World Can’t Wait visited Eureka Springs to set up a “Truth Museum”; a
visual presentation that explained the basic principles of evolution
and defending against the attacks on science and scientific thinking.
We also had a chance to sit down and talk to Nancy Keagan, a High
School Teacher in Eureka Springs.
WCW: What do you think the existence and large attendance of the Creationist Museum and the Passion Play in Eureka Springs represent about the religious and political climate in the U.S?
Nancy Keagan: Arkansas used to be a swing state, but in the past few decades it has gone Republican. Most people, like my parents, equate Republican with Christian and determines how they vote. However, Eureka Springs stands out given the fact that most people voted for Kerry , then Nader came in second and Bush in third. I haven’t gone to the museum, but there is definitely a real danger in mixing science with religion.
WCW: Why is science so important?
Nancy Keagan: Do you want a future? (laughs). Look at the warnings in Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”. We are not a nation of problem solvers, the education system in the U.S is geared for training people to work or be followers. Science is not taught very well in the U.S., I can’t even imagine if Bush got his way with changing the school system.
Science poses problems and shows people how to solve them. It’s dangerous when children can’t decipher fables in the Bible with real history.
WCW: What do think is behind the Bush Regime’s attacks on science?
Nancy Keagan: Part of how this administration pushes their program through is fear. Fear of damnation and fear of terrorists. They push forward this form of Christianity to control people and have people going about their day in an unthinking way. Unfortunately they have a friend in President Bush.
WCW: The World Can’t Wait Call has identified policies of the Bush Regime like torture, police state measures, preemptive war, and theocracy as a leap towards fascism. The term fascism has been used to describe the Bush Administration by prominent figures like Harold Pinter and Harry Belafonte and has become a bit of a controversy. What do you think about invoking the phrase “fascism” to describe the Bush Administration?
NK: People should be afraid. I visited the Holocaust museum in Houston that makes its central message: We can never allow this to happen again and that it can happen again. So I think it is possible for fascism to rise to power in America. I have dual citizenship and it has crossed my mind that I may want to use it and leave the country if things keep getting worse.
WCW: Does it really have to come to that? Don’t you think it is on the people who recognize the dangers and real life possibilities of fascism being consolidated in the U.S to resist and stop the direction society is taking?
Nancy Keagan: I think resistance is necessary and it is possible. Part of my motivation in being an educator is getting people out of their apathy. Everyone I talk to is agonizing or concerned about the future. When you are in Eureka Springs, you kind of forget how bad things are and you are surrounded by like minded or progressive/ leftist people. Even with the Passion Play in town, you still kind of put your blinders up until you leave Eureka and go out into the countryside and realize how bad things really are in Arkansas and the country.
WCW: Do think places like this will continue to exist if the Bush Administration is able to ram through its full program?
Nancy Keagan: I think it will go one way or the other. Good or bad. If it turns out bad they will just make all of this illegal, like selling things that promote being Gay or any alternative lifestyle.
I think we are in a transitional period. Humanity has seen more change than it has ever seen before. Major changes are going on with technology and communication and how nations relate to each other. When you look around and see all of these changes, I can’t really imagine what the future will look like in 25-30 years from now, but it will be really different that’s for sure. It could be good or it could be really bad, but I think we are in a transition period and it is going to be rough either way.