# Religious fanatics protest science museum over human evolution exhibit **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 16, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667 "2015-06-16T13:07:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/41 "2015-06-16T19:40:04Z")
Well it is good to see his unique posting habits and ‘argumentation’ is not confined to one topic, but is general. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/42 "2015-06-16T19:42:23Z")
I’m not 100% sure what point the OP is trying to make, but I am pretty sure he’s failing at it. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/43 "2015-06-16T19:51:48Z")
Yeah! or Boo! …whichever is appropriate… it’s not entirely clear. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/44 "2015-06-16T20:26:13Z")
How come when conservatives try to be snide and clever, it comes off sounding so hopelessly smug and inept? ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/45 "2015-06-16T20:35:42Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > How come when conservatives try to be snide and clever, it comes off sounding so hopelessly smug and inept? Because liberals hopelessly clap themselves on the back regardless of how smug and inept they come off. Tone deaf, as it were, just a different tune is playing. So I guess it simply depends on what station you listen to. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/46 "2015-06-16T21:27:53Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > I call them evilutionary theologist and faileontologists. Trademark those before Sarah Palin gets a hold of them! Those are good. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/47 "2015-06-16T22:14:54Z")
> [@FuriousGeorge](#): > > Because liberals hopelessly clap themselves on the back regardless of how smug and inept they come off. Tone deaf, as it were, just a different tune is playing. So I guess it simply depends on what station you listen to. Yeah, that’s why there are all those successful conservative comedians doing political comedy. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/48 "2015-06-16T22:20:29Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Yeah, that’s why there are all those successful conservative comedians doing political comedy. [Wafting, wafting] Everyone loves their own brand, don’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Haberdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Haberdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haberdash)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/49 "2015-06-16T22:31:12Z")
Truly a sad day when a forum devoted to “fighting ignorance” aligns itself with a column of Christians demanding the destruction of an evolution exhibit. Sadder still when it’s looked upon as obvious that this is now the only non-“conservative” position to take. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/50 "2015-06-16T23:09:47Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > Truly a sad day when a forum devoted to “fighting ignorance” aligns itself with a column of Christians demanding the destruction of an evolution exhibit. Sadder still when it’s looked upon as obvious that this is now the only non-“conservative” position to take. It would be, if that was what was actually going on here. But, as usual, you’re just making up arguments to take a position against. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/51 "2015-06-16T23:18:59Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > Truly a sad day when a forum devoted to “fighting ignorance” aligns itself with a column of Christians demanding the destruction of an evolution exhibit. Nope, it is actually very funny to see how your ignorance did bite you in the butt and you still have not noticed, but everybody else does. > [@Haberdash](#): > > Sadder still when it’s looked upon as obvious that this is now the only non-“conservative” position to take. That happens when you double down on your ignorance. That includes also the fact that those Christians really have no power to destroy the exhibit. They will depend on how the Smithsonian will react to their pressure and in the end it will be the decision of the Smithsonian, what is truly asinine is your absurd argument that they are demanding the destruction of it, they do not have that power and they may not convince the Smithsonian. What happened too is that when one sees your OP is that to make a lousy point you decided to be a false witness and tell us that they demanded that “evolution was to be put to a vote” when they did nothing of the sort. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/52 "2015-06-17T01:31:15Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > As pointed many times before the Kochs also give a lot of money to groups that undermine science. I have to admit that watching _Nova_ has become less depressing now that AGW is not featured in every damn episode. Less informative, but less depressing. Maybe Dave can start financing _Nature._ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/53 "2015-06-17T03:13:11Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > I’m not 100% sure what point the OP is trying to make… It’s perfectly simple: If you are against the promotion of bad science by religions (say, fundamentalists promoting creationism) and are also against the promotion of bad science by big business (say, the Koch brothers bribing the Smithsonian into suggesting “global warming ain’t so bad – we can just evolve our way out of the problem”) then you’re an inconsistent hypocrite. Incoherent, but perfectly simple. ---
**Author:** ![Haberdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Haberdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haberdash)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/54 "2015-06-17T03:50:12Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > the Koch brothers bribing the Smithsonian into suggesting "global warming ain’t so bad – we can just evolve our way out of the problem Of course, the exhibit doesn’t actually say any such thing, but far be it from me to try to cram facts into the worldview of a fundamentalist. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/55 "2015-06-17T08:25:16Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > Of course, the exhibit doesn’t actually say any such thing, but far be it from me to try to cram facts into the worldview of a fundamentalist. Of course when you resort to once again being a false witness one should wonder if you do not know who is the fundamentalist. Others that looked at the exhibit like The New Yorker did agree that there are “curious” things that are omitted and that evolution will help humans deal with the problem, no need to control emissions. > **[The Koch Brothers’ Covert Ops](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/30/covert-operations?printable=true)** > > What sets the billionaire brothers apart is the sheer size of their donations to Tea Party issues. > [@](#): > > The David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, is a multimedia exploration of the theory that mankind evolved in response to climate change. At the main entrance, viewers are confronted with a giant graph charting the Earth’s temperature over the past ten million years, which notes that it is far cooler now than it was ten thousand years ago. Overhead, the text reads, “HUMANS EVOLVED IN RESPONSE TO A CHANGING WORLD.” The message, as amplified by the exhibit’s Web site, is that “key human adaptations evolved in response to environmental instability.” Only at the end of the exhibit, under the headline “OUR SURVIVAL CHALLENGE,” is it noted that levels of carbon dioxide are higher now than they have ever been, and that they are projected to increase dramatically in the next century. > > **No cause is given for this development** ; no mention is made of any possible role played by fossil fuels. The exhibit makes it seem part of a natural continuum. The accompanying text says, “During the period in which humans evolved, Earth’s temperature and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere fluctuated together.” An interactive game in the exhibit suggests that humans will continue to adapt to climate change in the future. People may build “underground cities,” developing “short, compact bodies” or “curved spines,” so that “moving around in tight spaces will be no problem.” > > Such ideas uncannily echo the Koch message. The company’s January newsletter to employees, for instance, argues that “fluctuations in the earth’s climate predate humanity,” and concludes, “Since we can’t control Mother Nature, let’s figure out how to get along with her changes.” Others I have looked also reported that the exhibit also omits mentioning of the other evil twin of global warming that is caused nowadays by human CO2 releases: Ocean acidification. The problem is not with evolution, the problem is by not reporting to the ones attending the exhibit that while climate helped in our evolution the current observed changes are going faster than what humans encountered in the past. Evolution may eventually be a solution, but for this issue we do not have the time for that. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/56 "2015-06-17T14:27:27Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > Fossil fuels are used instead of the non-climate-change-inducing, safe, non-polluting nuclear alternative because of a disinformation campaign led by environmentalists, especially Greenpeace. Not even you believe that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/57 "2015-06-17T15:18:00Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > Truly a sad day when a forum devoted to “fighting ignorance” aligns itself with a column of Christians demanding the destruction of an evolution exhibit. Sadder still when it’s looked upon as obvious that this is now the only non-“conservative” position to take. Alternatively, you are an idiot. I’m going with that. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/58 "2015-06-17T15:32:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Alternatively, you are an idiot. I’m going with that. I think you are on to something… ---
**Author:** ![Haberdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Haberdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haberdash)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/59 "2015-06-17T16:03:14Z")
Yes, in the context of an enormous exhibit on human evolution, there is, among thousands of other pieces, an acknowledgement that “HUMANS EVOLVED IN RESPONSE TO A CHANGING WORLD.” This is, in fact, true, and has been a part of evolutionary theory since before you were instructed by Salon to start knowing who David Koch was. Is the left wing just full-on creationist now out of spite? ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667/60 "2015-06-17T16:18:31Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > Of course, the exhibit doesn’t actually say any such thing, but far be it from me to try to cram facts into the worldview of a fundamentalist. The OP and any other hyper-nitpickers are free to replace the text in the second set of parentheses with “say, the Koch brothers bribing the Smithsonian into promoting a speculative theory that human evolution was largely driven by global warming in the cynical hope that museum goers will think ‘global warming ain’t so bad – we can just evolve our way out of the problem.’” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-fanatics-protest-science-museum-over-human-evolution-exhibit/722667.md?page=4)