Someone deeply fascinated with the Old Testament has decided to recreate an “authentic recreation” of Noah’s Ark which is under construction in Williamstown, Kentucky US, A huge 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and eight stories high.
When the ark is finished, people can pay to see it. Tickets for adults start at $40. Ham called the ark an “evangelical tool.”
“We didn’t build this just to be entertainment like Disney, we built it for a religious purpose,” Ham said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have built it.”
However, The state of Kentucky backs the project and is prepared to give $18 million is sales tax incentives. Job applications have flooded Ark Encounter, but there’s a catch.
Employees must sign a statement of faith that disavows homosexuality, same-sex marriage and premarital sex. Ham said they must also believe in Genesis and Jesus.
Nevertheless, some critics believe the state’s support of the project violates the separation of church and state, including Baptist minister Bob Fox.
“I believe, as a Baptist, in the separation of church and state and I don’t think that the state ought to be involved in promoting any particular religious views,” Fox said. “There’s kinds of laws called ‘Sharia,’ where people have used legislation and the government to promote a religious faith, and I think we as Christians need to be careful that we continue to be Christian, and to be Christian in the context of the United States.”
In response, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said the state doesn’t discriminate against any worthy economic project.
Ham projects that up to 2 million people will visit the ark each year which is expected to open July 7, where it will be presumably staffed by dozens of sex-starved employees.
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