From Saturday’s L.A. Times comes news that creationists are buying up the old roadside dinosaurs and turning them into intelligent design adverts–most recently the 45-foot tall apatosaurus and his buddy T-rex that call Cabazon home:
The Cabazon Dinosaurs join at least half a dozen other roadside
attractions nationwide that use the giant reptiles’ popularity in
seeking to win converts to creationism. And more are on the way."We’re putting evolutionists on notice: We’re taking the dinosaurs
back," said Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, a Christian group
building a $25-million creationist museum in Petersburg, Ky., that’s
already overrun with model sauropods and velociraptors.
The shift of the evolution/ID debate to something as ridiculous and surreal as the concrete dinosaurs of the desert may be par for the course these days. But what I thought was most interesting is the real battle mentality espoused:
"They’re used to teach people that there’s no God, and they’re
used to brainwash people," he said. "Evolutionists get very upset when
we use dinosaurs. That’s their star."
Almost sounds as if it’s less about teaching people about your side, and more about pissing off the other guy. Maybe it’s just me, but that quote makes the whole thing sound more two rival universities, discussing annual pranks leading up the big game.
{via Boing Boing}