Creationist “” Are Not Museums by Gretchen Jennings

Gretchen Jennings is the his article first appeared as a letter to of some racial groups. While they may have editor of the Exhibitionist. the editor in the May/June 2008 issue been slow to change, museums have gradually She may be contacted at of . It was written in response incorporated newer understandings of the [email protected]. T to an article by Leah Arroyo in the November/ human species through the disciplines of December 2007 issue of the same publication history, anthropology, and archeology, among on the new Creation Museum in . The others. The definition of the word “museum” If you would like to comment article, titled “Science on Faith at the Creation itself has also changed and expanded over on this article or others in this issue, please log on to the NAME Museum,” concluded with the observation the years, from that of an institution with a listserv at http://groups.yahoo. that this museum, and others like it around collection to the most current ICOM definition: com/group/NAME-AAM/ the country, could “push the museum field to redefine what a museum is and what it can do” A museum is a non-profit, permanent (p. 49). I expressed my concerns about that institution in the service of society and conclusion in the letter, and I have added a few its development, open to the public, clarifying thoughts in the article below: which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible Creationist Museums Generate Useful and intangible heritage of humanity and Institutions Discussion its environment for the purposes of I agree wholeheartedly that the founding of education, study and enjoyment. (ICOM that create creationist museums and the desire of some Statutes, 2007) exhibitions and creationists to place their ideas in science museums have generated a great deal of useful A common thread running through all of these displays about discussion among museum professionals. I also shifts in perspective and definition throughout and think that institutions that create exhibitions the history of museums is a basic association and displays about creationism and intelligent with and assumption about museums and design are probably protected by the rights of their connection to human knowledge and are probably free speech in calling themselves “museums.” experience. This is true of a museum with protected by But their assumption of the name “museum” religious treasures, a museum with a button doesn’t mean they are a new type of museum, collection, a botanical garden, or a city history the rights of or any type of museum, in my view. Creationist society. There is an implicit assumption free speech in museums are like negative space in a painting or that within the walls of something called a sculpture. What is not there is more important “museum” efforts are being made, whether by calling themselves that what is there in terms of helping us think religious practitioners, academic scholars, local “museums.” about museums in a new way. historians, or members of a tribal community, to present what human knowledge and the Museums Are Evolving natural world can tell us about their particular Museums are living institutions, and they aspect of “the tangible and intangible heritage reflect their times and cultures. In the past, of humanity.” museums have presented exhibitions that rested on erroneous and since-revised theories. A Missing Link Examples are theories about the phenomenon of ICOM defines a museum in terms of what “race,” and about the superiority or inferiority it does (acquires, conserves, researches,

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EXHIBITIONIST SPRING '11 The lack of valid connection with current worldwide thinking on their chosen discipline is why I maintain that creationist centers of display are not museums.

communicates and exhibits the tangible experimentation and verification of hypotheses. and intangible heritage of humanity and its Each is a legitimate aspect of human environment) and why (in the service of society experience, and many people are both religious …for the purposes of education, study and and scientifically oriented, but each area has enjoyment), and this description is all about its limits when it is asked to attest to the truth the very human activity of gathering and of the other. Yet this mixture of science and communicating evidence of how we came to religious belief is exactly what creationist be here and what we have done. This link with displays seem to propose. accumulated current human knowledge and understanding is what gives museums whatever One may ask how creationist “museums” are “authority” cultural researchers contend different from other museums that present that they have with the general population. religious or non-scientific accounts of creation, Whether we think that museums should have such as the Vatican Museum or the National such authority is another question, but it is no Museum of the American Indian. I believe they doubt one of the reasons creationists call their are very different. As far as I know neither exhibition halls “museums.” The lack of valid of these latter museums contends that their connection with current worldwide thinking on collections or exhibitions are based on Western their chosen discipline is why I maintain that scientific findings. Images of the creation of creationist centers of display are not museums. and , or accounts of how the world (I would say the same of an institution whose was created are presented on their own terms exhibitions denied the Holocaust) and why and within their own context and cultural AAM and other representatives of the field tradition. They are not justified or promulgated should not confer this title officially on these by calling on science. On the other hand, the institutions in the unlikely event that they Creation Museum misuses and misrepresents might seek accreditation. scientific thinking to support Biblical accounts so that visitors, according to geologist Glenn A Conflation of Science and Faith Stores, “leave misled and intellectually Creationist exhibition centers do not fall within deceived” (Arroyo, 2007, p. 47). any of the definitions for museums given above, which have to do with human knowledge and An organization that presents Adam and Eve experience. These exhibition spaces are based living in a world with dinosaurs or that displays on a conscious conflation of science and faith, an accurately modeled triceratops dated two realms that can certainly co-exist and 6000 years old is misrepresenting the well- complement one another but that are not by documented “tangible…heritage of humanity their very nature able to provide verification for and its environment.” As with theories about the other. The thinking processes and methods race, new evidence might be discovered of each of these fields are appropriate to the someday that will change our current domain but useless in “proving” the tenets of understanding of how the universe came to the other. Science cannot prove or disprove be. Until then, all we have to go on is the articles of faith and belief, and religious accumulated knowledge of our fellow human faith is something altogether different from beings—scientists, historians, students of all the

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EXHIBITIONIST SPRING '11 Science cannot prove or disprove articles of faith and belief, and religious faith is something altogether different from experimentation and verification of hypotheses.

(continued from page 73) many facets of the human and natural world. Kentucky,” a “view of earth history that Although the Creation Museum offers the views has been scientifically disproven for more References: of various researchers who espouse Intelligent than a century.” (Arroyo, 2007, p. 47) Arroyo, L. (2007). Science on Design, the weight of scientific efforts faith at the Creation Museum. Museum News. 86(6), 42-49. worldwide does not support their thinking. So yes, let’s continue to discuss creationist museums, their cultural implications, and their ICOM Statutes. (2007). A July 17 press release from the Society impact on our current institutions, but let’s not Adopted during the 21st General Conference in Vienna, Austria. of Vertebrate Paleontology stated that credit them with leading the way to new ideas Retrieved on February 7, 2011 at “Professional paleontologists from around about museums, except maybe by negative http://icom.museum/who-we-are/ the world are concerned about the mis- example. There are plenty of other legitimate the-vision/museum-definition. representation of science at the newly resources for fresh ideas and innovative html opened Creation Museum in Petersburg, approaches to our field. Jennings, G. (2008). Inbox: But is it a museum? Museum. 87(3), 87-89.

For further discussion of this topic see Jennings, G. (2007). Museums and cultural understanding. In J. Falk, L. Dierking, and S. Foutz. (Eds.). In principle, in practice: Museums as learning institutions. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.

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