No Dinosaurs in Heaven

Veteran filmmaker and science buff Greta Schiller goes back to school late in life only to discover that the Gospel-based “creation science” of religious fundamentalists has infiltrated secular American education, even up to the college level in cosmopolitan New York City. Schiller joins a raft expedition in the Grand Canyon—led by Dr. Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education—that points out the absurdity of creationism's view that the 4,000 feet of bedrock geological history is the work of Noah's flood, and also notes some of the rhetorical tricks perpetrated by biblical-literalist Christians to convince followers that Adam, Eve, and the story of creation in the book of Genesis are worthy of presentation in public schools alongside evolution (why not instruct students in alchemical magic alongside chemistry, the film also asks). Schiller returns to New York, visiting the American Museum of Natural History, as well as actual classrooms, where public school teachers must address the controversy head-on. DVD extras include the short film “Why Study Science?” Similar to the anti-creationist documentary Flock of Dodos, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (C. Cassady)