RELEASE: Atheists Invade Creation Museum

July 9, 2009
For release: immediately upon receipt
Contact: Lyz Liddell, (309) 868-5901 or (309) 208-7565 cell
Lyz(AT)secularstudents(DOT)org

Atheists Invade Creation Museum

COLUMBUS, OH - On Friday, August 7, dozens of atheists will descend on the biblically-inspired Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY, led by outspoken atheist blogger PZ Myers.

"It should be great fun. I've got a long list of questions to ask the docents, so long that I'm going to have to prune it down a lot," said Myers, author of the popular blog Pharyngula and vocal opponent of the Museum's teachings.

The Secular Student Alliance is sponsoring Myers' visit to the Creation Museum as part of its 9th Annual National Conference, leading dozens of secular students and other nonbelievers to more closely examine a worldview with which they largely disagree.

"People often assume that supporters of evolution dismiss creationism without ever actually looking at it," said SSA Senior Campus Organizer Lyz Liddell, the organizer for this event. "We're visiting the museum to show that we aren't afraid of challenges to our worldview."

The Secular Student Alliance supports a network of over 145 student groups composed of atheists, agnostics and other nonbelievers. Leaders of these groups will be converging on Columbus, OH for training and networking during the weekend conference, where Myers will deliver a keynote address.

Myers was already scheduled to speak at the conference when the SSA offered the opportunity to visit the Museum. "They suggested that I adjust my travel schedule a tiny bit and come down a day early, and we'd take a little side trip," said Myers.

Although the group of nonbelievers at the Museum will be large in number, their intent is not to cause a disturbance or disrupt the museum's usual operation. "We are guests, and we will behave in a respectful and courteous manner at the Museum," Liddell states.

The Secular Student Alliance is an educational nonprofit whose mission is to organize, unite, educate and serve students and student communities that promote the ideals of scientific rationality, secularism, democracy, and human-based ethics. Learn more at http://www.secularstudents.org.

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