Smithsonian cashes in it's credibility

Smithsonian to Screen a Movie That Makes a Case Against Evolution

By John Schwartz
New York Times
Saturday, May 28, 2005

Fossils at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum
of Natural History have been used to prove the theory of
evolution. Next month the museum will play host to a film
intended to undercut evolution.

The Discovery Institute, a group in Seattle that supports
an alternative theory, "intelligent design," is
announcing on its Web site that it and the director of
the museum "are happy to announce the national premiere
and private evening reception" on June 23 for the movie,
"The Privileged Planet: The Search for Purpose in the
Universe."

The film is a documentary based on a 2004 book by
Guillermo Gonzalez, an assistant professor of astronomy
at Iowa State University, and Jay W. Richards, a vice
president of the Discovery Institute ....

[...]

The museum, he said, offers its Baird Auditorium to many
organizations and corporations in return for
contributions - in the case of the Discovery Institute,
$16,000.

[...]

Evolution has become a major battleground in the culture
wars, with bitter debates in legislatures and school
boards, national parks and museums. Although Charles
Darwin's theory is widely viewed as having been proved by
fossil records and modern biological phenomena, it is
challenged by those who say that it is flawed and that
alternatives need to be taught.

When asked whether the announcement on the Discovery
Institute's Web site meant to imply that the museum
supports the film and the event, Mr. Chapman replied:

"We are not implying in any sense that they endorsed the
content, but they are co-sponsoring it, and we are
delighted. We're not claiming anything more than that.
They certainly didn't say, 'We're really warming up to
intelligent design, and therefore we're going to sponsor
this.' "

.

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