Petition: Withdraw support for creationist zoo in schools

20 June 2009

Over at RD.net today, someone has posted a petition:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to withdraw support for Noahâ€™s Ark Zoo Farm, and education focused, yet ardently creationist establishment.

Noahâ€™s Ark Zoo Farm (NAZF) is a zoo just outside Bristol that markets itself to schools and is heavily focused on child education.

However, instead of teaching well-established science, it promotes creationism.

The literature displayed at the zoo is hostile to Darwin and his theories and attempts to debunk techniques such as radio carbon dating and interpretation of the fossil record.

Much of this literature – which is presented as fact – contradicts science on the national curriculum, thereby actively damaging a childâ€™s education. This can be evidenced on their website; however, this is much diluted compared the ardent creationist material on display at the zoo.

NAZF also uses the VisitBritian logo to market the zoo.

The stated aim of VisitBritain (Britain’s national tourism agency) is to market Britain worldwide and to develop England’s visitor economy.

By promoting the NAZF, with its creationist agenda and harmful educational materials, VisitBritian is damaging the reputation of the United Kingdom.

I’m a little of two minds over this. On one hand, I feel people should be able to believe any bat-shit insane proposition they like. On the other, the fact that the wingnuts behind this zoo are making inroads into schools (what the fuck does RE [religious "education" - a [s]tatutory subject with non-statutory programme of study] have to do with biology?) is not on for precisely the reasons that creationism isn’t already taught in science lessons: it’s not science.

As these two concerns are not necessarily mutually exclusive, the only reason that I’m signing this petition is for the second reason, and not the first.

I just wanted to make that clear.

I also think that the fourth paragraph (the one starting The literature displayed at the zoo…) is both superfluous and frames the petition badly. I do understand and appreciate why it’s there, although I wish it weren’t and think the petition would be better off for it.

Note: The petition is scheduled to close on the 26th June 2009 (six days [ha!] from the date of this post) so please sign it, and repost as far and wide as you can.

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Tags: anti-science, christianity, creationism/intelligent design, evolution, government and politics, legal, petition, The Stupid It Burns, UK

Comments

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13044 Responses2009-06-20+20%3A28%3A08nullifidian to “Petition: Withdraw support for creationist zoo in schools”

Peter Magellan on June 21st, 2009 2:48 pm

"On one hand, I feel people should be able to believe any bat-shit insane proposition they like."

Personally, I'd modify that slightly: *Responsible adults* should be able to believe any bat-shit insane proposition they like. They shouldn't be able to impress batshit insane propositions onto impressionable young minds. So I'd sign it for both reasons – though I agree that it's badly worded.

Thanks for the heads-up.
PaulSJenkins on June 21st, 2009 5:10 pm

I too was initially hesitant about this petition, but the zoo's website clearly shows that it's aiming at kids (mentioning stuff specifically targeted to the National Curriculum). There's also blatantly creationist stuff on view at the website, and I don't trust them not to try infiltrating this into the materials they use at the zoo.
nullifidian on June 21st, 2009 5:11 pm

I'm going to disagree with you somewhat, for two reasons:

1) I've often heard tell of non-adults (i.e. kids) actually becoming more sceptical in their outlook when they've been exposed to certain unevidenced ideas (Santa, the tooth fairy, etc.) I can't cite anything of the top of my head, but I do remember reading an argument about this somewhere (it was a surprise to me as I changed my mind from having quite a strict "tell kids only the truth" attitude); and

2) some adults who act on their unevidenced beliefs (be it religion, CAM, whatever) I could not bring myself to consider "responsible", especially (as you point out) when it comes to telling kids stuff.

I think I see where you're coming from here, but I'd prefer to keep my wording.

With 1 above, I want to clarify that I don't think asserting or confirming batshit insanity to kids is a good idea, but being ambiguous (possibly in an evasive non-committal or answer-a-question-with-a-question way) might be a better way of allowing them to come to their own conclusions.
nullifidian on June 21st, 2009 5:48 pm

Oh, yes, they're certainly creationists. Which other zoo do you know has materials not just for science classes but for RE classes?