This past week, Deputy Editor Nate Anderson and I traveled down to Petersburg, Kentucky to cover the debate between Bill Nye the Science Guy and Ken Ham, the president and CEO of both Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum. The morning after the debate, we headed back over to the Creation Museum to take in the sights and to further investigate some of the things that caught our eye in our brief walkabout before the debate.

If you don't hold to a literalist account of the creation narrative in Genesis 1-2, walking through the Creation Museum can be unsettling. There are fossils, incredibly detailed dioramas, and really slick-looking exhibits—all alongside explanations that I never saw in any science classroom.

Here there be dragons

One of the first things you'll notice when walking into the museum lobby is a preoccupation with dragons. There's a giant Chinese dragon suspended from the ceiling, pictures of dragons, and small displays making the case that tales of dragons throughout recorded history are actually descriptions of dinosaurs.

Eric Bangeman



Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

People and dinosaurs: The Main Hall

After purchasing our tickets, Nate and I headed into the Main Hall. It felt like walking into any natural history museum until we got closer to the exhibit on the left and saw the little girl next to the dinosaur. In the water below, a couple of painted turtles swam up to the side of the tank, apparently in hopes that we had turtle food with us. Opposite the girl-plus-dinosaur exhibit are a few exhibits depicting ecosystems from various parts of the world. I really liked the rainforest exhibit with the live poison dart frogs (dendobrate tinctorius and d. azureus if you're keeping score at home). On top of the ecosystem exhibits was a massive, plant-munching animatronic dinosaur.

Eric Bangeman



Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Archaeology time: Dig Site

The Dig Site is devoted to archaeological exploration, but from a young earth creationist viewpoint. Exhibits displayed the kind of things you'd expect to see in any natural history museum, again accompanied by text you would not expect to see in a natural history museum.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman



Starting Points

Up next is the Starting Points exhibits, which walks the visitor back from the reality of the presence of fossils and sediment to the question of beginning assumptions. While it's true that your conclusions will depend on where you start from, not all starting points are equally valid or well-supported. There are a couple of unsettlingly realistic children making a point about public education as you leave the exhibit.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Why should we believe? Biblical Authority and Biblical Relevance

Unlike museums devoted to science, the Creation Museum bases its exhibits on its interpretation of the Bible. But if you're not a Christian—or if you're a Christian who doesn't believe in young-Earth creationism—the creation account in Genesis 1-2 isn't going to be authoritative for you. That's where the Biblical Authority and Biblical Relevance exhibits come in. Here, the Creation Museum makes the case for the Bible as the authoritative source for origins.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Culture in Crisis

What happens when the Bible is no longer the foundation of society? Nothing good, according to the Culture in Crisis Exhibit.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Six Days Theater and the Wonders Room

The Six Days Theater is a multimedia presentation that runs through the six days of creation from the young -Earth creationist point of view. There's a massive widescreen and a few rows of benches. The Wonders Room is exactly that: a room filled with images of some of the wonders of our Universe with explanatory video above. I think we can all agree that, regardless of your starting point, the Universe is full of wonder.

The 7 Cs of History

From the slick multimedia presentations of the Six Days Theater and the Wonders Room, we head into 7 Cs of History exhibits. For the uninitiated, those seven Cs stand for Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, and Consummation. It's here where the tenets of young-Earth creationism are really unpacked and illustrated with very detailed dioramas and exhibits.

Creation

We start out in the Garden of Eden. I felt like it really could have used some Bob Dylan.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Corruption

Unfortunately for all of us, Adam and Eve ate the fruit and were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Catastrophe

The Noah's Ark exhibit was the most densely populated. It's obvious that the Ark is one of Ken Ham's passions.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

The last four Cs

After the floodwaters receded, humankind and animals began to recover and repopulate the earth.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Palm Plaza and the Dinosaur Den

We exited the 7 Cs exhibit into the Palm Plaza, meant to evoke an Ancient Near Eastern village. On one side was Verbum Domini exhibit which contains a number of Bibles from around the world, including a 16th Century Tyndale version and some beautifully illustrated Ethiopian manuscripts. Unfortunately, photography was prohibited in that room. Across the plaza was Dr. Crawley's Insectorium which explained the difference between arachnids and insects. It also gave Nate the heebie-jeebies.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

From the Palm Plaza, we went up a flight of stairs into the Dinosaur Den.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Dragon Hall Bookstore

It seems that with every museum and zoo exhibit built or remodeled during the past couple of decades, visitors exit through a gift shop. The Creation Museum is no exception.

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman



It was a long day at the Creation Museum, but there was one more thing left to do before packing up and heading back to Chicago: try to ride the dinosaur.

Listing image by Eric Bangeman