A few years ago I did a cover feature on a four-day Creationist symposium or conclave or whatever you want to call it where a bunch of mostly American speakers argued in favour of Biblical Creationism and sought to disparage scientific explanations for the possible origin of life on Earth and the creation of the universe.
I attended two of the four evenings with a friend who had read extensively about the supposed “controversy” that exists between Biblical and scientific viewpoints. The only controversy that exists, of course, is in the minds of the looney Christian fringe that embraces a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis where God created the universe and everything in it, including us, in six days. By their reckoning, Earth is a little over 6000 years old — a figure that’s arrived at by adding up the ages of all the Biblical patriarchs from Adam on down.
Watching the speakers apply the broadest possible interpretation to Biblical texts to try to get within hailing distance of established scientific principles explaining various facets of our existence was hugely entertaining.
The gathering was held at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum’s auditorium. Given the Christian group’s anti-scientific bent and total disregard for anything remotely resembling rational thought, I was initially surprised that the RSM had agreed to rent the space to them. But realistically, the RSM is a publicly funded venue and should be open to as broad a spectrum of people as possible.
Of all the auditoriums in Regina, I’m not sure why organizers chose the RSM to hold their rally. No, scratch that. I know full well why they did. To give their dubious enterprise a veneer of scientific credibility.
To their followers, they probably portrayed it as equivalent to Daniel entering the lions’ den. Except it wasn’t, really. The RSM is Megamunch’s house. And this afternoon from 1-4 p.m. the museum is celebrating the dinosaur’s 65,000,024 birthday with a mix of family-friendly activities.
Why 65,000,024? Because that’s roughly how long ago the dinosaur’s species roamed the Earth. If you’re interested, there’s a whole pile of Creationism Debunked videos on YouTube. Here’s the introduction to one series to give you a taste. Need extra motivation? two words: Golden Crocoduck!
