Further to: Darwin event at museum scuttled when some engineers ask for equal time for ID, here is a story from the Albuquerque Journal:
Museum plunged into evolution, religion debate
Advocates of “intelligent design” say the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science preferred to cancel Darwin Days events rather than provide an opportunity to present an alternative theory of evolution.
Not so, said Mary Ann Hatchitt, communications director for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the state’s museums.
“There was nothing to cancel because there were no Darwin Days events planned or scheduled” for 2015, she said.
A public records request told a different story:
The emails provided via the IPRA request and shared with the Journal by Edenburn show museum staffers and volunteers were involved in scheduling the speakers; that the fliers were printed and posted with the approval and knowledge of museum staffers; that museum administrators tried to distance themselves as sponsors by asking groups to list the museum as a location “and don’t even use the word hosted”; and that organizers of Darwin Days were under the impression it would become an annual community event hosted by the museum. More.
Surely it would have, had no one complained.
Darwin’s followers, especially the new atheists who were swanning around the publicly funded event, are going to have to limit citizens’ and taxpayers access to public records, right? Such requests create needless contentions about the use of public money. 😉
In any event, the headline is curiously ambiguous: “Museum plunged into evolution, religion debate.” Does this mean “was plunged” or “chose to plunge”? The former would be an innocent mistake; the latter appears correct.
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