In Kentucky, Noah’s Ark Theme Park Is Planned

[groovedaddy]

Facing a rising tide of joblessness, the governor of Kentucky has found one solution: build an ark. The state has promised generous tax incentives to a group of entrepreneurs who plan to construct a full-size replica of Noah’s ark, load it with animals and actors, and make it the centerpiece of a Bible-based tourist attraction called Ark Encounter.

Since Gov. Steven L. Beshear announced the plan on Wednesday, some constitutional experts have raised alarms over whether government backing for an enterprise that promotes religion violates the First Amendment’s requirement of separation of church and state. But Mr. Beshear, a Democrat, said the arrangement posed no constitutional problem, and brushed off questions about his stand on creationism.

“The people of Kentucky didn’t elect me governor to debate religion,” he said at a news conference. “They elected me governor to create jobs.”

The theme park was conceived by the same Christian ministry that built the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., where dioramas designed to debunk evolution show humans and dinosaurs coexisting peacefully on an earth created by God in six days. The ministry, Answers in Genesis, believes that the earth is only 6,000 years old — a controversial assertion even among many Bible-believing Christians.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/us/06ark.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a23

[provis99]

1. Beshear sounds like a flaming dumbass.

Is this the best that the Kentucky Democratic party could come up with?

[WolverineDG]

2. There is absolutely nothing stopping anyone else from creating their own theme park

and applying for the very same tax incentives, while at the same time creating up to 900 jobs (not counting those for the construction). With the economy the way it is, the governor couldn't do anything *but* go along with this plan.

dg

[darkstar3]

3. How does government financing,

because let's face it, that's what this is...how does government financing of a religious endeavor done specifically for evangelism and not at all for charity pass First Amendment tests?

[WolverineDG]

4. it's not government financing

they are not getting *any* money & won't until if/when the park opens & they start paying the state sales taxes. And there's a limit to what they can get back--25% & they have to reach that mark within 10 years.

It passes the First Amendment tests because it's a private business, not a church, that's building a tourist attraction & bringing with it jobs & $ to an area of the state that needs them. On edit, as I forgot to add this: the state isn't making a special effort to accommodate a church; these incentives are available to any business that looks to do business there.

dg

[onager]

5. Hey, guess where those job estimates came from?

Everybody is pointing at the "900 jobs and 1.5 million visitors!!"

I hate to break this to you...well, actually, I'm enjoying breaking it to you.

Those estimates came from a market-research company called America's Research Group, run since 1979 by a man named Britt Beemer.

Along with marketing research, Beemer writes Xian books.

In 2009, he was co-author of a book called "Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do to Stop It."

The other author of that book was Ken Ham.

IOW, the "independent" company estimating jobs and visitors is run by Ken Ham's co-author/business partner. And I strongly suspect that's just the tip of the fraud iceberg for this little project. Like the creative funding that appears to be jointly collected by the tax-exempt Answers In Genesis scam, and the for-profit LLC corporation that will actually run the place.

http://barefootandprogressive.blogspot.com/2010/12/about-that-feasibility-study-for-ark.html

BTW, not everyone in Kentucky is Amen-ing about Arkworld. Editorial in the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Even if technically legal (in that the law allowing the tax breaks doesn't discriminate against other religious or anti-religious views), a state role in a private facility that would be built by a group called Answers in Genesis and espouses a fundamentalist view resting on biblical inerrancy indirectly promotes a religious dogma. That should never be the role of government.

Moreover, in a state that already suffers from low educational attainment in science, one of the last things Kentucky officials should encourage, even if only implicitly, is for students and young people to regard creationism as scientifically valid.

Creationism is a nonsensical notion that the Earth is less than 6,000 years old. No serious scientist upholds that view..

But if the Beshear administration is determined that Kentucky should cash in on its stereotypes — and wants to fight Indiana to snare the theme park — why stop with creationism? How about a Flat-Earth Museum? Or one devoted to the notion that the sun revolves around the Earth? Why not a museum to celebrate the history and pageantry of methamphetamines and Oxycontin? Surely a spot can be found for an Obesity Museum (with a snack bar).

And while we're at it, let's redo the state's slogan. Let's try: Kentucky — Unbridled Laughingstock.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101202/OPINION01/312020019/1055/OPINION/Editorial+%7C+Creationist+tourism

[WolverineDG]

7. Nothing stopping you or anyone else from doing the same

but it is a lot easier to just crab about it on the internet.

(btw, the Creationist Museum, joke that it is, is apparently doing land-office business, so their estimates aren't so much wishful thinking on their parts)

dg

[trotsky]

9. It's a good thing the bible-thumping fundies have a defender in you.

Fuck separation of church and state!

[PVnRT]

8. There are places in Kentucky far more worse off than Grant County

Like, say, Magoffin County out in the mountains, with an unemployment rate of 18.3%, a full eight points higher than Grant. In fact, Grant County is in the middle, as far as unemployment goes. Let's not even get into the fact that most of these jobs will be minimum-wage-no-benefits as well.

[dimbear]

6. Have they checked the price of gopher wood and cubit rules? n/t

[groovedaddy]

10. Interestingly enough, part of Beshear's platform in '07 was expanded gaming at racetracks - racinos.

The horse industry in Kentucky has suffered because the hyper-christians has opposed this idea tooth and nail. Most of the surrounding states have casinos and are bleeding off millions of dollars from Kentucky as a result. It seems that Beshear is adopting the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" tactic. Also interesting that Beshear, as KY's attorney general in the early 80's had the 10 commandments removed from government buildings.