CA science center pays $110,000 over canceled film

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A documentary on intelligent design, a theory of creation that has been dismissed by some in the scientific community as comparable to claiming the South won the Civil War, can be shown at the California Science Center under terms of a settlement announced Monday.

However, the group that sued the center after a scheduled screening was canceled in 2009 now says it won’t bother to show the film “Darwin’s Dilemma: The Mystery of the Cambrian Fossil Record,” at the center’s IMAX theater or host a debate on evolution versus intelligent design afterward, as it had originally planned.

Instead, the American Freedom Alliance said it will move on after taking the $110,000 to be provided by the center foundation and its insurer under the settlement.

Under terms of the settlement, reached last month, neither side admitted wrongdoing and the alliance agreed to decline the center’s invitation to screen the film.

“Even though the AFA has no interest in returning to the IMAX theater, they at least feel by being invited back they have been vindicated. The invitation represents a form of apology,” said attorney William J. Becker Jr., who represented the alliance.

The settlement puts a spotlight on the debate over whether the universe evolved naturally or was created by a supreme being with a specific plan.

That’s an issue that may arise again during the 2012 presidential campaign. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who recently announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination, discussed the issue during a visit to South Carolina last month, weighing in in favor of intelligent design.

“There are clear indications from our people who have amazing intellectual capability that this didn’t happen by accident,” he said.

“Darwin’s Dilemma” examines Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, raising questions about its validity in light of the Cambrian Explosion, which marked the sudden appearance of several major animal groups in fossils during a period 545 million years ago.

Paleontologist Steven Newton of the National Center for Science Education, who has viewed the film, said it has been overwhelmingly dismissed by the scientific community.

“It’s a distortion of what real scientists think about the Cambrian Period,” he said. “The way the film does this is by showing snippets of real paleontologists next to people who have never published a paper on paleontology talking about creationism.”

He compared its accuracy to that of a film about the Civil War that would conclude the South had won.

“That’s how far out there it is,” he said.

The American Freedom Alliance, which states its mission as promoting, defending and upholding Western values and ideals, rented the science center’s theater in 2009 to show the film and host a debate afterward as part of a fundraiser.

The center canceled the contract after it learned a third party, the Discovery Center, which supports intelligent design, was promoting the event in violation of the center’s contract with the alliance. What’s more, according to the science center, both groups were making an effort to drum up controversy about the program.

Story Continues →

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.