Many Trying to Reconcile Religious Beliefs with Evidence of Evolution

EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark., Aug. 11, 2005 — -- It can be jarring to see fossil replicas of dinosaurs and adjacent images of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Most museums do not posit that dinosaurs -- adolescent ones, of course, for space reasons -- were shepherded onto the Great Ark by Noah.

The Sandborg family traveled all the way from their home in Minnesota to Eureka Springs, Ark., to visit the Museum of Earth History. As believers that God created the universe in six days, they made the trip to resolve a dilemma -- how to reconcile science with the Bible they believe in.

"To have dinosaurs, you know, as a child it was hard for me to figure out -- to try to make it line up," said Dawn Sandborg.

Almost half of the U.S. population -- 45 percent -- believes that human beings did not evolve, but instead were created by God, as stated in the Bible, about 10,000 years ago, according to a November 2004 Gallup poll. Now many of those believers are pushing for a way to align their beliefs with scientific evidence of dinosaurs -- a battle being fought in legislatures, classrooms and museums across the country.

Museum of Earth History founder Thomas Sharp tries to make science and the Bible compatible. In this museum and others he's planning nationwide, he claims Noah fit pairs of dinosaurs on his ark, and God created it all.

"I think it happened by intelligent guidance," Sharp said. "I think it's impossible to have slime (evolve) into the human brain no matter how long you say it took. I think that's biologically impossible."

Religious views of creation that challenge accepted science are gaining support across the country.

The Kansas Board of Education this week tentatively approved new standards that would allow more criticism of evolution in explaining the origins of life. A final vote is expected in the coming months.