No Lewis I think people can see exactly where you are coming from

Lewis Houston also posted

If he can show me where one can read in the Bible, and Genesis particularly, where a view of evolution is portrayed – then I stand corrected.Can he?

Exactly Lewis, Exactly

But I dont think thats te issue is it?
The truth is that in your letter to the newspaper you stated that the five words you complained about were “The biblical view of evolution”
I dont think any ones is denying that this is a badly worded statement. I have even stated tat one can more have a biblical view of evolution than one can have a biblical view of quantum mechanics.

The point is that te phrase “The biblical View of evolution was NOt the phrase that was covered up. Whjat was covered up was the part which talked about how Darwin came up with the theory of evolution.

A ccouncil spkesman (I have been told its William Brown by the council)have said I am mistaken on this, but if anyone wants to see the board they can visit Northampton
museum and due to discoloration see what was covered up. I am also in the process of receiving from the Chronicle and Echo the photograph of the board when it was covered up, thus showing the museum spokesman that he is indeed wrong.

Its also a bit bizarre that (If he is indeed the spokesman) that he is saying this when I stood with him and pointed this out.

Gary Arthur

They agreed to cover the paragraph containing the two phrases ‘the biblical view of evolution’ and ‘the Genesis view of evolution’ as a temporary act as the display was due for replacement and it would be adjusted properly then. I understand this was what happened and this was reported as so in the original article in the Chron & Echo which relates the text covered.

I think that if Gary Arthur believes that readers will ‘see what has really taken place’ he is in the cloud cuckoo land of conspiracies.
If he can show me where one can read in the Bible, and Genesis particularly, where a view of evolution is portrayed – then I stand corrected.Can he?

Until then lets not misuse the term censorship when correction is meant.

Gary needn’t just keep an eye on the Northants Creation Group, they have public meetings every two months on the 3rd Saturday evening at the Abbey Centre in Northampton. The next one is on the 20th. So he can go and both see and hear! There is always an open Q&A time for anyone to ask or argue.

“The Biblical View of Creation”

Was not the part that was covered up. What was covered up was the part that talked about how Darwin came up with the idea of Evolution. (Although i think they mean natural selection).

A Spokesman for Northampton Council stated that this was not the case. However for anyone that visits the museum they can clearly see where the board has been covered up due to the fact that the board has gone brown where it was censored all these years.

I have phoned Northampton Council to speak to this so called spokesman and try to get an apology, and they are going to call me back, but I expect that this spokesman will be as illusionary as the letter that Mr Houston sent to the Museum that neither sender nor museum have produced.

Which would of course shown the innocents in all this. but of course its never materialised. Now i dont know about you, but having worked in management (NHS) one tends to file letters of complaint. Obviously the museum service don’t.

The good thing that has come out of this is that i think anyone reading the chronicle and echo will be able to see what has really taken place, and I for one will be keeping an eye on the Northants Creation Group and their activities.

Just as a side note, I have contacted the Northants secular society on a number of occasions by e mail and left messages on their answer machine and so far no contact. so it might be down to myself to start a secular society in Northamptonshire.

Gary Arthur

Any limitations in size are to do with funding for the high quality displays the public expect and not a lacking in material.

It must by definition be a very small museum then.

What did I see, an evolutionary based display in one of the exhibits. I see and read them all the time, they are commonplace and I don’t for one minute think that my personal opinions about them are likely to influence the like of the local museum displaying them. It would take a significant change in the educational/scientific world for that to be even likely.
What did I see after they blocked out the few sentences around the phrases I queried? An evolutionary based display!
I was initally told that the displays were due to be replaced and the text would be rectified then. Knowing NBC budgets I said that I was all for saving tax payers money but perhaps something temporary could be done. I thought their suggestion to cover over the part they did was reasonable. I haven’t seen it since so as to why it remained for so long in this temporary state – ask NBC.
I stand by my view that the text was inaccurate and it doesn’t matter if you label me a creationist, a Christian, a Cobblers supporter or whatever – the comment still stands. I didn’t challenge the Chapman’s motives in raising the issue because he could be an evolutionist, a member of the secular society or his surname begins with ‘c’ – either he has a point of he doesn’t. I think he had as I was surprised to hear the display was still in that state after all this time.
As a citizen I have every right to point out what I perceive to be an error in a public display, especially when I help to fund it.
Mr Stanyard may want to note that the Creation Science Museum in Portsmouth seeks to give a viable, visual, scientific explanation of the Bible’s account of creation. The Catholic Church seeks to marry what they see as the Bible’s account of initial creation with a subsequent evolutionary process.
Creationist motives, phrases such as underlying agendas and being economical with the truth are simply being used to justify ignoring the actual point I made and crying ‘wolf’ about other areas of concern to the correspondents.

Currently your coverage seems to be making out that this is alot of fuss about nothing, while once again this is really an underhand attempt by the Creationist Fundamentalist lobby to subvert the education establichment and promote a catalogue of demonstrable falsehoods onto the children of this country as ‘The Truth’. This is something which should be highlighted, protested about and stopped at every opportunity.

It is nothing of the sort. The Northants Creation group flatly states that on a literal interpretation of the Bible, evolution is wrong. That IS the Biblical view of evolution of the organisation. It is not about creation or the creator. It is about denying evolution because it does not fit with their interpretation of the Bible.

Houston might have had a case if he believed in mainstream Christian viewpoints on this such as that of the Catholic Church but he doesn’t.

Many religious believers accept or believe that God may have created the universe but left everything alone after that or “seeded” the earth with life some 3.5 billion years ago (an alternative to abiogenesis explanations) but most do not accept that God created major species out of nothing six thousand years ago – which is what Houston is publicly promoting.

Common origins is central to the theory of evolution. His iblical viewpoint denies it. Therefore it is a Biblical position on and explanation of evolution.