A WEEK after the $27 million Creation Museum opened in Kentucky amid great celebration, a far more modest Canadian equivalent opened in Alberta.

Canada's Creation Science Museum is in a 900-square-foot one-story building - which opened June 5, in the small town of Big Valley (population 400), to little fanfare.

In contrast, the Creation Museum opened May 28 in Petersburg, Kentucky with music concerts, balloon rides and a fireworks display. The first day, the museum attracted more than 4,000 visitors, a variety of international media - and some 50 protesters.

Operated by Answers in Genesis (AiG), the 60,000 square-foot facility includes a special-effects theatre, a depiction of a section of Noah's Ark - and animatronic figures showing Adam and Eve with dinosaurs.

AiG founder Ken Ham welcomed the first patrons by emphasizing the museum's over-riding purpose: to help beleaguered Christians defend scripture in an era of increasing skepticism toward the biblical text.

"The purpose of the museum is to use observational science to show that the Bible is true, its history is true and therefore the gospel is true," he said. "There are a lot of PhD scientists who believe what the Bible teaches. Both creationists and evolutionists use the same science, and the same evidence; the difference is our pre-existing beliefs."

Creation Science Museum founder Harry Nibourg is an engineer working in northern Alberta oil fields. He has put some $300,000 of his own money into the museum. It is stocked with fossils, DVDs and books.

While he is not a scientist, Nibourg told BCCN the museum is "based on the work of hundreds of scientists around the world."

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Asked why the U.S. facility is so much larger, he said: "Americans are more passionate about God. We're liberals up here."

His facility is not as well organized as the American one. Hours of operation are flexible, because he relies on volunteers. Still, his little museum attracted national media, and was hotly debated in the Edmonton Journal.

"Christianity and evolution are both faiths," Nibourg asserted. "The question is which faith fits the facts, and which faith fails the facts. Evolution is not a science. Evolutionists have tried and failed for 150 years to prove evolution by science."

The public, he said, "should see both sides of the story." He said he had been asked if his presentations should be available in public schools. "That's up to the people involved. I don't believe public money should be put into something people don't believe."

Not all Christians are enthusiastic about the Big Valley museum. Denis Lamoureux is an 'evolutionary creationist' who teaches at St. Joseph's College in Alberta.

He told BCCN Nibourg and his colleagues are "wonderful Christians," and noted that "people in love with the word of God" are usually behind such initiatives. However, he is convinced someone can believe in both evolution and the resurrection of Jesus.

Lamoureux said he is concerned about the "pastoral implications" for university students who study the sciences - who become convinced there is overwhelming evidence for evolution, and lose their faith. He said evangelical schools and public schools should teach all sides, and clearly distinguish between the scientific evidence and the philosophical issues sometimes associated with them.

He added that the "public preaching of dogmatic atheism" in the name of science by people such as evolutionist Richard Dawkins "does a disservice to science."- Jim Coggins

July 2007