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The Origin Summit will be held on the campus of Michigan State University on Saturday.

(File photo)

A controversial event on creationism — which includes workshops with titles such as "Hitler's Worldview" and "The Big Bang is FAKE" — is scheduled for Saturday at Michigan State University.

The Origin Summit is a one-day event scheduled to being at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Eli Broad College of Business. The summit is free of charge and open to all members of the public.

Creation Summit executive director Mike Smith said he wants the conference to focus on the scientific evidence for creationism instead of religious doctrine.

“We want to show the scientific evidence that shows intelligent design,” he said. “We’re not coming to the campus to promote bible verses or sermons.”

Among the workshops scheduled for Saturday is a look into how evolution influenced the views of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Another workshop will examine the work of MSU researcher Dr. Richard Lenski, a biologist who has been conducting an experiment on evolution since 1988.

The conference will also include a panel discussion where four guest speakers will field questions from the audience. Smith said an iPad will be raffled off at the end of the day.

The Origin Summit is being put on by the Creation Summit. Creation Summit’s website states the organization plans to bring Origin Summits to college campuses across the nation to promote creationism in places they feel they’ve been banned from teaching creationism.

“What I would say to (critics) is the same thing I would like to say to the U.S. Congress and Supreme Court and ask the question: How can you have a fair debate when one side isn’t allowed to speak?” Smith said.

Members of MSU’s faculty and graduate students have already contacted university officials to voice their displeasure with the Origin Summit.

MSU spokesman Jason Cody Tuesday said members of the university community have spoken out, but the university feels it’s important to allow the event to happen.

“Our overall viewpoint is we are a public university and regardless of what a group’s viewpoint is they have a right to assemble in a public space,” Cody said.

Cody said an advisor for a student group signed off on the Origin Summit coming to MSU and everything appears to have been done properly.

Even though the Origin Summit’s ideas may be at odds with MSU’s scientists and researchers, the university must allow them to speak, Cody said.

“Not everyone is going to agree with everything everyone says,” he said. “We’re a public university and we encourage free speech and academic freedom.”

Smith said the reason the first Origin Summit is coming to MSU is because four Creation Summit board members live within 60 miles of the university. He said Creation Summit didn’t target the university due to Lenski’s research, but that was a pleasant surprise for the organizers.

Offers have been extended to Lenski and Dr. Robert Pennock to debate creationists at the conference. Pennock is a professor in the departments of philosophy, computer science and engineering and ecology, evolutionary biology and behavior and in the Lyman Briggs College. Lenski declined and Pennock has not responded, Smith said.

Smith said he understands why the public wouldn’t want creationism taught in K-12 schools but believes it should be offered at the university level.

“When you get onto the university campus, those students are 18 years old and older,” he said. “They’re young adults and they’re able to think for themselves and they don’t need mom and dad filtering everything at that stage.”

Kyle Feldscher is the Capitol education and MSU reporter for MLive Media Group. Reach him via email at kylefeldscher@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter at @Kyle_Feldscher. Read more stories here.