Semisaurus – another creationist on the loose

This one is literally on the loose: Semisaurus describes itself as “a mobile creation Museum that gives people answers. The realistic displays provide facts and evidence that take the creation-evolution debate head-on.” It is “a 48-foot semi trailer [that has been converted] into a state-of-the-art museum that is packed with high-end displays, animatronic dinosaurs and evidence-based information to teach the Truth (sic) about creation and evolution[.]” It has an ambitious schedule, and will be prowling around Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Missouri, and elsewhere for the next several months.

According to a credulous article in the Beatrice (Nebraska) Daily Sun, the Semisaurus is run by something called the Creation Instruction Association, whose exhibitor, Brian Young, has been traveling around the Midwest since September, 2016, and “spreading the message that science and religion can co-exist.” That claim is, of course, an experimental fact, but it says nothing about the falsehood that “[y]ou can also interpret the science according to a biblical viewpoint and see how creation can be supported by science,” as the principal of St. Paul’s Lutheran School put it. The newspaper did not bother to fact-check the principal’s claim.

An equally credulous interview on Nebraska TV informed us that the exhibit cost $100,000 and, so far, 13,000 people have seen the exhibit this year. Mr. Young (no relation to me, I assure you) closed with a demonstration of a balloon that had been placed in liquid nitrogen and consequently shrunk down to virtually nothing. It is unclear whether or not he understood, but Mr. Young appeared to think that the molecules in the balloon had shrunk or decreased or something at the liquid nitrogen temperature. When he took the balloon out of the liquid nitrogen and allowed it to expand, he said something unintelligible about how God has “created an earth that is so well-designed for it to work and function properly….”

Finally, the Grundy (Iowa) Register showed that Mr. Young had learned the rote well:

“The main point of the Semisaurus is to educate people, and I believe education is knowing both sides of an issue, and then being able to make your decision based on that,” Young said. “Indoctrination, on the other hand, is only giving one side of the issue. I really believe in our society, our kids are being indoctrinated, because we’re not allowed to see all sides of an issue. You’re told you have to believe this way, or that way, even when the evidence can clearly go against it. Here, we are presenting both sides, and letting them choose.”

And that was about all I could take.

Thanks to the ever alert Dan Phelps for yet another link.