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Taking children for a ride
by David Mills, Guardian
Thanks to Linda Ward Selbie for the link.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_mills/2007/12/taking_children_for_a_ride.html
Taking children for a ride
Will a theme park based on Biblical tales of rape, incest and mass murder, really help to reform our violent, binge-drinking youth?
Our society is fast plummeting downhill. Our cities are plagued by a gang culture perpetrated by kids with guns. Youngsters binge drink in our streets and parks. There is too much sex and violence on television. God has deserted us, and we must bring him back. Or rather that is what a group of rich evangelical businessmen are going to spend £3.5m on, as they plan to create a Christian theme park to trump their creationist cause and decry evolution.
Led by AH Trust, a charity that makes Christian films, the idea is to find a site somewhere in the northwest of England and build a £3.5m theme park to tell the story of Genesis. Rollercoasters and ghost trains on railways surrounded by devils with red-hot pokers travelling to hell (and back?) spring to mind, but this park will, in actual fact, be a multimedia extravaganza, featuring two interactive cinemas and a television recording studio.
The AH Trust says: "On television today there is so much sex and violence, it is no wonder our youth are binge drinking ... this is a revolutionary scheme requiring innovative people with the vision to bring about change and a new direction." As Richard Dawkins would probably say, only the religious mind could make such a link without substantiating it in any way. Although the trust correctly identifies that there is a drinking problem endemic in the culture of young people today, to believe that by providing religion as an alternative so that youngsters will put down the White Lightning and pick up a bible, seems quite naive and out of touch.
The charity believes that to save our society, we need to tell youngsters the story of Genesis. Apparently, this is just the moral guidance young people have been lacking. Will this therefore entail the interactive telling of the story of Noah, and how God decided to drown the world? Will it go a step further and interpret the floods that hit the UK last summer or more recently Bangladesh, or, as one Presbyterian church minister said, the tsunami just three years ago this month, as punishment from God?
To correct the wrongs of society, perhaps the theme park - using its multimedia to maximum effect - will tell the story of how Lot was prepared to give up his daughters to the Sodomites and eventually slept with them himself? Is it appropriate moral guidance to show how Abraham was going to kill his son because God ordered him to? Will it also tell the story of Cain killing his brother Abel? How will tales of rape, incest, infanticide, fratricide and mass homicide become the antidote to binge drinking and a society that watches too much sex and violence on television? Theologians would say they are not meant to be taken literally but how are they meant to be taken? Are these the kind of family models we want "our youth" to look up to?
This clique of rich creationists believes that by paying millions of pounds they can brainwash youngsters with pieces of Christian fundamentalism and cure society of its ills. This cannot be right nor can it possibly work. Would the deaths of the likes of Damilola Taylor, Rhys Jones, Garry Newlove, Ernest Norton, and more recently David Nowak have been avoided had the £3.5m gift of God been in place at a theme park in Lancashire? One thinks not. The main motivation of the theme park is to point society in the right direction. But surely religion shouldn't be and is incapable of being its saviour.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_mills/2007/12/taking_children_for_a_ride.html
Taking children for a ride
Will a theme park based on Biblical tales of rape, incest and mass murder, really help to reform our violent, binge-drinking youth?
Our society is fast plummeting downhill. Our cities are plagued by a gang culture perpetrated by kids with guns. Youngsters binge drink in our streets and parks. There is too much sex and violence on television. God has deserted us, and we must bring him back. Or rather that is what a group of rich evangelical businessmen are going to spend £3.5m on, as they plan to create a Christian theme park to trump their creationist cause and decry evolution.
Led by AH Trust, a charity that makes Christian films, the idea is to find a site somewhere in the northwest of England and build a £3.5m theme park to tell the story of Genesis. Rollercoasters and ghost trains on railways surrounded by devils with red-hot pokers travelling to hell (and back?) spring to mind, but this park will, in actual fact, be a multimedia extravaganza, featuring two interactive cinemas and a television recording studio.
The AH Trust says: "On television today there is so much sex and violence, it is no wonder our youth are binge drinking ... this is a revolutionary scheme requiring innovative people with the vision to bring about change and a new direction." As Richard Dawkins would probably say, only the religious mind could make such a link without substantiating it in any way. Although the trust correctly identifies that there is a drinking problem endemic in the culture of young people today, to believe that by providing religion as an alternative so that youngsters will put down the White Lightning and pick up a bible, seems quite naive and out of touch.
The charity believes that to save our society, we need to tell youngsters the story of Genesis. Apparently, this is just the moral guidance young people have been lacking. Will this therefore entail the interactive telling of the story of Noah, and how God decided to drown the world? Will it go a step further and interpret the floods that hit the UK last summer or more recently Bangladesh, or, as one Presbyterian church minister said, the tsunami just three years ago this month, as punishment from God?
To correct the wrongs of society, perhaps the theme park - using its multimedia to maximum effect - will tell the story of how Lot was prepared to give up his daughters to the Sodomites and eventually slept with them himself? Is it appropriate moral guidance to show how Abraham was going to kill his son because God ordered him to? Will it also tell the story of Cain killing his brother Abel? How will tales of rape, incest, infanticide, fratricide and mass homicide become the antidote to binge drinking and a society that watches too much sex and violence on television? Theologians would say they are not meant to be taken literally but how are they meant to be taken? Are these the kind of family models we want "our youth" to look up to?
This clique of rich creationists believes that by paying millions of pounds they can brainwash youngsters with pieces of Christian fundamentalism and cure society of its ills. This cannot be right nor can it possibly work. Would the deaths of the likes of Damilola Taylor, Rhys Jones, Garry Newlove, Ernest Norton, and more recently David Nowak have been avoided had the £3.5m gift of God been in place at a theme park in Lancashire? One thinks not. The main motivation of the theme park is to point society in the right direction. But surely religion shouldn't be and is incapable of being its saviour.
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Posted: Sunday, December 23, 2007 | PermalinkComments 1 - 24 of 24 |
Reload Comments | Back to Top | Page Numbers2. Comment #102767 by dobiemum on December 23, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Its ironically pleasing to see these people putting their money into a 'black hole'Other Comments by dobiemum
3. Comment #102783 by SurfDude on December 23, 2007 at 4:17 pm
The trouble with this kind of nonsense is that after it opens and the chorus of laughter dies down (as it inevitably does), they will still be there, staunchly immune to ridicule, trotting out their infantile agenda. We don't treat cancer by laughing at it, we blast it with chemotherapy or simply cut it out whenever it surfaces. Creationism is a cancer and needs to be dealt with accordingly.
Other Comments by SurfDude
4. Comment #102825 by Matt7895 on December 23, 2007 at 5:43 pm
The charity believes that to save our society, we need to tell youngsters the story of Genesis. Apparently, this is just the moral guidance young people have been lacking. Will this therefore entail the interactive telling of the story of Noah, and how God decided to drown the world? Will it go a step further and interpret the floods that hit the UK last summer or more recently Bangladesh, or, as one Presbyterian church minister said, the tsunami just three years ago this month, as punishment from God?
To correct the wrongs of society, perhaps the theme park - using its multimedia to maximum effect - will tell the story of how Lot was prepared to give up his daughters to the Sodomites and eventually slept with them himself? Is it appropriate moral guidance to show how Abraham was going to kill his son because God ordered him to? Will it also tell the story of Cain killing his brother Abel? How will tales of rape, incest, infanticide, fratricide and mass homicide become the antidote to binge drinking and a society that watches too much sex and violence on television? Theologians would say they are not meant to be taken literally but how are they meant to be taken? Are these the kind of family models we want "our youth" to look up to?
I like this journalist simply from those two paragraphs.
Other Comments by Matt7895
5. Comment #102834 by tybowen on December 23, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Sex, drugs, rock and roll, and science! Now that sounds like a good time. I wish they had combined when i was a youth...wait, I'm 21....And let me know if I'm wrong, but don't a number of religions use alcohol/drugs in their ceremonies? Other Comments by tybowen
6. Comment #102839 by joeyoap on December 23, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Living in the NW as I do I would have to visit what sounds like the comedy event of the century.Other Comments by joeyoap
7. Comment #102845 by Rtambree on December 23, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Let them built a monument to their idiocy if they want to (provided it's not taxpayer supported). I can't see it being commercially viable in England and it'll be a nice focus to everyone sharpening their comedy skills.Other Comments by Rtambree
8. Comment #102876 by robotaholic on December 23, 2007 at 7:53 pm
haha, you're country not mine for a change lol :P -after they open I hope it gets overran with homosexuals and lesbians :)sort of like disney land has a gay day Other Comments by robotaholic
9. Comment #102894 by cyris8400 on December 23, 2007 at 8:30 pm
For a second I thought this was written by the author of "Atheist Universe", David Mills, but the pic of the guy is not him.Other Comments by cyris8400
10. Comment #102906 by communsensetoldme on December 23, 2007 at 9:13 pm
i truly believe this will be ultimatly just a kind of park/museum of christian religion some day...at least i hope so...sorry for my bad english :S.
Other Comments by communsensetoldme
11. Comment #102915 by rod-the-farmer on December 23, 2007 at 11:31 pm
The similar theme park in the U.S. claims to have LOTS of paying visitors, and may be, for all I know, on the way to breaking even or making a profit. It would be most gratifying to hear that the UK version of this comic opera falls on its nose, financially. The more the goddidit crowd spend on this sort of foolishness, the less they have to spend on things that really do harm, like promoting ID in schools. There is a definite need for the U.S. to hear that their brand of non-science has no takers in other educated societies. Other Comments by rod-the-farmer
12. Comment #102922 by icanus on December 24, 2007 at 12:44 am
Nice article. Good to see some sense in the press on the topic of religion.As to the park itself, £3.5 million for a "multimedia extravaganza" including a TV studio? These people really have lost track of reality even more than I thought.
For that, the best they'll do is a projector in a refurbished aircraft hangar, and a couple of camcorders and folding chairs. At this rate they won't even be able to afford enough Bananas and Peanut Butter to star in their videos.
Some theme parks annually spend more than this extravaganza's whole budget just on cleaning up the vomit (far better than using it to spread it around).
Other Comments by icanus
13. Comment #102925 by epeeist on December 24, 2007 at 12:45 am
Comment #102845 by Rtambree
Let them built a monument to their idiocy if they want to (provided it's not taxpayer supported). I can't see it being commercially viable in England and it'll be a nice focus to everyone sharpening their comedy skills.
If Disney (another evil organisation) doesn't consider a theme park viable in the UK then what hope of these people got? Plus the fact that they would be competing against Alton Towers if they put it in the NW of England.
Nevertheless, something to keep a watching brief on, especially if they try to set it up as a charity.
Other Comments by epeeist
14. Comment #102926 by Verylee on December 24, 2007 at 12:53 am
The underfunding and the appeal to religion strikes me to be more of a tax dodge than any social concerns that the millionaire businessmen may have. Other Comments by Verylee
15. Comment #102927 by Flagellant on December 24, 2007 at 1:00 am
Conversely, though, it's nice to see the Natural History Museum making a serious attempt at a scientific exhibit... and in Dubai, too: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3087321.ece God is grott, merdeiful.
Other Comments by Flagellant
16. Comment #102977 by action1976 on December 24, 2007 at 5:14 am
God has deserted us, and we must bring him back. Or rather that is what a group of rich evangelical businessmen are going to spend £3.5m on, as they plan to create a Christian theme park to trump their creationist cause and decry evolution.Well if some rich Evangelical Businessmen whish to waste there money on this ridicolous theme park then i really couldn't care less,as long as the British Taxpayer is not left with the bill,
I don't think that this will even get off the planning stages espcially when they have only 311 quid in the bank.
And if a lot of money was ploughed into this i can't really see it making a profit i don't think many Christians in the UK would really take their families to this.
Other Comments by action1976
17. Comment #103108 by LeroiJones on December 24, 2007 at 10:06 am
Perhaps we should all go for a nice day out there when it's open. I'd be a laugh! We could indulge in a spot of binge drinking to make it funnier. Other Comments by LeroiJones
18. Comment #103184 by Goodwithwood on December 24, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Wow! You Brits sure got some crazy freakish nutters over there. Other Comments by Goodwithwood
19. Comment #103188 by Goodwithwood on December 24, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Too tell the truth. Europe has been laughing at the US's nutters for so long that I can't help but point my finger at Britain and exclaim "HAAAAAW Haaaaaw"!GWW
Other Comments by Goodwithwood
20. Comment #103191 by notsobad on December 24, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Goodwithwood,idiots are everywhere and aplenty. This particular kind of idiocy spreads from the US though.
Other Comments by notsobad
21. Comment #103198 by Goodwithwood on December 24, 2007 at 1:13 pm
These idiots migrated from Britain, burned some witches and then were separated by a wall between church and state. Or so we thought. Other Comments by Goodwithwood
22. Comment #103200 by Roger Stanyard on December 24, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Yep, I don't think anyone in Britain should now be laughing at the USA. We have, in Britain, a politicl party whose leaders are creationist religious fundamentalists and who have spent four decades helping wreck their part of the world. It's the democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland. The fundamentalists in Northern Ireland are evry big as extreme, if not more so, than their American counterparts. They are also exceedingly well organised - that's why they hold power in NI. They've been organising the Orange Order as a creationist movement.Moreover, thanks partly to the efforts of the British Centre for Science Education th creationists on the mainland of the UK are unwilling to show their faces. My guess is that is this is the reason why the husband and wife team behind the plan for Wigan won't disclose who is backing them.
As soon as they reveal their faces, it is usually dead easy to show that they are extremists and/or bonkers. As we have found out with Northern Ireland.
Other Comments by Roger Stanyard
23. Comment #103225 by russkid on December 24, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I only got as far as the part about drinking.. at which point i put together a vodka+redbull and soon forgot about this article.Other Comments by russkid
24. Comment #103828 by ianmac66 on December 27, 2007 at 1:30 am
GoodwithwoodAmerica is an asylum run by the inmates
If you need proof of this, look at George W.
Other Comments by ianmac66
Over 1.5 million copies sold
Books by Richard Dawkins
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by Richard Dawkins
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The Ancestor's Tale
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Unweaving the Rainbow
by Richard Dawkins
1. Comment #102759 by pw201 on December 23, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Once again, this is a non-story. The AH Trust is, as far as I can tell, run out of someone's living room by a husband and wife team, and apparently has the grand sum of £311 in its fund. Journalists should do some basic research on them (Charity Comission, whois on their domains, etc) before equating trumpeting the downfall of civilisation. What I found is on my blog at http://pw201.livejournal.com/84986.htmlOther Comments by pw201