Re: New York Times Learns about Smithsonian ID Uproar from O'Lea ry's Web log, The Post-Darwinist

Very interesting, Rich. I doubt that the Discovery Institute would give $16,000 to the Smithsonian just to be good citizens; I suspect they did so as a Wedge activity, and I'm willing to bet that they will do something with this matter to advance their ID agenda. For example, the next school board they try to convince to inject ID into the science class will know (with posters) that the Smithsonian showed one of their films. Sneaky rather than stunning. The Smithsonian should be looking this gift horse in the mouth.

BTW, I wonder just how this planet is "privileged." There could be many others like it in the universe. Well, we Christian believers might believe that it was privileged that the Word of God took on the flesh of H. sapiens here. But that ipso facto doesn't rule out that the Word was incarnated into a form of intelligent being on another planet.

Bob
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Rich Blinne
  To: Denyse O'Leary
  Cc: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2005 4:53 PM
  Subject: Re: New York Times Learns about Smithsonian ID Uproar from O'Lea ry's Web log, The Post-Darwinist

  On 5/28/05, Denyse O'Leary <oleary@sympatico.ca> wrote:
    New York Times Learns about Smithsonian ID Uproar from O'Leary's Web log,
    The Post-Darwinist

    From today's New York Times:

    "News of the Discovery Institute's announcement appeared on a blog
    maintained by Denyse O'Leary, a proponent of the intelligent design theory,
    who called it "a stunning development." But a museum spokesman, Randall
    Kremer, said the event should not be taken as support for the views
    expressed in the film. "It is incorrect for anyone to infer that we are
    somehow endorsing the video or the content of the video," he said. "

    Reporter John Schwartz gets some stuff right, but a lot of stuff wrong. Not
    bad for a beginner.

    Read more at http://post-darwinist.blogspot.com/

    cheers, Denyse

  Here's the text of the invitation (from Denyse's blog):

   (Smithsonian Logo)
  The Director of the National Museum of Natural History and Discovery Institute cordially invite you to the national premier and evening reception of The Privileged Planet: The Search for Purpose in the Universe

  Thursday, June 23, 2005 - 6:00 p.m
  National Museum of Natural History - Smithsonian Institution
  Constitutuion Avenue at Tenth Street, NW - Washington, DC - Valet Parking Available

  Documentary Showing and Comments: 6:00 p.m. - Baird Auditorium
  Reception 7:30 p.m. - Halll of Geology, Gems, and Minerals

  Limited Seeting, please RSVP by June 10, 2005 by mail or email xxxx@discovery.org

  (Discovery Institute Logo)

  From the Smithsonian Web Site [emphasis mine]:

  http://www.nmnh.si.edu/specialevents/policy.html

  SPECIAL EVENTS POLICY
  Corporations and organizations making an unrestricted contribution to the National Museum of Natural History may co-sponsor an event in celebration of their gift. Your gift helps to support the scientific and educational work of the Museum. Personal events (i.e. weddings, etc.), fund raising events, and events of a religious or partisan political nature are not permitted. Cash bars, raffles and the display or promotion of commercial products are also prohibited.

  All events at the National Museum of Natural History are co-sponsored by the Museum and must be planned in conjunction with one of the Museum's Special Events Coordinators. The Special Events Coordinator will be required to approve all event plans, including invitation text, speaking program, the use of logos, and vendors. The name of the Museum and the Smithsonian Institution may not be used on any document without prior approval by the Museum.

  Caterers working within the Museum must have the required $1 million liability insurance certificate on file at the Smithsonian. Although co-sponsors may work with the caterer of their choice, the Museum reserves the right to review and approve the choice of caterer in order to assure that they are capable of working safely within the Museum and are aware of the catering limitations within the building. The Museum's special events staff can also provide a list of caterers and other vendors who have successfully handled events in the Museum.

  Once an event is approved, co-sponsoring organizations will receive a confirmation letter and an agreement form outlining the basic parameters of the event and the fees. Required fees include the tax-deductible contribution and direct costs (for overtime services which are provided by the Museum). The event will be confirmed when the signed agreement form and full payment are received by the Museum's Special Events Office. Payment is required prior to the event. During periods of high demand, a non-refundable deposit may be required. In these instances, the deposit will be considered an advance payment on the required contribution.

  For a complete copy of the Museum's special events policy, please contact us by phone or email.

  From what I can tell this is what happened:

  DI made an unrestricted donation of $16,000.

  For the money given, they can have a celebration event. They proposed showing the movie.

  Smithsonian staff in order to comply with the policy needed to screen the movie to make sure that it wasn't religious or partisan. Once that bar is reached, they are obligated by policy to co-sponsor the event. This is the context of the following two quotes:

  The president of the Discovery Institute, Bruce Chapman, said his organization approached the museum through its public relations company and the museum staff asked to see the film. "They said that they liked it very much - and not only would they have the event at the museum, but they said they would co-sponsor it," he recalled. "That was their suggestion. Of course we're delighted."

  Mr. Kremer said he heard about the event only on Thursday. He added that staff members viewed the film before approving the event to make sure that it complied with the museum's policy, which states that "events of a religious or partisan political nature" are not permitted, along with personal events such as weddings, or fund-raisers, raffles and cash bars. It also states that "all events at the National Museum of Natural History are co-sponsored by the museum."

  The quote on the DI web site roughly covers the invitation text. When that text was read to the Smithsonian PR guy he replied: "We'll have to look into that." This can be bad news for DI because the Special Events Coordinator needs to approve all invitation text and use of logos in advance. There is a separate letter that tells DI what it can and cannot do. Hopefully, everything they did was in accord with that letter.

  Finally, here is what the DI director had to say about this:

  "We are not implying in any sense that they endorsed the content, but they are co-sponsoring it, and we are delighted. We're not claiming anything more than that. They certainly didn't say, 'We're really warming up to intelligent design, and therefore we're going to sponsor this.' "

  In conclusion, there is absolutely nothing that indicates Denyse's original thesis that the Smithsonian is warming up to ID. Neither the Smithsonian nor the DI make that claim. Rather, it is merely a thank you to a patron making an unrestricted donation. Denyse making such a bru-ha-ha about this may put the display of this movie in jeopardy and possibly further damage the DI. Both the DI and the Smithsonian understood that the Smithsonian was not endorsing ID. Now the Smithsonian may need to prove themselves. If you think some ASA members are motivated to dissasociate themselves from ID, the Smithsonian is much more motivated. They will be making sure that the agreement letter was followed to the last jot and tittle. Further, there is nothing that would keep the Smithsonian from putting the following sign on their most overtly Darwinian exhibit:

  This exhibit was made possible by a generous donation by the Discovery Institute, Seattle WA.
Received on Sat May 28 18:10:27 2005