Writer@Large

I was walking along campus today, and a flyer caught my eye. It seems that the <a href="http://www.creationresource.org/" target="_blank">Creation Resource Foundation's "Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation" show</a> is making its way to Central Michigan University! Ah, joy ... fundy nonsense in my own backyard. [Sigh ... why doesn't II have a puking smiley?] The touring show is touted as "Possibly the Most Stimulating Multi-Media Adventure You've Ever Seen" with "Over 1000 synchronized color slides!" [oohhh, ahhhh ... ]. It's being hosted by--and held in--a local Presbyterian [I think] church, the Grace World Outreach Church and Prospect Park Church of God.

I think I'm going to try to attend some of this. There are five presentations over four days, only one of which actually lists a Q&A session afterwards--"Dinosaurs, the Rest of the Tale; and Man's Origin: Animal or Divine?" The other topics are "Why Teach Creation?" [a "luncheon" thing, free but pre-registered only], "The Early Earth--According to the Eyewitnesses," "The Faltering Falehood of Evolution," and "Unlocking the Mysteries of Ancient Civilizations." [That last one sounds particularly humorous, and may be worth a night of chuckles.]

Anyway, I bring this to the boards for several reasons. First: if any local folks want to get together and head to this as a group, I'm all for it. The four evening topics run nightly between Sunday, 22 September through Wednesday, 25 September. I suggest we bring popcorn and sodas, as this should be much funnier than the last Austin powers film.

Secondly: has anyone attended this particular traveling snake-oil science show before? What can I expect? How backwards are they?

Thirdly: if I make it to the Q&A session on Dinos and man's origins, what's the best question I could ask? I'd really like to trip someone up, if possible.

--W@L

RufusAtticus

Like this:

manderguy

Does this mean you can't make it to the MI get together?

(just wondering if you were keeping up on the planning Matt's been doing)

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

Caverdude

I hope you get to voice some questions during the question and answer period. I think we know what the "answers" will be like, but keep us posted on how it goes!! Might be fun.

wade-w

While I have never seen such a "traveling snake-oil" science show before, I did attend a "debate" between a biology professor and Duane Gish once, about 10 years ago. The audience was packed with creationists from various churches. Most were local, but I saw a few buses in the parking lot that were from towns that were 1-200 miles away. I think we were outnumbered at least 20-1. Some yahoo actually asked me what church I was from... he didn't seem to grasp that there might be evilutionists in the audience.

The format was that the professor presented his case, and then Gish presented his. Then there was a brief intermission, during which one could submit written questions to be answered by one of the "debaters". The moderator was to pick 5 questions for each.

During his presentation, Gish claimed that a research team in England studying the famous "Lucy" remains had concluded that she could not have been bipedal. I therefore submitted a question for Gish, asking him to explain the position of the foramen magnum on Lucy's skull.

My question wasn't picked, so I didn't get the pleasure of seeing him try to worm his way out of that one. It was my impression that the questions picked for Gish were intentionally weak. I suspect the moderator was biased, though I have no proof of that.

All in all, it was good for a laugh.

[ September 11, 2002: Message edited by: wadew ]</p>

Writer@Large

Oh, I probably don't stand a chance of getting a question in here, since this whole thing is sponsored by and held in a church. Ah, well.

And Caverdude, I will certainly let everyone know what happens when (if) I get to one.

--W@L

wade-w

As I said, my experience was about 10 years ago or so. The whole thing seemed more like a publicity stunt than a real debate. This may have a very different format.

Camaban

Is one of these "Mysteries of creation" an explanation of why they need to resort to quote mining instead of actual research?

unregistered_user_1

Oh, hell! The guy who does that stuff is a relative of mine! (we even got an invite to a wedding of one of his daughter's!) He gave me his first run copy of "Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation" years ago when we met at a relatives's place!

I'm ashamed to say that at first I believed everything in it, but some of the slanderous things he said about "evolutionists" got me suspicious. I checked things out, and with the help of the <a href="http://www.talkorigins.org" target="_blank">Talk Origins Archive</a> (the pages by Glen Kuban are real useful for refuting his man-with-dinosaur claims) I was able to more or less shoot down all the stuff in the book. I was amazed that there could be so many "mistakes" in one book.

By the way, on his site, he has a link to Answers in Genesis, even though they have posted an article which refutes several of the things that Peterson is trying to push!
<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/faq/dont_use.asp" target="_blank">Arguements we think creationists should not use</a>
<img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />