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A. Pedant

 
Creationism comes to Britain

I was astounded to read this in today's Observer.

The latest salvo in creationism's increasingly ferocious battle with evolution is about to be fired in Lancashire. Not in a fiery sermon preached from the pulpit, but in the form of a giant Christian theme park that will champion the book of Genesis and make a multi-media case that God created the world in seven days.

The AH Trust, a charity set up last year by a group of businessmen alarmed by the direction in which they see society heading, has identified a number of potential sites in the north west of England to build the £3.5m Christian theme park.

We mustn't assume that nonsense like this is confined to the US.

Peter Jones, one of the Lancashire theme park's trustees, said the emphasis would be on multimedia rather than the costume re-enactments of famous biblical scenes favoured at Holy Land [Experience]...

[The trust] declined to say who the backers were, but admitted it is talking to a number of businessmen who have invested in city academies, leading to speculation that it may have approached Sir Peter Vardy, who has given millions of pounds to advance the claims of creationism - the belief that God created the world and that Darwin's theory of evolution is wrong.

We all know, don't we, that Peter Vardy has partly financed a city academy that teaches Creationism. The majority of the money comes from the UK taxpayer. Aaargh!

I guess that normal planning rules would apply and that the planning application would be decided on the impact of the development on the area. However, I was pleased to read this bit.

The theme park's anti-evolution bias and its emphasis on Genesis has raised eyebrows among planning officials, according to Jones, who originally wanted to build the park at the site of an old B&Q store but was refused permission by the council.

The buggers will keep trying though. They're bound to find somewhere they can put it.

'Wigan council slammed the door in our faces. You mention the C [Christian] word, and people don't want to know,' Jones said.

Well that's an interesting comment, isn't it? In this case, the aversion is bugger all to do with Christianity. People don't want to know because Creationism is still regarded as lunacy in the UK. But for how much longer…?

Labels: "Christian Theme Park" Evolution, Creationism, Vardy

posted by josh at 8:29 am