Creation concerns

Mark Looy, our CCO, has some unusual media reports to share with you below as I wind down my Scottish tour. I am in Perth today, and then on to beautiful Edinburgh, and finally the huge city of Glasgow (where Mark used to live and where he did his postgraduate studies). —Ken

Two major Kentucky newspapers prominently covered AiG and the Creation Museum over the weekend. The articles reported on matters that “concerned” some Kentuckians, yet we are normally not too concerned about such comments, not just because it garners more publicity for the museum, but because it also becomes an opportunity for us to clarify our views (which often get misrepresented in the press and elsewhere).

The state’s largest newspaper, The Courier-Journal (of Louisville), wrote a rather lengthy piece about concerned naturalists who work at Kentucky’s state park systems. You see, visitors to our museum are also touring the state’s numerous parks (which, by the way, are top notch—perhaps the best-run state park system in all the U.S.) and they are questioning park guides and naturalists about the content of state museums and their signage (especially any references to an old age for the earth).

It’s apparently becoming such a frequent occurrence now that 18 state naturalists will be visiting our Creation Museum and planetarium in November so that they can better understand what our museum guests are picking up here. Perhaps some of these state employees will visit in an attempt to learn how to rebut our teaching so that they can better deal with visitors in their respective state parks, but we welcome them anyway. And as we shared with the newspaper, we hope that the naturalists will carve out some time to meet with some of our Ph.D. staff.

Read the Courier-Journal article for yourself at: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007709010438

Meanwhile, the lead article on Saturday in the regional “B” section of the Kentucky Enquirer makes an issue (again) of the museum, but not for something we have done. You see, the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau was criticized for how it listed the Creation Museum on its website. Their staff merely took some phrases from our museum website and used it on their NKYCVB site (which they typically do for the many area attractions it lists). The wording for the museum on the NKYCVB site indicated that as opposed to almost all natural history museums which lead people astray spiritually, the Creation Museum has an evangelistic purpose.

A few howls of protest prompted the Bureau to alter its wording a few days ago, which the Bureau informed us would probably happen (and we shared with the Bureau that we would not be offended with re-wording the museum text on its site).

The second Enquirer article about this flap can be read at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070901/NEWS01/7090 10361

Meanwhile at the museum, once again we witnessed strong attendance on a weekend (5,100 guests). In addition, almost 2,000 turned out on Monday, Labor Day. Our grand total since opening in late May is 186,636. We just praise God for this remarkable showing. Though this is an unexpected turnout, when you think about it, when museum opponents complain or express concerns about the museum, it can create wide media coverage ... and we benefit as more people find out about this one-of-a-kind center.

Well, as Ken says almost every day on this site, thanks for stopping by ... and thanks for praying. —Mark Looy