A grade school in Effingham, Illinois is taking criticism from parents after it hosted a group of creationists who taught their children that dinosaurs lived on Noah’s Ark.

Local news station WAND 17 reports that Central Grade School hosted a Saturday morning event last month that was billed as an educational event about dinosaurs that included real-life dinosaur fossils.

ADVERTISEMENT

Some parents who attended the event were dismayed, however, when the hosts began injecting unscientific religious statements into their presentation.

“[They said] tyrannosaurus rexes ate vegetables,” parent Jeanette Bushur told WAND 17. “[They said] there were dinosaurs with Noah on the ark and that evolution was a myth.”

The event was conducted by the Creation Truth Foundation, a nonprofit organization that blames the teaching of evolution for high divorce rates.

Parents who were upset by the presentation at the school said that fliers advertising the event gave little indication that it would feature religious commentary and bogus information about carnivorous dinosaurs being vegetarians.

Effingham resident Brian Poelker wrote a scathing letter to the Effingham Daily News in which he called out the school for not only hosting the creationists’ event but for not giving students proper guidance about the difference between scientific fact and religious dogma.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Our elementary school teachers have the difficult task of laying down the science foundation for our children,” he wrote. “Standards are in place to help these young students become scientifically literate as they progress through the grade levels. The school board and administration needs to provide the guidance and materials to help students, through their teachers, meet the requirements of the Illinois State Science Standards.”