The fanatical disciples of the neodarwinist religion tolerate no other faith...

...They are the intellectualoid equivalent of the goat rapists.

Seattle Times: Fossil feud erupts in Kenya

Nairobi — Deep in the dusty, unlit corridors of Kenya's national museum, locked away in a plain-looking cabinet, is one of humankind's oldest relics: Turkana Boy, as he is known, the most complete skeleton of a prehistoric human ever found.

But his first public display later this year is at the heart of a growing storm, one pitting scientists against Kenya's powerful and popular evangelical Christian movement. The debate over evolution versus creationism — once largely confined to the United States — has arrived in a country known as the cradle of humankind.

Now, kiddies, you know I am no fan of protestantism, but Bishop Adoyo deserves at least as much respect as a pile of bones.

"I did not evolve from Turkana Boy or anything like it," says Bishop Boniface Adoyo, head of Kenya's 35 evangelical denominations, which he claims have 10 million followers. "These sorts of silly views are killing our faith."

BTW, the world needs more men named Boniface.

He is calling on his flock to boycott the exhibition and demanded the museum relegate the fossil collection to a back room, along with a notice saying evolution is not a fact, merely one of a number of theories.

Against him is one of the planet's best-known fossil hunters, Richard Leakey, whose team unearthed the bones at Nariokotome in West Turkana, in the far north of Kenya in 1984.

"Whether the bishop likes it or not, Turkana Boy is a distant relation of his," said Leakey, who founded the museum's prehistory department. "The bishop is descended from the apes, and these fossils tell how he evolved."

Not only is Leakey's statement rude and disrespectful, it is ignorant and unscientific. He has no idea who the bishop's ancestors were. Once again, we can detect the odor of politics masquerading as science.

Among the 160,000 fossils due to go on display is an imprint of a lizard left in sedimentary rock, dating 200 million years, at a time the Earth's continents were beginning to separate.

Dinosaur fossils and a bone from an early human ancestor, dating 7 million years, also will be on display, along with the bones of short-necked giraffes and elephants whose tusks protrude from their lower jaws.

They provide the clearest and unrivaled record yet of evolution and the origins of man, scientists say.

The highlight will be the 5-foot-3 Turkana Boy, who died at about age 12 and whose skeleton had been preserved in marshland before its discovery.

It will form the center of the exhibition to open in July after a $10.5 million renovation of the National Museums of Kenya, financed by the European Union (EU). The EU says it has no concerns about the displays and the museum can exhibit what it wishes.

Followers of creationism believe in the literal truth of the Genesis account in the Bible that God created the world in six days.
Adoyo believes the world was created 12,000 years ago, with humans appearing 6,000 years later. He says each biblical day was equivalent to 1,000 Earth years.

Adoyo's evangelical coalition is the only religious group voicing concern about the exhibition.

See the Catholic Encyclopedia's excellent article explaining the One, True Church's teaching on evolution here.

Also see Pope John Paul II's statement about the mistaken idea that faith and science are enemies, Truth Cannot Contradict Truth.

Leakey fears the ideological spat may provoke an attack on the priceless collection, one largely found during the 1920s by his paleontologist parents, Louis and Mary Leakey, who passed their fossil-hunting traditions on to him.

Yeah, like the world is plagued by roving bands of protestant terrorists.

The museum, which attracts about 100,000 visitors a year, is taking no chances.

Turkana Boy will be displayed in a private room, with limited access and behind a glass screen with 24-hour closed-circuit TV. Security guards will be at the entrance.

"There are issues about the security," said Emma Mbua, head of paleontology at the museum. "These fossils are irreplaceable and we wouldn't want anything to happen to them."

Insurance coverage could run into millions of dollars, she added.
Mbua, a Protestant, is a little taken aback at the controversy but has no problems reconciling her faith to the scientific evidence.
"Evolution is a fact," she added.

"Turkana Boy is our jewel," she said. "For the first time, we will be taking him out of the strong room and showing our heritage to the world."