Friday, July 04, 2014

New Mexico Museum Seeks Atheists, Slams Christians

After two scientists questioned the objectivity of the taxpayer-funded New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, the state government attempted to coverup its collaboration with atheists from across America in a program to denigrate faith in the Bible as part of the Museum's Darwin Days celebration of faith in godless evolution.
“It is my understanding that the religion clauses of the First Amendment require that states ‘pursue a course of complete neutrality toward religion,’”
-- James Campbell and Michael Edenburn
For background, read Science Limited to Godless Origins at Ball State University and also read Teaching Evolution is Religious Indoctrination, Asserts Lawsuit as well as Parents Sue Kansas to Stop Teaching Secular Humanism as Science

-- From "New Mexico Scientists Fight Taxpayer-Funded Evolution Celebration" posted at KKLA-FM99.5 7/1/14

A flier promoting Darwin Days at the museum in February listed New Mexicans for Science & Reason, Humanist Society of New Mexico, and Freedom From Religion, Albuquerque as museum co-sponsors, stoking the anger of James Campbell and Michael Edenburn. . . . [So they] attended the Darwin Days lectures, found them to be true to their billing, and submitted a Freedom of Information request for emails and documents produced in planning the Darwin Days celebration of the birth and life of evolutionist Charles Darwin.

The documents showed the museum actively solicited and recruited pro-evolution atheist groups to help plan its 2014 Darwin Day events and made no attempt to involve religious groups or those skeptical of Darwinian evolution. The museum worked closely with atheists to plan the Darwin Day events that included anti-religious lectures and attacks against intelligent design and creationism. And once Campbell filed his inquiry with the governor’s office, the planning team attempted to cover up the collaborations and offered false information about what really happened, the scientists said.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "State-Run New Mexico Museum Scrambled to Cover Up Collaboration with Atheistic Groups" by Casey Luskin, Evolution News and Views 6/26/14

Those anti-religious lectures were scheduled to take place at the museum on Wednesday, February 12. But after receiving Campbell's letter, the museum's top staff, including the director, scrambled to find a way to distance itself from the lectures, making it look as if the museum was only sponsoring the Darwin Day events on Sunday, February 9.

For example, on February 7, Debra Novak -- Director of Education at NMMNSH, who was by this point in charge of planning the Darwin Days events -- sent an e-mail to Dave Thomas, president of New Mexicans for Science & Reason (NMSR). She sought to draw up a meeting room contract for NMSR's Darwin Day event, which would hide the fact that they were cosponsoring the event. Instead, she wanted it to look as if NMSR alone was behind the Wednesday night events. Acting, she said, at the request of Charles Walter, the museum's director . . .

Documents produced by a freedom-of-information request show no evidence of such a contract prior to James Campbell's inquiry. Before that, the assumption seemed to be that both the museum and the atheist-skeptic groups were cosponsoring all of the lectures.

To read the extensive documentation of the coverup, CLICK HERE.

Also read Most Americans Reject Godless Theory of Evolution