CNN: (TULSA, OK) Zoo to feature creationism display

[BlueEyedSon]

TULSA, Oklahoma (AP) -- The Tulsa Zoo will add a display featuring the biblical account of creation following complaints to a city board about other displays with religious significance, including a Hindu elephant statue.

The Tulsa Park and Recreation Board voted 3-1 on Tuesday in favor of a display depicting God's creation of the world in six days and his rest on the seventh, as told in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The vote came after more than two hours of public comment from a standing-room-only crowd. Zoo employees, religious leaders and others spoke in opposition, saying religion shouldn't be part of the taxpayer-funded scientific institution.

But those who favored the creationist exhibit, including Mayor Bill LaFortune, argued that the zoo already displayed religious items, including the statue of the Hindu god, Ganesh, outside the elephant exhibit and a marble globe inscribed with an American Indian saying: "The earth is our mother. The sky is our father."

"I see this as a big victory," said Dan Hicks, the Tulsa resident who approached the zoo with the idea. "It's a matter of fairness. To not include the creationist view would be discrimination."

More: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/08/zoo.display.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

[lala_rawraw]

1. OMG< that is fucking funny as hell

So who will play god in a cage? Hmmm, idol worship, tsk tsk tsk.

[rabid_nerd]

3. Dress up a monkey...

the irony would be sweet

[KittyWampus]

18. Wouldn't Fundies Want God Portrayed As A Fish?

[expatriot]

2. Let the Christians have a statue of a snake.

If the mythological Christian creation story has a display, where is the Hindu creation myth's display? Geesh.

[funflower]

4. Those Tulsa fundies are sooooo persecuted!

:smoke:

[Selatius]

5. Let them have their displays down there in Tulsa

It's not my part of the country anyway. This country will be several within the next 200 years. At least, it's a hunch I have.

[drhilarius]

12. "This country will be several within the next 200 years."

One can only hope. I really can't live with these fundie morons anymore.

[Beartracks]

6. More quotes on Tulsa Zoo

Here's some additional from the AP story that I saw -- to their credit, not all zoo officials thought this was a good idea:

"The new display will include a disclaimer that says it represents one view. City attorneys also advised it be placed alongside other cultures' views of creation.

"Tulsa Zoo exhibit curator Kathleen Buck-Miser estimated it would take about six months to research and organize the exhibit. She expressed qualms about the zoo delving into theological debate. 'I'm afraid we are going in the wrong direction,' she said.

"Board member Dale McNamara, who voted against the proposal, agreed. 'I do not like the idea of scripture at the zoo,' she said.

"Zoo officials had argued that the zoo does not advocate religion and that displays like the elephant statue are meant to show the animal's image among cultures. The same exhibit includes the Republican Party's elephant symbol."

More at <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/zoo_display>

And a bit more:

"Opponents, including fellow Christians, argued there's a difference between religion and culture (emphasis added). And, there are too many differences just within the creation belief.

"'Therefore they're going to have to decide how and which of the hundreds of creation stories that are in the world including many dozens that are in the U.S. from the Native American people to include in that exhibit,' says Reverend Marlin Lavanhar with Tulsa Metropolitan Ministries. 'It's hard to create fairness when you're talking about this.'"

More at <http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0605/234149.html>

[truthisfreedom]

7. *yawn*

who cares?

[jobycom]

8. Hope they enjoy spending tons of cash on lawyers to take it to SCOTUS

because someone hopefully will sue over this.

[Bleacher Creature]

9. UNCLE!!!!

Please stop. I'll do anything -- just as long as I can live in a normal country again!

[NewHampshireDem]

10. Then they wonder why every other county in the world is kick our asses

in science and math education.

I loved the ironic use of the word "research" in the article :" Tulsa Zoo exhibit curator Kathleen Buck-Miser estimated it would take about six months to research and organize the exhibit. She expressed qualms about the zoo delving into theological debate. "I'm afraid we are going in the wrong direction," she said."

<on edit, from BoingBoing.net>
Fiften Answers to Creationist Nonsense from Scientific American.

[Ruffhowse]

11. God damned Fundies, gotta screw everything up for everyone.

They are so focused on greasing their own way into heaven by forcing their brand of religion down everyone's throats. They all buy off on the idea that God will reward them with an EZ Pass into heaven if they convert the heathens, no matter how they do it, even if they have to drag people into their churches kicking and screaming. I'm so sick of this attitude. Why can't they let people make up their own mind about religion and spirituality? The fact that they try to undo centuries of scientific fact in order to prop up their superstitious Bible fantasies is another aggravation I can't stomach anymore. At least it's only Oklahoma, I wouldn't expect less from such a blood red state. We need to split these idiots off from the rest of the rational US and let them have their Jesusland. Pathetic.

[pinniped]

13. Good, they can put the flat Earth right next to the Indians' round Earth.

The flat Earth will say "The Earth is the center of the universe."

[THUNDER HANDS]

14. they have zoo's in Oklahoma now?

who knew? good for them!

[no_hypocrisy]

15. Geez, with public money?!

Look, the Noah's Ark in NYC's Central Park's Children's Zoo was kind of cute, but that was generic, not trying to validate a myth that a God created the Universe, Earth and its inhabitants within six days. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

[Bridget Burke]

16. They could do it in Lego...

"The Brick Testament" covers Genesis but the Creation part is shortchanged. I'm sure details could be added to show the whole Six Days: www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/index.html

Or call on the talents of Jack Chick: www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1051/1051_01.asp

No matter who does it, the display will draw the scorn of the majority of kids--who've studied their dinosaurs.

(Don't blame me if these sites suck you in. The Lego site is charming. Jack Chick's exudes the fascination of a dreadful wreck on the highway--you didn't want to look.)

[KittyWampus]

17. I'd Have Preferred An Ark.... Which Is An Interesting Myth... And I Mean

"myth" in the best sense of the word.

[LongTomH]

Tulsa Park Board Approves New Exhibit At The Tulsa Zoo

Here we go again!

The debate over religion at the Tulsa Zoo. The Tulsa Parks Board discussed a controversial plan Tuesday morning to install an exhibit chronicling the biblical account of creation.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan was at the meeting and says a new exhibit will go up at the Tulsa Zoo. It won the approval of the Parks Board, but not before several hours of debate over the philosophy of evolution and creation.

http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=84592

According to http://www.pandasthumb.org/">The Pandas Thumb, the instigator for this, architect Dan Hicks, was instrumental in removing evolution displays from the Tulsa Zoo back in the '90s.

[tk2kewl]

19. the circus comes to the zoo

:crazy:

[jsw_81]

20. I smell ACLU lawsuit

No way does this stand if it's paid for with public funds.

[rodeodance]

21. ~~ dizzy--i'm so dizzy~~ who to believe--ah--it is CHOISE discourse.

[DBoon]

22. I want equal time for the theory of de-evolution!!!

or is this covered by the Parks Board meeting itself?

[PassingFair]

23. I think we should volunteer to do the Egyptian

creation, replete with spouting god penises fertilizing the earth.
Who's with me?

[daleo]

24. The creation myth exhibit should include some Goddess worship

That would really blow the fundamentalists' minds.

[barb162]

25. this is how it starts, prayer in the schools....

[Javaman]

26. Does that mean they are going to put a man and a woman in a cage???

Now that would make for some good zoo attending...

I nominate Jenna Jamison and me! :evilgrin:

[deadparrot]

27. I think there's a difference

between a statue of a god and a religious theory with no basis in fact being presented as if it held some kind of plausible scientific truth.

But hell. Let 'em go. I'm sure that we haven't heard the end of it in the court system.

[tmorelli415]

28. And the Lord said, "Let there be donkeys!"

And there were donkeys. And the donkeys were good. And the Lord saw that the donkeys were good and called them 'Democrats'.

And then the Lord said, "Let there be elephants!" And there were elephants. And the Lord saw that the elephants were selfish, manipulative, greedy lying bastards. And Lord called them 'Republicans'.

Then the Lord separated the elephants from the donkeys, and the judicial from the legislative, and the church from the state.

Then the Lord gave the elephants domain over horse shit, and lies, and gluttony, and hypocrisy, and all that is stinky and smells of anus. And the Lord saw the elephants trample on the Constitution.

Then the Lord gave the donkeys domain over the environment, and the economy, and education, and healthcare, and values, and liberty, and democracy, and ethics, and equality, and all that is right and true and just. And the Lord saw the donkeys cherish the Constitution with all their hearts.

And finally the Lord gave the Bible to both the elephants and the donkeys to share, but the elephants took the Bible and twisted its words. And the Lord saw that the donkeys were sad, so he told the donkeys, I will print the words of the Bible on your hearts. And the donkeys understood.

[hyphenate]

29. Fucking assholes

This has got to be one of the stupidest idiotic things that the zoo has ever done. It's losing ALL its credibility by kowtowing to the RRR. I certainly wouldn't want to go to that zoo if it's in any way promoting creationism.