Tulsa, USA - The Tulsa Zoo will add a display featuring the biblical account of creation following complaints to a city board about other displays with religious significance, including a Hindu elephant statue.
The Tulsa Park and Recreation Board voted 3-1 Tuesday in favor of a display depicting the account in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.
The vote came after more than two hours of public comment from a standing-room-only crowd.
Zoo employees, religious leaders and others spoke in opposition, saying religion shouldn't be part of the taxpayer-funded scientific institution.
But those who favored the creationist exhibit, including Mayor Bill LaFortune, argued that the zoo already displayed religious items, including the statue of the Hindu god, Ganesh, outside the elephant exhibit and a marble globe inscribed with an American Indian saying, "The earth is our mother. The sky is our father."
"I see this as a big victory," said Dan Hicks, the Tulsa resident who approached the Tulsa Zoo with the idea for the exhibit. "It's a matter of fairness. To not include the creationist view would be discrimination."
Hundreds of people had signed a petition supporting a biblically based creation exhibit.
The new display will include a disclaimer that says it represents one view of origins. City attorneys also advised it be placed alongside other cultures' views of creation.
Tulsa Zoo exhibit curator Kathleen Buck-Miser estimated it would take about six months to research and organize the creationist exhibit. She expressed qualms about the zoo delving into theological debate.
"I'm afraid we are going in the wrong direction," she said.
Zoo officials argued that the zoo, as a scientific institution, does not advocate religion and that displays like the elephant statue are meant to show the animal's image among cultures. The same exhibit includes the Republican Party's elephant symbol.
Board member Dale McNamara, who voted against the proposal, said the zoo is dedicated to animals and science, not religious beliefs.
"I do not like the idea of scripture at the zoo," she said.
Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, pastor of All Souls Unitarian Church, expressed concern about differing accounts among Christians of the Earth's origins.
"The fundamentalist perspective is being placed, putting one Christian view above others," Lavanhar said. "We feel this will be divisive."
In 1995, Hicks came to the park board with a similar complaint involving Earth's origin.
Then, the board agreed to post a disclaimer on signs around the zoo that reads, "There are many views on the origins of biological species and their behaviors. The information that accompanies our displays is based on evidence of the natural sciences. Because scientific knowledge is subject to change these displays may be revised as new information becomes available."