A Christian group in Kentucky has spent over $100 million building a 510-foot-long replica of Noah’s Ark to build a tourist attraction that will be opening up this week. The attraction, built in Williamstown, Kentucky by the Christian group Answers in Genesis, features replica animals stuffed inside of cages inside of the giant ark, built from Biblical descriptions to scale, including dinosaurs.
According to the LA Times, the ark will be teaching a very Christian attempt at science by featuring dinosaurs as a part of the exhibit, even though there is no scientific way any of that makes sense considering dinosaurs existed more than 65 million years ago, long before science has been able to prove humanity in its current form ever existed. The project was stalled out, funding-wise, before Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham would publicly debate Bill Nye about evolution via the Internet, which turned into a publicity stunt that was able to kickstart the project and allow them to raise enough money to finish the project.
One of the major points of contention over the park — other than scientific inaccuracies — is that the project was given government tax incentives valued up to $18 million. Locals have been critical of the project and the tax incentives for a project that is clearly religious in nature and has no real links to science, including Jim Helton of the Tri-State Freethinkers.
“Basically, this boat is a church raising scientifically illiterate children and lying to them about science.”
Regardless of the criticism or stalled funding and derision from former television science guys, the project is completed and will be open to the public starting on Thursday, July 7th, 2016.
(Via The LA Times)