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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think that if you are going to present intelligent design to children as fact there should be some indication of this?

209 replies

ArmadilloDaMan · 22/10/2007 16:08

Took ds to a zoo today. As it was half term they were running some extra events.

One was a talk on the animals with the chance to bottle feed lambs and to stroke an alligator. So we went.

It was a detailed talk on different kinds of farm animals and things like crops (they are also a working farm) and well aimed to cover all ages of children.

So far so good. Me and dp thought it was a little odd when they showed a donkey and said the cross was the result of Jesus (you probably know the story) and then the slide show changed from pictures of animals to crosses on a hill in the sunset. They presented it as fact rather than an idea, but we thought no more than odd.

Then they started discussing how chickens grow in an egg (with live chicken, baby chick and egg along with slides). All fine (well the picture on the screen of a live chick next to one lying down with the caption - live body, dead body, both the same body- but they didn't talk about it adn the children were too interested in the chicken trying to escape).

However then he started talking about DNA and genomes. And how they are obviously designed. Therefore there must be a designer and that designer is God. Talked for a few minutes on the subject.

As we went around other areas of zoo there were posters on 'why men and apes are not related' and other such topics, but mostly you would need a GCSE level in science to even start to understand them, so again not too bothered about that (anyone of that age knows enough to make their own mind up).

However there is no indication on the advertising stuff that they are even a christian organisation, let alone one that believes in intelligent design. And if like us you did not go into the undercover areas until the talk you would have no idea.

So AIBU to think that they should at least promote this on their leaflets so people are aware and can choose whether or not they want their children introduced to this as fact before they go?

OP posts:
onebadmother · 26/10/2007 21:48

Harpsi see my slightly cross thread AIBU to expect schools to 'do' Atheism.
Your jib looks pretty fine too

DeathByPruners · 26/10/2007 21:54

I can't imagine anyone who'd like a day dedicated to himself more that Richard Dawkins.
Can you imagine the waves of smugness that would encompass the world and no doubt put ships off their course, bring down planes, etc?
And I say that as an ardent fan of the man.

berolina · 26/10/2007 21:58

Love the idea of Enlightenment week, and I'm religious

harpsicorpsecarrier · 26/10/2007 21:59

YES I shall institute World Dawkins Day IMMEDIATELY
it shall be my mission
I may need to discuss it with him, at some length

onebadmother · 26/10/2007 22:04

Droools?? RE\ally?
Actually, can kind of see what you mean. But I'm nearly forty.

onebadmother · 26/10/2007 22:04

Droools?? RE\ally?
Actually, can kind of see what you mean. But I'm nearly forty.

harpsicorpsecarrier · 26/10/2007 22:06

yes I am nearly forty too.
I have a mad crush on him. tbh I am not terrifically sure what he looks like (I don't watch much tv expect Nick Jr ) but I love the way he talks. and writes.

onebadmother · 26/10/2007 22:13

So basically posh, thin and smart and you;re up for it.. okaaay, let's think.
Kevin McCloud? BAMBER GASCOIGNE!!!????

harpsicorpsecarrier · 26/10/2007 22:15

Simon Schama

DeathByPruners · 26/10/2007 22:22

THere's a South Park two parter with Dawkins in it
I could outline the plot but it wouldn't do it justice
(It includes a highly-evolved otter civilsation, that's about as far as I can get...)
Go to allsp.com
Season ten
It's called Go, God, Go

The weird thing is, they clearly had never heard him speak, because they gave him quite a manly timbre

harpsicorpsecarrier · 26/10/2007 22:22

are you saying he doesn't have a manly timbre

DeathByPruners · 26/10/2007 22:25

Very emphatically not
I think his last prog is on Bad Science's blog, or it was at any rate
You can see him getting his feet massaged

onebadmother · 26/10/2007 22:25

Uh huh.

onebadmother · 26/10/2007 22:28

Be warned, atheists always have ugly feet

seeker · 26/10/2007 23:01

OK - Science Week in November, Health and Well Being Week in Summer .....how about Spring for Enlightenment Week?

harpsicorpsecarrier · 26/10/2007 23:05

speak for yourself.
mine are gorgeous.
anyway, alternative Easter.
without the death and torture.

seeker · 26/10/2007 23:06

I am averting my eyes from the discussion of Richard Dawkins as a babe magnet - although I did pause briefly at the mention of Bamber Gascoigne. Tall and posh does it for me as well - sadly Dawkins fails on one out of two. And anyway, he's taken - my mother has fancied him for years and she is 87, so I reckon her need is greater than yours!

seeker · 26/10/2007 23:07

Trouble with Easter is that it's very hard to avoid Pagan overtones. If we're going to be Rationalists we have to go all the way - no occasional lapses into Celtic twilightery.

onebadmother · 26/10/2007 23:47

seeker - hello again
am horrified that dawkins fails on one out of two in the tall and posh stakes!

Are you telling me he is a derwarf?

onebadmother · 26/10/2007 23:49

I think we should not try and hijack anyone else's fest - a bit mean.

How about mid February, when everyone is a bit depressed anyway? Then stick it to 'em! Haha!

onebadmother · 27/10/2007 00:05

Seeker - I must offload this information, because I can't imagine a single other possible scenario in which I could bring this into play other than the strange, strange chance of this weirdoid thread!

I swam in the Thames with Bamber Gascoigne (and others..) when I was about 15! It's true!

EmsMum · 27/10/2007 00:15

I like the idea of an Enlightenment day (not an RD day. His eyebrows give me the creeps).

Trouble is... atheists don't have any quaint traditions. We have a notable dearth of singable ditties. The Devil may have the best music, but god has far too much bad-but-singable stuff and we don't have anything that I can think of.

And actually you know this is a real problem. people seem to have evolved with a need for ceremonies and rituals. which is one of the reasons for continued interest in religions, be it old-style or new age.

harpsicorpsecarrier · 27/10/2007 00:19

the British Humanist Society will provide a celebrant for weddings, funerals and naming ceremonies
but of course we don't want to be told what to say, we are too arsey independent minded for that
but I agree, we need to fulfill that human need

CassandraMT · 27/10/2007 00:23

Here I am Pruners. Sorry, been out on the lash. But well argued ? with MB too!

onebadmother · 27/10/2007 00:28

Theme tune: If you're happy and you know it clap your hands?

That's kind of what it all comes down to for us Atheists, isn't it?