1 Boring Old Man

When I saw this announcement of the Smithsonian Opening of the David H. Koch Hall, it seemed like a great reason to take a trip to Washington.

Smithsonian Hall of Human Origins chronicles human evolution
Washington Post
Richard Potts
Director, Human Origins Program
March 19, 2010

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has opened a new 15,000-square-foot exhibition hall in honor of its 100th anniversary. The David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins chronicles human evolution over the past 6 million years…

But my next thought was obvious. In the last decade, the resurgence of fundamentalism, creationism,  politicized religion, a renewed divisiveness on this topic that makes Dayton Tennessee’s Scopes Trial seem contemporary rather than historical, had me wondering how is the National Museum, the Smithsonian, going to position itself around these conflicts? As a younger person in a scientific field of endeavor, I thought of evolution and religion as dichotomous. As I’ve gotten older, that distinction seems to have waned for me. I came to see religion as one of the ways people make some personal peace with existence [personal existence] and what we call "nature" [the wonder of it all], and I lost interest in arguing with the other things that often accompany religions – laws, myths, explanations. They didn’t seem to be at the center. And I came to see evolution as something more than theory, a scientific way of looking at the cosmic clock of geological time. But that’s a personal story, and certainly not a view held by a large segment of Americans. So when I was looking at the exhibit’s web site, I was interested to find this:

Human Evolution: Religious Perspectives

^{The Hall of Human Origins offers a welcoming place to explore one of the most exciting areas of science, the study of human evolution. Despite strong public interest in the science, however, many people find this topic troubling when viewed from a religious perspective. Representatives of diverse religious communities encourage a larger, more respectful understanding of both the scientific evidence and religious belief.}

^{Surveys on the public acceptance of evolution indicate that the conflict approach continues to impede public understanding of scientific methods and ongoing discoveries. Looking beyond that, however, the wider variety of perspectives suggests that there is considerable support for maintaining the integrity of religious understandings of the world while embracing the factual basis of evolution, including human evolution, at the same time.}

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^{The exhibition is designed to provide a welcoming place where everyone can explore one of the most exciting areas of science – human origins – by seeing for themselves the fossil and genetic evidence. The Museum understands that visitors will bring to the exhibition many diverse perspectives, including those averse to the topic of evolution. The role of the BSIC is to offer support and advice regarding the public presentation of the science of human origins in light of potential responses by diverse faith communities to the subject of human evolution.}