TULSA, OKLAHOMA, July 7, 2005: A city board reversed direction on Thursday and rejected plans to add a creationist exhibit to the Tulsa Zoo. Board members voted 3-1 against installing an exhibit on the origin of life from the Bible. The vote, made at a special meeting of the board, reversed a June 7 decision to add a Genesis story to the zoo. As one of only nine “living museums” in the country, the Tulsa Zoo should develop displays that explain the cultural significance of animals, McNamara said. She said an elephant-like stone statue (HPI adds: that is, Lord Ganesha) near the elephant exhibit fit within that mission. The statue has been one of the key items in the fight over Genesis display. Tulsa resident Dan Hicks had argued for the creationism display as a balance to other religious items at the zoo. Hicks, an architect, had agreed to pay for a Genesis exhibit and came to Thursday’s meeting with a 5-foot by 3-foot plan for the display as he envisioned it. Current Mayor Bill LaFortune was the lone board member to back the planned display. He suggested that the board should form a committee to look at any religious symbols at the zoo and consider what to do with them. No action was taken on this suggestion. The board’s original decision to include a biblical story on the Earth’s origin had divided residents and thrown Tulsa into the national spotlight. In the meantime, the zoo continues to have a representation of a Hindu god, a globe sculpture that promotes pantheism and a Maasai display that contains the equivalent of posting Scripture, Hicks said.
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