Kenyan Bastards!

[dworkin]

Linkoid

The world's most important collection of human fossils may soon be hidden from public view - if religious leaders get their way.
In a move that has stunned scientists, senior clergy have demanded that the bones and skulls currently exhibited in Nairobi's National Museum of Kenya be removed from display to prevent young Africans from being corrupted.

'It's creating a big weapon against Christians that's killing our faith,' said Bishop Boniface Adoyo, who is leading the hide-the-bones campaign. 'When children go to museums they'll start believing we evolved from these apes.' Not surprisingly, the bishop's remarks have infuriated scientists who consider the museum's collection to be unrivalled anywhere else in the world. Its fossils include those of the 4 million-year-old apeman, Australopithecus anamensis, the 1.5 million-year-old remains of the Nariokotome boy, the most complete skeleton of an ancient human ever found, and a series of other bones that highlight crucial phases of our evolutionary past.

Many of these fossils were discovered by palaeontologists Louis and Mary Leakey in areas around Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana and are generally regarded as providing stark demonstrations of how our species was shaped by natural selection.

Their son, Richard Leakey, and his wife Maeve, have continued this fossil-hunting tradition. They too have been dismayed by the bid to suppress the museum's fossils. 'The church is being ridiculous,' said Richard Leakey. 'Its leaders are out of step. Evolution theory is accepted across the world. This is scientific history and Kenya has the best of this evolutional history. Globally, few can match that claim to fame.'

The National Museum of Kenya is currently preparing to reopen next year after completing massive EU-funded renovations. As part of that work a special exhibit, The Origins Of Man, which displays the key finds around Africa's Great Rift Valley - considered by many the cradle of humanity - is now being set up.

However, it is this display that African evangelicals say they find offensive, because it promotes Darwin's theory of evolution. As a result, they are demanding that the display be removed or at least shunted to a less prominent location.

'When museums put it out there that man evolved from apes, theologically they are affecting many people who are Christians, who believe God created us,' says Bishop Adoyo, the chairman of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, which claims to represent churches of 35 denominations with nine million members.

Bastards! Utter, utter bastards!

[Cao Cao]

So basically this guy is admitting that creationism doesn't have a leg to stand on so he wants all evidence against it banned?
We have a real winner here.

[CaptJodan]

Linkoid

'When museums put it out there that man evolved from apes, theologically they are affecting many people who are Christians, who believe God created us,' says Bishop Adoyo, the chairman of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, which claims to represent churches of 35 denominations with nine million members.

Bastards! Utter, utter bastards!

At least they had the decency to throw in possibly the most common strawman creationists use on evolution.

[JLTucker]

You know, if their faith was strong enough, such museums would not bother them.

[Cao Cao]

Still, what better promotion for a museum exhibit than for an ignorant fundie to declare that it threatens to topple the house of cards his faith is built on?

[CaptJodan]

I have this bad feeling that some asshole in that community will go out and try and destroy/steal/otherwise attempt to get rid of the artifacts within the museum. I hope they have good security. They're fairly priceless artifacts.

[SpacedTeddyBear]

'When children go to museums they'll start believing we evolved from these apes.'

Yes, because believing that we were created from a mound of dirt is so much more better.

[Seggybop]

The article doesn't indicate that anyone in charge is actually listening to these guys. Considering that it says the museum is receiving massive funding from the EU, I doubt that these rantings will have any effect.

[Stuart Mackey]

This holds no surprise. Religions always try to control artifacts, information and their release into schools and institutions of learning. Young minds can be manipulated .

In controlling information, an organization can mold perception, and therefore reality, to its own ends, and this is why dictatorships/religions of all stripes hate things like the internet, radio, TV and so on.
They cannot spin to their own advantage that which they cannot control.
Loss of control, above all else, means loss of power, the thing they crave most.

An ignorant mind is a Godly mind.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Cry me a fucking river, you fundie assholes.

Whenever I feel I can't get more disgusted by creationists, something new happens.

[Shroom Man 777]

Gah, why does every fucked up thing happen in Africa? Oh, right. Because It Is Not Safe In Africa.

[JLTucker]

This holds no surprise. Religions always try to control artifacts, information and their release into schools and institutions of learning. Young minds can be manipulated.

That is completely true. I was converted to Christianity when I was in the sixth grade. I believed in God up until my senior year in high school. I eventually told my parents that they cannot make me attend church if I do not want to go. They stopped trying. Even though I did not attend church, I still believed in God and had numerous conversations defending Christian beliefs. But that all changed when a member of SDN showed me the facts and that believing in a "sky pixie" is absurd and not to mention, fucking retarded.

[Rye]

Ahahah, the preacher's name is "Boniface" and he hates fossilised bones, many of which are likely faces! Oh, and woe unto him, also.

[Lagmonster]

I'm always amused at the brazen attitudes of these types. They won't display the bones, because they're offensive. And they won't destroy, give away, or sell the bones because they're far too valuable a part of Kenyan ecological history.

These guys are like a kid holding a priceless baseball trading card depicting a player for a team that he really, truly hates.

[FaxModem1]

Well, place your bets. How many protesters are gonna line up at the museum declaring the place an unholy base of the devil.

Wait, I'm sorry, that's what American fundies would do.