed this interesting conjunction, and suggested that I adjust my travel schedule a tiny bit and come down a day early, and we’d take a little side trip. The SSA was amenable and tweaked my flight dates, and it is all happening!
On Friday, 7 August, a small group of godless people, including yours truly, will be at the “museum” when it opens at 10am on Friday, 7 August. Everyone is welcome to join in—we’ll pack the joint with quietly chortling science-minded people. When I get back from Lindau, I’ll also write to Ken Ham and request the pleasure of an audience, inviting him to come on out and evangelize to secular students.
My fellow Secular Student Alliance board member Phil Ferguson is an avid Pharyngula reader and knows PZ Myers has an opinion or two about the Creation Museum. Since PZ is speaking at our conference the first weekend in August, he had an idea: Why not invite PZ to join us a day early, have as many people as possible join us, and lead a tour through the Creation Museum?
PZ graciously agreed to do it and now we’re inviting anyone interested to join us: On Friday, August 7th, at 10:00 a.m., we’ll be meeting at the museum entrance.
July 21 2009 – 201 people signed up. The excitement was growing – this was going to work – and it was going to be big. It might make 300 or maybe 1,000!
July 28 2009 – The creation “museum” sent a warning letter.
Oh no. They are worried that the godless hoard will tear the place down. This could get ugly.
August 7 2009 – We made it!
We showed up at 9:30AM. It looked like we were the last ones there. The place was packed with atheists and agnostics waiting to go into the ‘museum”. The staff was very friendly and we got to go in. All of us! The place is very hard to put into words. It was well done but is very scary. You should go yourself someday.
Below is a video of the creation “museum”. It is part 1 of 3. Enjoy!
If you look real close you can see me in the background at 1:58. I went and talked to the very nice ladies that we helping to make sure our visit was fantastic.
We even made it to ABC news.
Here is PZ’s review of the “museum”.
There were many bloggers that wrote about this trip. A sample list and additional photos and videos provide some great memories.
If you know of any other links please post them below.
Great reminder of a hilarious, entertaining yet sad day.
Hard to believe it’s only been a year.
Thanks again, Phil, for organizing the trip. Glad to be one of the 300±.
JW
just to be clear…. I did not organize it. All of the real work was done by Lyz at the SSA. I just had the idea and a few bucks to spare. It was great fun. Where should we storm er visit next?
My wife and put a 300-mile detour in our vacation to be there! My review (follow the pingbacks for parts 2 and 3):
http://humanistottawaweb.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/theyre-so-cute-when-they-play-science-museum-part-1/