National Trust: “However, not everyone agrees with the scientific view…”

The BBC report that the National Trust have amended the controversial exhibition at the new Giants’ Causeway interpretive centre following their announced review of the materials in the display.  But have they fully addressed the problem?  Not quite. Here’s how the revised controversial section of the transcript now reads Today there is a clear understanding among scientists that the heat of the earth was the driving force behind the formation of the Giant’s Causeway – and that the earth is far older than …

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National Trust: “To ensure that no further misunderstanding or misrepresentation of this exhibit can occur, we have decided to review the interpretive materials in this section.”

As the BBC report, after a fortnight of stonewalling and denials, and temporarily closing comments at their press blog, the National Trust has announced that they intend “to review the interpretive materials” in the controversial section of their Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre.  [Have the Geological Society had a word in their shell-like? – Ed] They’re still blaming everyone else. However, one small part of the visitor centre’s interpretive display has caused mixed reactions, mainly from people reacting to media coverage and …

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Memo to the National Trust…

The “intellectual baboons” behind young-Earth creationism at the National Trust’s Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre are singing your praises in letters to the editor and op-eds in the News Letter ‘Caleb’ had engaged over many months with elected representatives and the National Trust on this. The step taken by the Trust is a small, but welcome, move towards greater inclusivity. [added emphasis] It is though, of itself, significant. For the first time a younger earth interpretation has now been included as part …

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Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre: “The National Trust fully supports the scientific explanation for the creation of the stones 60 million years ago”

Which is fine, but misses the point.  The National Trust continues to try to defend its decision to give in to the lobbying of the Caleb Foundation and include young-Earth creationist beliefs in the Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre.  [Are they after the crank pound? – Ed]  Maybe… and maybe not. Yesterday’s NT press office blog carried this quote A National Trust spokesperson said: “The interpretation in the visitor centre showcases the science of how the stones were formed, the history of …

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Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre: “This is, as far as we are aware, a first for the National Trust anywhere in the UK, and it sets a precedent for others to follow…”

John’s professed concern is misplaced.  As the National Trust press release on the “new state-of-the-art visitor centre” at the Unesco World Heritage Site Giants’ Causeway noted New interactive displays and activities inside the visitor centre include an animation of the legend of Finn McCool and an innovative hand-held audio guide. Such distractions aside, and without access to the material at issue, the quotes in the UTV report from the National Trust raise serious questions. The trust said that the exhibit gives …

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#GiantsCauseway: Fenians lose out to Bible.

*sigh* According to UTV, the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre now includes exhibits that acknowlegde the young-earth Creationist view of how the world-famous stones are formed. Pete has detailed the backstory to this before and others have picked up the creationist lobbying trail around the Ulster Museum. UTV report that The National Trust said it wanted to “reflect and respect” the fact that some people contest the views of mainstream science. With that, the National Trust have now neatly denigrated and rejected centuries …

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News Letter political editor meets Taliban (not really) and survives

The political editor of the News Letter Sam McBride has been to see one of Northern Ireland’s most dangerous men: Wallace Thompson; Chairman of the Council of Reference of the Caleb Foundation (dangerous according to the British Council for Science Education which has christened Caleb the Caleban). Sam seems to have found him somewhat less scary than he is suggested to be. The Caleb Foundation (Caleb was a character in the Old Testament) is a conservative evangelical lobbying group set …

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Interpreting the Giants’ Causeway…

A week or so ago, Will Crawley noted that a fundamentalist campaign group, the Caleb Foundation, were claiming that NI Culture Minister Nelson McCausland’s intervention at the Ulster Museum was as a direct result of their lobbying. On Evening Extra today, a representative of the Foundation [it may have been chairman, Wallace Thompson] confirmed that, encouraged by that ‘success’, they had contacted the NI Tourism Minister, the DUP’s Arlene Foster, seeking a similar ministerial intervention in the consultation over the Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre.  They had a lobbying campaign already underway. It’s worth noting that …

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