By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
The most prominent Creation Museum in North America is located in Petersburg, Kentucky, and operated by Answers in Genesis. They interpret Biblical history from a young-Earth creationist perspective.
Other creationist museums exist, including the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, TX, the Creation and Earth History Museum in Santee, CA, the Boneyard Creation Museum in Broken Bow, NE, and the Creation Education Museum at the Akron Fossils & Science Center.
This museum, located west of Akron and south of Cleveland, in Copley, OH, was where I was invited to visit several weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and depth of the exhibits in the museum.
The many extremely well-done exhibits used videos and large interactive displays that covered many topics, including abiogenesis, the source of scientific laws, how fossils are formed, Mount St. Helens catastrophe, the Grand Canyon, and the Ice Age. My guide was a very well-informed, articulate, high school science teacher.
History of the Museum
The Museum, founded by William Sanderson II, opened on May 26, 2005. Sanderson is a former Cincinnati science teacher with a BSc from Miami University in Oxford, OH, and a Master’s from Malone University in Canton, OH.
Their website describes the center as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that exists to provide visitors of all ages with balanced, affordable, and hands-on educational opportunities to explore science, past and present.
Many of the exhibits explored the relationship between science and the Bible. The museum stressed our “beliefs should always be questioned in the light of new information… a healthy amount of skepticism allows for discourse.”
Guests are welcome to walk through the Creation Education Museum at their own pace or with a guide (when planned ahead of time) who can answer their questions.
Visitors are provided with a variety of educational options, including presentations and many hands-on activities. The live animal interactions feature snakes, rats, bearded dragons, guinea pigs, minks, and sugar gliders. One reviewer wrote:
My children & I love this place. We go at least once a year, and I drive 4 & 1/2 hours to get there. It is Very Educational! You get a very personal tour. All your questions are answered. The staff is very friendly. They had great videos & discussions with the children.
For the children, an indoor sand pit with fossils and toy dinosaurs is available for them to dig up. The children can also make their own fossil replicas from a real fossil to take home. The two-acre playground features large wooden dinosaurs and a 200-foot-long zip line. Families of any age can be entertained for hours.
Typical of the few negative reviews by a critic who obviously never visited the center is below:
DON’T GET RIPPED OFF! This is NOT a science center; this is a bible study trying to trick people. Much false information like people coexisting with dinosaurs and the Biblical flood killing them off a few thousand years ago instead of the real mass extinction millions of years ago. If you want biblical mythology, this is your place; if you want real science go to the Cleveland’s Natural History Museum and get some facts.
One response to this critic’s claims was that the Creation Education Museum “questions some scientific theories, but it never pushes the information on you. You read the facts presented and make your own decisions. The people giving negative reviews have closed minds and are not open to other opinions. This place has some of the most interesting things I’ve ever seen.”
The museum presents evidence for human and dinosaur coexistence and the worldwide Flood. That scientific evidence exists for these events is not debated; the debate is “Is the evidence convincing?” The answer is up to the visitor, with the specific imperative “You Decide.”
The museum presents the case for the worldview it supports, and, in the end, the visitors are free to make their own judgments. Although Bible issues were covered, the vast majority of the exhibits cover science topics about which no disagreement exists.
The Wikipedia review of the museum quoted the following Council of Europe statement: Titled “The dangers of creationism in education,” which stated, “Creationism in any of its forms, such as ‘intelligent design’, is not based on facts, does not use any scientific reasoning, and its contents are pathetically inadequate for science classes.” Wikipedia. No friend of creation, in their review of the Creation Education Museum, effectively contradicted the ill-informed Council of Europe claim quoted above, writing that the museum.
“features exhibits displaying the arguments for and against creationism and intelligent design, as well as an exploration of the relationship between science and the Bible. The building also houses several areas with interactive tour stations and activities focused on hands-on science.
“Throughout the year, the facility hosts a variety of educational programs. Some of the programming is targeted toward the religious base that supports the museum’s creationist leanings, while many of the other programs maintain a straightforward, science-based approach. Activities like themed summer camps, presentations about fossilization, live animal shows, birthday parties, and Education Days take the more neutral approach.”
I had visited this museum about a decade ago, and the current establishment is not only three times larger, but also of marked superior quality. It is well worth the short trip there, especially if you have kids. It is only about a three-hour drive from Williams County to the museum, which is located in the northeast corner of Ohio. The Ohio Turnpike takes you within 20 minutes of the museum.
Some of the many exhibits present information and then ask you to decide what you believe.
Dr. Bergman is a multi-award-winning professor and author. Has 9 degrees and has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level for over 40 years. His over 2,100 publications are in both scholarly and popular journals. Dr. Bergman’s work has been translated into 15 languages. He has spoken over 2,000 times to college, university and church groups in America, Canada, Europe, the South Sea Islands, and Africa. He lives in Montpelier and is available to present in churches and schools. Jerry can be reached at JerryBergman30@yahoo.com