And NOW, direct from TULSA...!

(story courtesy of oldest son... that makes two nights in a row...! do i have a contributor on my hands...?)

ah, yes, the bible belt... ok, i'm not going to fall prey to stereotypes... i addressed a conference there a few years ago at the behest of a former professional colleague, a lebanese ph.d, and a super guy... there is quite a lebanese community there and his family has been rooted in tulsa for many years... he clued me in on a thriving arts scene, lovely parks and neighborhoods, and some of the best damn art deco architecture in the country, thanks to all the fabulously wealthy oil companies and tycoons that thrived there mid-last century... however, there is this "other side..." ~cough~

The Tulsa Zoo will add a display featuring the biblical account of creation following complaints to a city board about other displays with religious significance, including a Hindu elephant statue.

[...]

Zoo employees, religious leaders and others spoke in opposition, saying religion shouldn't be part of the taxpayer-funded scientific institution.

But those who favored the creationist exhibit, including Mayor Bill LaFortune, argued that the zoo already displayed religious items, including the statue of the Hindu god, Ganesh, outside the elephant exhibit and a marble globe inscribed with an American Indian saying: "The earth is our mother. The sky is our father."

"I see this as a big victory," said Dan Hicks, the Tulsa resident who approached the zoo with the idea. "It's a matter of fairness. To not include the creationist view would be discrimination."

~cough, cough~ ok, well, it's interesting that RELIGIOUS LEADERS SPOKE IN OPPOSITION... at least there's a streak of sanity out there in the heartland... but what's this DISCRIMINATION bullshit...? if anything, the exhibit should be scrubbed as a flat-out INSULT TO ANTHROPOLOGISTS, PALEONTOLOGISTS, BIOLOGISTS, CHEMISTS, AND GEOLOGISTS...

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