PETERSBURG, Ky. — One of the first things to greet visitors to the Creation Museum is an animatronic display of a sweet little girl frolicking in nature.

She's frolicking right next to what appears to be a pair of velociraptors.

For believers like Gary Day, pastor of Berea Bible Church in Springfield, the museum is like seeing God's word come to life.

"It's very accurate of the creation account," he said.

For everybody else, those dinosaurs look awfully familiar — didn't they kill everybody in "Jurassic Park?"

At the biblical history museum near the Cincinnati airport in northern Kentucky, you either believe or suspend your disbelief.

Since its opening in May, the $27 million museum has been a magnet for controversy.

And a magnet for people, too — 200,000 people have learned about the creation of the universe, Book of Genesis-style, as of Sept. 20.

That's way above expectations, a spokeswoman said.

The museum planned for 250,000 guests the first year. It's now possible they'll hit 375,000 this first year, according to the spokeswoman.

A perfect creation

According to the museum, God "made a perfect creation" — Earth — in six days just thousands of years ago.

Humans didn't evolve, and those dinosaurs co-existed with man, even hitching a ride with Noah. The reason for their eventual extinction is not detailed.

In fact, that massive, Old Testament flood supposedly explains everything, from the placement of the continents and the formation of the Grand Canyon on down to fossils — nevermind what you learned in science class.

Day, whose church is on Derr Road, was quick to splurge for a lifetime membership to the museum.

"It's a great tool for us to bring people from our church to see how they can logically defend the Bible," he said.

In the cultural war over evolution and creation, many Christians have been longing for ammunition like this, according to Day.

To them, the Creation Museum now provides all the proof they need when pressed.

"In the Scopes trial, (anti-evolution prosecutor) William Jennings Bryan was questioned, 'Where did Cain get his wife?' " Day said. "He had no answer."

The controversy

On issues of science, they still don't have answers, if you ask Timothy Lewis, chairman of the Wittenberg University biology department.

A lifelong Lutheran who teaches evolution, he recently accompanied a group of 40 Witt students to the museum.

"They just grossly misrepresent science," Lewis said. "And they represent it as a matter of opinion."

On a recent tour of the museum, Pastor Day readily acknowledged the dispute.

"We've got the same evidence. We just come to different interpretations of it," he said. "If you want to search for truth, every opinion should be allowed."

But not every opinion at the museum jibes with science.

Take the Grand Canyon.

"You can't cut a canyon that fast," Lewis explained. "When you do make that cut, good Lord, look at all the layers underneath it. You need about 20 great floods, because there's a lot of layers there."

And what of dinosaurs side-by-side with man?

"There's no place we find humans in the fossil record with dinosaurs," Lewis said.

Even among Christians, the Creation Museum is the stuff of controversy.

Clark County resident Greg Neyman runs the Web site answersincreation.org.

With a bachelor's degree in geology, he's a Christian who believes the Earth is billions, not thousands, of years old.

He even says it's possible man evolved from apes. (There's little doubt in scientific circles.)

To him, there's no science at the Creation Museum.

"It only adds to the stereotype that church members reject scientific methods," Neyman said. "It widens the gap between the church itself and secular mankind."

Bad science?

Actually, if there's any science at the Creation Museum, according to Neyman, it's bad science.

"They reach the conclusion before they look at the scientific data," he said.

Pastor Day says questions are fine.

"God doesn't call us to check our minds at the door," he said. "Every opinion is permitted, but not everything is true."

He's willing to let anybody, regardless of church affiliation, use his membership to see the museum for themselves.

But scientifically speaking, the museum could end up doing more bad than good, according to Wittenberg's Lewis.

"We're in a country where science literacy is way low," he said. "You take a 7-year-old kid in there ... you're moving them back.

"This is moving us backwards in science literacy."

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.