Ken Ham does not understand one of the primary clauses of the First Amendment: separation of church and state. With the help of a crooked tax incentive and subsidies, Ken Ham is creating a Noah’s Ark theme park that will gladly employ workers who will sign a pact that promotes ideas perpetuated by Young Earth creationists – a group that thinks that the Earth was created only 6,000 years ago.
Who In The Hell Is Ken Ham?
An Australian-born Christian fundamentalist and young Earth creationist, Ken Ham is the mastermind behind many religious establishments, including Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum. The Creation Museum houses a dinosaur skeleton – a dinosaur that apparently ate a vegetarian diet, alongside humans some 6,000 years ago (according to Ham).
Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter
Scheduled to open on Jul. 7, 2016, the Ark Encounter will receive $18 million in tax incentives from Kentucky legislators. The theme park will depict “historical events centered on Noah’s Ark as recorded in the Bible.” There is nothing inherently wrong with this park. However, Ken Ham’s aggressive grab for tax incentives and shabby hiring practices are cause for concern.
What Happened to Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination?
The requirements to work at the theme park suggest that non-Christians need not apply. A judge ruled in January that hiring discrimination is legal as a nonprofit, skipping over equal employment opportunity laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Coincidentally enough, the theme park was a for-profit organization before it conveniently switched to nonprofit status.
Separation Of Church And State Do Not Apply, Apparently
The judge that enabled Ken Ham’s $18 million dollar incentive remarked that the theme park is protected by the First Amendment, and blocking Ham from this tax incentive actually violates his rights to freedom of religion. The judge felt that the theme park would be a legitimate tourist attraction and should be eligible for taxpayer-funded incentives. The fact that the park was uniting religion with state funds were irrelevant to the judge and Ken Ham.
This isn’t the first time that Ken Ham had a controversy that almost sounds like borderline trolling for the rest of America who aren’t Christian zealots.
Featured image by Aalborg Stift on Flickr, available under an Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
