[geek][politics] You see, that's why we call them science museums

If it's called a science museum, why are they afraid of their communities' reaction to science? I picked this up by way of dKos, which in turn got it from an NY Times article (free registration required to access the page), but here's the upshot: a dozen or so Imax theatres at science museums around the country are refusing to air a movie about volcanos... because it dares to present current scientific facts about the origins of life.

"Volcanoes," released in 2003 and sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation and Rutgers University, has been turned down at about a dozen science centers, mostly in the South, said Dr. Richard Lutz, the Rutgers oceanographer who was chief scientist for the film. He said theater officials rejected the film because of its brief references to evolution, in particular to the possibility that life on Earth originated at the undersea vents. Carol Murray, director of marketing for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, said the museum decided not to offer the movie after showing it to a sample audience, a practice often followed by managers of Imax theaters. Ms. Murray said 137 people participated in the survey, and while some thought it was well done, "some people said it was blasphemous." In their written comments, she explained, they made statements like "I really hate it when the theory of evolution is presented as fact," or "I don't agree with their presentation of human existence."

Okay - what else would you expect from a SCIENCE MUSEUM!? Um... how about... SCIENCE! Reason #9,421,653 "Why I should not live in the Deep South" Catgories: geek; politics (tryin' sumthin' new here...)