JOIN US IN WICHITA! My 86 year old mother, Muffy Moose, co-star of “Flock of Dodos,” and I will be on hand to help celebrate the annual meeting of the Wichita chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State with a screening of the movie on Friday evening, September 10, at the Exploration Place in Wichita, Kansas.
DODOS ON THE PRAIRIE
It’s been over 4 years since the very first public screening of “Flock of Dodos,” on a cold February night in 2006 out on the prairies. That event took place in the suburbs of Kansas City, right as the evolution vs. intelligent design controversy was reaching a fevered pitch in the state of Kansas. The pro-intelligent design school board was still in power, and the flummoxed pro-evolution community was still seriously fearing a future of religion in the science classrooms of the state. Before the night was done the audience erupted in cries of, “Bullshit!” in response to intelligent design provocateur Jack Cashill who was on the post-screening panel discussion.
But science did prevail in Kansas. And not because of any large science organizations.
In the summer of 2006, I fired off distressed emails to a couple of the major science organizations in D.C. The Discovery Institute was pouring large sums of money into the state to support the intelligent design side, but the Kansas evolutionists were holding bake sales (literally) to raise funds for their campaigns. I asked the large science organizations why they weren’t also pouring funds into the state to match the Discovery Institute. They basically replied, “We don’t do that.” Meaning it’s politics, and scientists don’t like to get involved with politics, as we know all too well.
In the end, thanks to a great deal of back-breaking grassroots effort and the heroic work of a handful of tireless individuals like Sue Gamble, Bill Wagnon, and Dr. Steve Case (all in the movie), Genie Scott of the National Center for Science Education, Barbara Forrest, Ken Miller, and many other dedicated souls, most of the pro-intelligent design board members were shown the door in the 2006 elections (thus concluding the second round of “The School Board Circle of Life,” as we mention at the end of the movie).
Things have been relatively peaceful in Kansas since. In fact, last fall when I visited Steve Case at the University of Kansas and we showed Dodos, there was a distinct feeling of “the Evolution Wars” being a dark chapter in the state’s recent history that people would just as soon forget.
So when we screen the movie on Friday evening, September 10 at the Exploration Place Science and Discovery Center (what better place to present such a pro-science movie!) in Wichita, there shouldn’t be the sort of shouting matches during the post-screening panel discussion that we had back in 2006. Should there be?
You’ll have to attend the screening to find out!