The Creation Museum opened this week. Ho Hum.

Thousands attend opening Believers,
skeptics differ on life's origins

A twisting line of people perhaps five blocks long wound inside and outside the Creation Museum on Monday, waiting to see its exhibits 2½ hours after the controversial $27 million facility opened.

On the first day, the museum hosted more than 4,000 visitors, spokesman Mark Looy said Monday evening.

Beyond the gates, several dozen protesters staged a "Rally for Reason," arguing that the museum's central tenets conflict with scientific dating techniques. For example, the museum declares the earth is 6,000 years old, rather than about 4.5 billion years old.

Overhead, a critics' airplane circled as it had on Saturday, pulling a banner with the message "Thou Shalt Not Lie."
~
Video from the Associated Press.
~
A very good special section from the Cincinnati Enquirer including:

What do creationists believe? Here are their explanations for dinosaurs, fossils and continental drift an interactive graphic.

A sampling of Creation Museum stories in the news selected by Answers in Genesis and linked to their original source.

Jim Borgman's cartoon:

~

Answers in Genesis is an independent, nonprofit,

international ministry based in Petersburg, Kentucky.

It believes that Genesis is a literal account of creation. Those beliefs include:

• God created the universe in six, 24-hour days, 6,000 years ago.

• The offspring of Adam and Eve married their brothers and sisters.

• Dinosaurs and humans co-existed.

• Dinosaurs were originally vegetarians.

• The biblical flood formed the Grand Canyon, fossils and coal beds.

• Noah brought dinosaurs on the Ark.

• If Genesis is not true, the truth of the entire Bible is undermined.

• No scientific evidence can be valid if it contradicts the Bible.

Museum Director Ken Ham and friend.

~

From MSNBC:

At the Creation Museum, a fanciful Eden rises from the void. Adam appears, bearded and handsome, if slightly waxen. Eve emerges from his rib with luxuriant hair and a kindly expression. Trees blossom and creatures frolic, evidence that all started well in God's perfect world.

Elsewhere, as the story develops, Cain stands over his slain brother, Abel; life-size workmen build a replica of Noah's ark, and Methuselah intones: "With each passing day, judgment draws nearer. . . . I can tell you, whatever God says is true."

Despite the showmanship behind the $27 million museum opening here Monday, the evangelists who put it together contend that none of the gleaming exhibits are allegorical. God did create the universe in six days, they say, and the Earth is about 6,000 years old.

Photo by Patrick Reddy/The Enquirer.
~

This from the Cincinnati Post:

Museum is paid for after six years of fund-raising

The new, $27 million Answers in Genesis museum in rural Boone County doesn't come with a mortgage.

When the museum opens today, all 60,000 square feet will be paid for.

Early on, the staff committed to not borrowing money to build it. It took six years to raise the donations needed, AIG spokesman Mark Looy said. Most of the money was raised through direct mailings to previous supporters of AIG, or those who bought materials from the organization.

From July 2005 through June 2006, AIG spent $1.4 million on fund-raising for the museum and the organization as a whole, 11 percent of its total functional expenses of $12.25 million.

~

The Family Foundation's Martin Cothran absolutely shrieks in an Op-Ed in the Courier-Journal.

~

A sneek peek with lots of photos and narration posted by Zachary Webb, on EKU's student website.