Creation museum compares San Diego to 'Selma in the 1950s' after museum council rejection

The president of a museum which teaches that dinosaurs walked the Earth at the same time as humans said this week that San Diego was "like Selma, Alabama in the 1950s" because his ministry was denied a seat on the local museum council.

San Diego Museum Council President Danielle Susalla Deery told KPBS that the reason that The Museum of Creation and Earth fell short of the necessary 21 "yes" votes was because of factors that had nothing to do with its anti-science mission of teaching that the Earth was literally created in six days.

"Like their animal care and the protocol and care of their exhibitions and storage," Deery explained. "They had a lot of areas that were not in line with membership guidelines. They have a staff member on the board of directors and that’s not good governance."

But Museum of Creation and Earth President Tom Cantor insisted to KPBS that the motives were more sinister.

"I’m afraid we are being opposed for nothing more than the old prejudice against God," Cantor lamented.

He likened the museum's current situation to some of the worst atrocities in the South during the Civil Rights Movement, when African-Americans were beaten and arrested to prevent them from exercising their right to vote.

"It’s like we’re in Selma, Alabama in the 1950s and I want to have a museum on black Americans," Cantor said. "Do you think I’ll be accepted by the council of museums in Selma, Alabama?"

The Museum of Creation and Earth plans to reapply for membership to the council next year.

Listen to the audio below from KPBS, broadcast Nov. 13, 2013.