A museum where Adam and Eve share exhibit space with dinosaurs is drawing criticism from groups of science educators as it nears completion.
The $27 million Creation Museum, a few miles south of Cincinnati, tells a biblical version of the Earth's history, asserting that the planet is just a few thousand years old and man and the giant lizards once coexisted.
The educators say its exhibits, inspired by the Old Testament, are geared toward children but lack scientific evidence.
"When they try to confuse (kids) about what is science and what isn't science, scientists have an obligation to speak out," said Lawrence Krauss, an author and physics professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
"There's no doubt these are documented lies." Krauss has signed one of two petitions circulated by national groups this week that challenge the facility's exhibits.
The museum, built by the nonprofit ministry Answers in Genesis with private donations, includes a 180-seat special-effects theater, a 40-foot-tall depiction of Noah's Ark and robotic, roaring dinosaurs. The 50,000 square-foot facility in rural Petersburg, Ky., will open to the public on Memorial Day.
Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham said the vast majority of natural history museums and textbooks available to students are devoted to teaching evolution. "And they're worried about one creation museum?" he said. "I think they're really concerned that we're going to get information out that they don't want people to hear."
