Council accused of 'censoring' evolution exhibition » Education » 24dash.com

The National Secular Society has written to a local council protesting against the "censorship" of an evolution exhibition, it said today.

Part of an information board about Darwin was covered up at the Abington Park Museum, Northampton, after a complaint about the wording.

Northampton Borough Council claimed it was better to obscure the wording rather than spend taxpayers' money on a new one, but has today announced it will replace the whole board.

It was alleged by a visitor to the museum that the text had been covered up after a complaint on religious grounds.

Northampton resident Andy Chapman told the Northampton Chronicle he had noticed it on a visit on the Bank Holiday weekend.

He said: "Our suspicions were confirmed by staff, who told us that following a complaint from a single religious fundamentalist, the museum had been instructed to cover up the offending statement."

Today National Secular Society president Terry Sanderson offered to buy a new board, providing only the syntax was changed, claiming any censorship was a form of "intellectual child abuse".

He said: "This is a publicly-funded museum and should not be pandering to the growing tide of obscurantism that makes up the creationist movement.

"The Council of Europe is so concerned about the growing pressures of schools to teach creationism in science lessons it has launched an inquiry.

"The museum has a duty to uphold science. Hiding the facts of evolution from children is a form of intellectual child abuse.

"The National Secular Society has offered to pay for a replacement information board with corrected grammar, but otherwise unaltered."

The exhibition explains how Darwin used the study of fossils in coming up with his theory of evolution.

An information board included the paragraph: "He used the same layers of fossils that had supported the Genesis view of evolution to show the slow changes that are taking place over the millennia of earth history, each small change enabling a species to the rigours of it's (sic) environment - the struggle for survival through natural selection leading to the survival of the fittest."

In a letter to the council, Mr Sanderson said: "Visitors to the museum are entitled to a better explanation of Darwin's world-shaping idea than the bowdlerised version you have on display at present."

But today Northampton Borough Council denied the issue had been anything to do with censorship.

A spokesman said the display had been up since 1994 and they had received a comment several years ago that the wording may be misleading, but had no records of the complainant's religious beliefs or views.

Councillor Brendan Glynane, Northampton Borough Council cabinet member for museums, said: "There was absolutely no attempt at censorship, the text contains a factual error which could cause confusion.

"It is disappointing to see that some groups have tried to use this error to further their own agenda and make proverbial mountains out of molehills.

"We have now uncovered the display board and are in the process of getting a new board produced."

The revised paragraph will now read: "He used the same layers of fossils to show the slow changes that are taking place over the millennia of earth history, each small change enabling a species to adapt to the rigours of its environment - the struggle for survival, through the natural selection, leading to the survival of the fittest."

The spokesman said the council would not be taking up the National Secular Society's offer to pay for a replacement display.