AiG Reports Clergy Opposition to the Ark Encounter

AiG has a news update reporting that there are some that are not all that happy that a life-size copy of Noah's ark is being built in Kentucky. The “clergy” in question, in this case, is Barry Lynn, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the subject was a debate between Lynn and Ken Ham. They write:

Rev. Lynn’s main argument was that Kentucky was subsidizing religion if the state granted incentives to the Ark Encounter LLC. In the full debate, he went on to state (falsely) that if Kentucky grants the incentives, the state would not get the full money needed for education, fire stations, etc.

In order to counter this wrong impression that the Ark project will be a drain on Kentucky’s state revenues, I made it clear that the incentives are not a grant of state funds to help build the Ark Encounter. No funds will be taken from the state budget and away from its programs (e.g., social services, schools, etc.) to help construct or operate the Ark Encounter.

Somehow, when I think of clergy, Barry Lynn is not exactly the first person that comes to mind. He does not, that I am aware of, speak for any major denomination. The catch is that, as I understand it, legally, the Ark Encounter is on solid legal footing here and so, as Ham points out, debate can only focus on the content of the exhibit, which is, of course, based on the young earth creationism model.

Here is the debate, hosted by Anderson Cooper, of CNN:

Lynn is correct that this park does promote a specific religious viewpoint and that it is, at heart, a ministry. AiG is correct, though, that what really sticks in Lynn's craw is the message that the Ark Encounter brings to the table, that dinosaurs and humans lived on earth at the same time, which, as Lynn points out, is “only true in the Flintstones.”

Ham does get a bit slithery at times, though, by saying that the park will create 14,000 jobs as a “ripple effect” with 250,000,000 dollars in the first year. When he is confronted with these funny numbers, he remarks that the critics “can say whatever they want” but that they are based on “the state's own figures.” As we have seen, that is not entirely true. Further, he takes great pains in the beginning of the interview to distance himself and AiG from the Ark Project by stating that AiG is only one member of the project. Later, however, he states “we have a track record, as an organization, at the Creation Museum” suggesting considerably greater ties between the two projects. Lynn points this out, calling AiG a “primary partner.”

I think that Ham and the builders of the Ark Encounter are taking advantage of the letter of the law, as is certainly their right, but that they are also laughing all of the way to bank, knowing that, at heart, it really is a young earth creationism ministry and is every bit as religiously-based as it looks.

Anderson Cooper 360 Tackles Noah's Ark

Anderson Cooper conducted an interview with Ken Ham and Barry Lynn about the new amusement park that is being built in Kentucky centred around Noah's Ark. The transcript is here and the story begins about a third of the way in. Here is an excerpt:

BARRY LYNN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: Well, it's really a ministry. It honestly is.

Its purpose primarily is to try -- on the Web site of Answers in Genesis, it says this -- to convince the world, including those of us in America, that there is a literal truth to the Bible. And that includes the literal truth of the story of a worldwide flood and Noah's Ark.

So, it would be very -- I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who looks at this project and doesn't see this as a ministry. And that's precisely what's wrong with the government of Kentucky, the state, helping to subsidize it.

COOPER: Mr. Ham, are you trying to convert people here?

HAM: You know, first of all, it's not Answers in Genesis that owns the Ark Encounter. The Ark Encounter is a profit organization. Answers in Genesis is just a member. You need to understand that.

And, secondly, the -- the government of Kentucky is not subsidizing the Ark Encounter. They have an economic incentive program available for anyone. In fact, they can't have viewpoint discrimination, as Barry Lynn would like to have.

And because of the economic incentive program, we, like anyone else, if we fulfill the criteria of that -- and there are five criteria -- it doesn't involve the state endorsing any particular religion or anything like that.

In fact, the Ark Encounter is not a religion. It is a theme park. It is centered around biblical history. And -- and the state is not going to have viewpoint discrimination just because it's a theme park centered around biblical history.

LYNN: No, no, but, see, that is fundamentally wrong.

The truth of the matter is that this park, whether it's partially private or partially for-profit, it is promoting the one thing that the other groups getting subsidies don't promote, and that is a specific religious viewpoint.

Aside from the legal issues, I was horrified just a few weeks ago when the governor, Steve Beshear, of Kentucky stands up there with folks from this Ark park and basically gives his blessing to what -- let's just call them unorthodox ideas from Answers in Genesis.

As much as I disagree with Barry Lynn most of the time, he has a point here. This is a particular point of view that is being expressed and Lynn is correct that it entails at least tacit support for an initiative that is purely religiously based, whether or not Ken Ham wishes to acknowledge this. This makes Ham's response somewhat naïve. The Koran carries within it history as well, but no one would construe an amusement park based on the Koran as being anything other than Muslim-based.

As far as the legal end of things is concerned, if Ham is correct that they really have met all five of the criteria, then there is little that can stand in the way of the incentive program.

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AU Tells Board That Creationism Should be Banned in Louisiana

American United for Separation of Church and State (now cryptically going by the acronym "AU") has contacted school board officials in Louisiana in an effort to convince them to revise guidelines so that creationism is banned in public schools. According to a story on their site:

The AU missive also recommends that the board streamline its process for dealing with challenges to supplemental materials that promote creationism. AU says the board should put such decisions in the hands of professional educators in the Department of Education rather than create an unwieldy process that, AU asserts, is really designed to be an “opportunity for a show trial to promote the merits of ‘intelligent design’ or other forms of creationism.”

While I agree with the sentiment, I have always been a bit leary of Barry Lynn's organisation because I find its theological stances to be too liberal for my understanding of scripture.

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