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Related: About this forumNon-Christians Need Not Apply
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/10/ken_ham_ark_encounter_theme_park_religious_discrimination_may_block_kentucky.htmlKen Hams creationist theme park is already in trouble.
By Mark Joseph Stern
OCT. 27 2014 3:11 PM
A rendering of what construction of the Ark Encounter theme park will look like.
Courtesy of Answers in Genesis
For a man who constantly touts his plans to build a creationist empire in the United States, Ken Ham is surprisingly bad at his job. The professional charlatans greatest success, his mind-boggling Creation Museum, faces a serious decline in attendance. His next boondoggle, a Noahs Arkthemed creationist amusement park, was so woefully underfunded that Ham began selling junk bonds to keep it from going under. Initial construction on the dramatically scaled-back ark park is barely underway. And now Ham has already run into legal trouble. His utterly predictable offense? Using taxpayer money to discriminate on the basis of religion.
The trouble began when the park, officially called Ark Encounter, listed its employment opportunities in August. Nestled among the requirements for all job applicants were three troubling obligatory documents: Salvation testimony, Creation belief statement, and a Confirmation of your agreement with the AiG statement of faith. (AiG is Answers in Genesis, Hams ministry and Ark Encounters parent company.) These first two requirements are problematic enough: The park is quite openly instructing all applicants to pledge that they personally believe in creationist Christianity. If an applicant has other beliefs, her application to Ark Encounter isnt welcome.
But the third requirement is far, far worse. AiGs statement of faith is no mere loyalty oath: Its a four-part theological declaration mandating that all signatories accept dozens of fundamentalist Christian principles. Employees at Ark Encounter dont just have to believe in God; they have to believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit, Satan (as the personal spiritual adversary of both God and mankind), Adam and Eve, the Great Flood of Genesis, a 6,000-year-old Earth, and the eternal damnation of those who do not believe in Christ. All employees must follow the duty of Christians and attend a local Bible believing church. Just for good measure, employees must oppose abortion, euthanasia, gay rights, and trans rights.
Were Ark Encounter merely a ministry, the First Amendment would protect its discriminatory employment practices. If it were a privately funded company with an explicitly religious purpose, the law might still permit it to hire based on its prejudices. But Ark Encounter isnt privately funded; the citizens of Kentucky have been roped into paying for it, whether they like it or not. Earlier this year, Kentuckys Tourism Development Finance Authority gave preliminary support for $18.25 million in tax credits for Ark Encounter, citing Hams promise that the project would create 600 to 700 jobs. And thats just for the first phase of construction; ultimately, the state could grant Ark Encounter up to $73 million in tax breaks.
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Non-Christians Need Not Apply (Original Post)
cbayer
Oct 2014
OP
I like the picture of Noah's cool crane. That sort of thing always comes in handy
struggle4progress
Oct 2014
#3
Hope the ACLU sues.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)2. They are going to lose all their funding and their tax breaks.
I don't think this will every open.
struggle4progress
(118,282 posts)3. I like the picture of Noah's cool crane. That sort of thing always comes in handy
when one needs to build a big floating zoo in a short time-frame
Gore1FL
(21,130 posts)4. I like the crane picture too.
There is a wooden erection joke in there somewhere, but I'm not going to make it.