Should it Matter that the California Science Center was “Unaware of the Nature of the Groups Involved”?

In a prior post, I noted that California Science Center (CSC) vice president Christina Sion wrote regarding the American Freedom Alliance (AFA) that “the main problem is that it is an anti-Darwin/creationist group.” This is clear evidence of viewpoint discrimination by the CSC in its decision to cancel the AFA’s screening of Darwin’s Dilemma. More evidence comes in an e-mail from Joe DeAmicis, CSC’s vice president of marketing, to CSC curator Ken Phillips. DeAmicis implies that had the museum known of “the nature of the groups,” they might have acted differently: This screening event was booked through the Events Dept., and they were unaware of the nature of the groups involved. It has come to Jeff’s attention and he is Read More ›

The California Science Center’s Convenient Excuses: “Contractual Issues” or Viewpoint Discrimination?

Sometimes excuses just sound too convenient. Take, for instance, the California Science Center’s excuse for abruptly cancelling a showing of Darwin’s Dilemma last fall. According to top California Science Center (CSC) officials, the event was cancelled “because of issues related to the contract.” But emails obtained by Discovery Institute pursuant to CSC’s settlement of our lawsuit against them strongly show that CSC officials illegally discriminated against intelligent design (ID) and then tried to cover their tracks by claiming “contractual reasons” for the cancellation. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to those familiar with the culture of intolerance fostered by many critics of ID. In this case, it’s especially important since that culture is being funded by over millions of taxpayer Read More ›

Newly Disclosed Documents Show California Science Center Fishing for a Reason to Cancel Intelligent Design Event

For some evolutionists, the First Amendment is less important than enforcing strict Darwinian dogma. In October 2009, the California Science Center (CSC) cancelled a showing of Darwin’s Dilemma, which led to a lawsuit alleging viewpoint discrimination and breach of contract filed by the group whose event was cancelled, American Freedom Alliance (AFA). The lawsuit revolves around one crucial question: Was the showing cancelled because of a contractual violation (as CSC claims), or was it cancelled because the publicly operated Science Museum discriminated against AFA on the basis of its pro-intelligent design (ID) viewpoint? Recent internal CSC emails disclosed by CSC per the terms of its settlement of Discovery Institute’s open records lawsuit show that AFA’s contract was cancelled for reasons Read More ›

Documents Reveal Intolerance Towards Intelligent Design at the California Science Center

This past June, Discovery Institute announced it was settling its public documents lawsuit against the California Science Center (CSC). The lawsuit had been filed last December after CSC refused to disclose public documents pertaining to its cancellation of a rental contract with American Freedom Alliance (AFA) to allow AFA to show a pro-intelligent design video at CSC’s facilities. Per the terms of the settlement, CSC was to deliver to Discovery Institute many of the documents which we originally requested. Those documents have now been delivered, and combined with other previously known documents, they reveal striking evidence of CSC’s viewpoint discrimination against intelligent design (ID) in AFA’s case. For starters, multiple individuals within CSC expressed animus towards ID: I personally have Read More ›

California Science Center Plays Shell Game to Avoid Disclosing Public Records

As recently discussed on Evolution News, Discovery Institute has settled its lawsuit with the California Science Center (CSC). From our perspective, this is a very favorable settlement because (1) we are getting all of the documents we originally requested but they withheld, and (2) CSC is paying part of our court costs and attorneys’ fees. But now that the case has settled, the untold story is the pre-textual explanations that CSC made to rationalize why they refused to disclose public documents from certain employees, documents which might have shown evidence of CSC’s viewpoint discrimination against intelligent design (ID). Our lawsuit filed last December alleged that “CSC has failed to provide a single document reflecting communications from decision makers at CSC Read More ›