Biblical Theme Park Under Construction With Government Assistance. What The Heck?

By: Don Caldwell


I never thought I’d see this happen…


Excerpts Italicized:

A Bible-belt state hoping to land a biblical theme park that includes a full-size replica of Noah's Ark approved tax incentives Thursday to help pay for it.


The Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority voted unanimously to grant more than $40 million in tax rebates for the $172 million project that's otherwise being financed by a group of unidentified private investors


The latest project would will include a replica of the Tower of Babel, a first century village, theaters, lecture halls, retail shops, restaurants, a petting zoo and live animal shows featuring giraffes and elephants.

The mission of the project, Zovath said, is to lend credence to the biblical account of a catastrophic flood and to dispel doubts that Noah could have fit two of every kind of animal in an ark.



However, the notion of providing such incentives for a project with a religious theme drew immediate opposition on grounds of church-state separation and raised the specter of protracted legal battles over the issue.


Americans United for Separation of Church and State executive director Barry W. Lynn criticized Kentucky's decision, saying the state "should not be promoting the spread of fundamentalist Christianity or any other religious viewpoint.


"Let these folks build their fundamentalist Disneyland without government help," he said.
The Creation Museum has shown that tourists will flock to biblical attractions. More than 1 million visitors have visited the creation museum since it opened more than 3 years ago.


Lynn complained Thursday that public officials in Kentucky are subsidizing fundamentalist religion at a time when they should be promoting modern science for Kentucky children.


"This misguided project deserves to sink," he said.

The Government subsidizing something associated with religion. Now that is something I bet a lot of groups were fighting.


Can a place like this succeed in our modern society?


Besides the surprise regarding this one has to think about how this could benefit people. Most of us easily will accept the party line of how great museums, theme parks, and art galleries are, but do we ever think about why? In what ways would this type of attraction be good for people?


Would you get more out of a place like this or a place that is more secular…like our traditional attractions…?

(ORIGINAL LINK) Biblical Theme Park Coming to Kentucky With Government Assistance - FoxNews.com