It wasn’t until I made it to Furman on Monday morning to prepare a final exam that I learned of the latest controversy to hit campus–the vandalism of a display detailing the geological history of the lake. Apparently the placard depicting the “descent of man” was stolen and others that described the natural history of the earth in terms of millions of years were defaced. You can read the story (and comments) here. The comments are not terribly edifying, but they do make clear how virulent the opposition to the scientific world view is. Oh, and don’t worry, although I’ve not seen it personally, I doubt there’s anything in the display that this member of Furman’s Religion Department would take issue with (I won’t presume to speak for my colleagues).
The other fascinating news is the opening of the Creation museum in Kentucky. There was a wonderful article in the NY Times about it but since that won’t remain available for non-subscribers, I will link to the Yahoo News post. The most fascinating tidbit for me–the presence of dinosaurs on Noah’s ark. The museum gets high praise, even from secularists and scientists for the technology and art in the displays, but I’ll confess that in one of the photos I’ve seen, it looks very much like a dinosaur is in a nest of giant golf balls, not eggs.