Kentucky to give up to $18 million Tax Subsidy for Religious Nonsense

[jbluhm86]

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2016/02/20/after-legal-victory-noahs-ark-rises/80601668/

 

Williamstown, Ky. – Less than a month after winning a legal victory in the quest for $18 million worth of state tax incentives, builders of Kentucky’s second major Biblical theme park said Saturday that the giant $92 million Noah’s Ark replica will be largely finished by May and is on track to open in July.

On Saturday, Ken Ham, founder of the Christian group Answers in Genesis, touted progress amid the construction at the Ark Encounter, a 510-foot wooden ship as described in the Old Testament that now rises eight stories above the rolling rural hills of Grant County near Interstate 75.

Surrounding it will be a petting zoo, theater, cafes, gift shop and 4,000-space parking lot – all located 45 miles south of same group’s Creation Museum, which presents a literal interpretation of Genesis and argues the Earth is only 6,000 years old and that dinosaurs and humans co-existed.

As such, the Ark will feature 132 exhibits including wooden cages with sculptures of various animals and “of course there is going to be some dinosaurs,” Ham said.

Ham predicted the new park will draw more than 1 million visitors a year, and he said a main goal is to persuade visitors that story of Noah’s Ark is literal history.

“Today a lot of people just scoff at the idea that Noah could fit the animals onboard. This is going to help them say, ‘Hmmm, this could have been feasible,’” he said, predicting that the well-known story would allow it to outstrip the 300,000 visitors who attend the Creation Museum each year.

Outside the Ark, constructed of more than 3 million board feet of lumber from the western U.S. and New Zealand, the wood siding was nearly complete. The skeleton of the bow and stern were visible near several concrete towers buttressing the ship. Inside, 55-foot lodge polls reached from the concrete pad to the roof. Bays were labeled with signs reading “Noah’s workshop,” and chandeliers made to look like oil lamps hung from the ceiling near wood cages.

Ark officials said the design was based on dimensions in the Bible with an eye toward 4,000-year-old shipbuilding methods. Ham said future phases will include a pre-Flood walled city and rendition of the Tower of Babel, a first-century Middle Eastern village and other elements.

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The progress follows a high-profile battle with Kentucky over tourism incentives and religious-based hiring.

Last year, after the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet rejected the group’s application for up to $18 million in state tax incentives based on its “religious purpose and message,” the group filed a federal lawsuit. In January, a U.S. District Judge ruled the state could not exclude the ark attraction based on those reasons, and Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin declined to appeal.

AiG still must get the incentives approved and no hearing has been set, but Ham said he expects they will be approved. Ark officials said they’ve raised all but $6 million of the initial cost of the Ark structure from bonds, donations and memberships.

Critics continue to object to the group presenting Biblical stories being backed by science, when established science runs counter to those claims.

Although some consider it “an embarrassment to the state,” said Dan Phelps, who heads the Kentucky Paleontological Society, “the tax incentive is what most people object to.”

Others, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, have objected to Answers in Genesis using religious preferences in hiring. On its website, an Answers in Genesis job opening based in Williamstown requires applicants to submit a “salvation testimony,” a “creation belief statement” and a “confirmation of agreement with the AiG Statement of Faith.”

Ham on Saturday said they haven’t decided what criteria will be used once Ark Encounter hiring begins in earnest, but the group was “not going to give up our right for hiring people with religious preference.”

And he dismissed criticisms.

“Most of the scoffers and those who are criticizing us, they’re from a small group,” he said.

While attendance projections have been disputed, Ham expects the first “40 days and 40 nights” starting in July, when day and nighttime tickets can be purchased, will bring heavy crowds and would be a big economic benefit to the area.

[bbedward]

Oy vey

[One Post]

If the taxpayers are flipping the billl then they should start taxing the churches.

[OldBrownsFan]

Looking forward to seeing it.

[jbluhm86]

If the taxpayers are flipping the billl then they should start taxing the churches.

 

What gets me is that these are probably some of the same people who sued to be able to opt out of Obamacare based on freedom of religion and separation of church and state, because they didn't want to pay for contraceptives, yet they see no problem walking hat in hand to get state tax breaks/funds to support their religion...because, freedom of religion and all that...

[MLD Woody]

We're subsidizing scientific ignorance?

[jbluhm86]

Seems so.

[Westside Steve]

 

What gets me is that these are probably some of the same people who sued to be able to opt out of Obamacare based on freedom of religion and separation of church and state, because they didn't want to pay for contraceptives, yet they see no problem walking hat in hand to get state tax breaks/funds to support their religion...because, freedom of religion and all that...

Obamacare? That bums you out? Well gee whiz I'd rather go to Kentucky and hang around a big fake ark then take it up the ass every month thanks to the Obamacare snafu.

(actually that thing sounds like fun)

 

WSS

[jbluhm86]

Obamacare? That bums you out? Well gee whiz I'd rather go to Kentucky and hang around a big fake ark then take it up the ass every month thanks to the Obamacare snafu.

(actually that thing sounds like fun)

 

WSS

 

Be sure to get a photo of you riding a dinosaur while you're down there.

[jbluhm86]

Well Steve, perhaps I was a bit vague or reaching on my Obamacare comment, so i'll temporary move past that to let me concretize the main point of my argument.

 

To me, this is a black and white issue. Either there is separation of church and state, or there is not:

 

1) If there is not, then it would be legally valid to grant tax subsidies or state/federal monies to religious institutions or projects, such as in the case of Kentucky's tax incentives going to this ridiculous ark project. But what people must understand is that this is a slippery slope, because it opens the door for government endorsement of all religions, not just the judeo-christian one. Today, it's Kentucky giving tax breaks to Ken Ham's boondoggle, but tomorrow, perhaps, the City of Cleveland would have to give tax breaks to a Muslim group wishing to build a Islamic center. Or, how about millions in Ohio tax incentives going to the Church of Scientology so they can build a lifesized model of the DC-8 spacecraft that Xenu used to shuttle his people to Earth before he threw them into volcanoes? (seriously, they believe this shit. Look it up). Further still, how would you feel about the federal government giving the Church of Satan millions in your tax dollars to build a 60-ft tall Lucifer statue, akin to the former "Touchdown Jesus" statue near my home in Butler County? These ideas may seem ridiculous, but if these institutions were to use the freedom of religion claim like the Creation Museum used in this case, then how could the government reasonably deny them subsidies? To me, this is insanity, and that is why I prefer the second option:

 

2) There is a clear separation between church and state - the freedom for people to practice whatever religion that suits them - or no religion at all - is protected by a secular, impartial government structure that does not endorse any religion by use of tax breaks or tax dollars, and does not make policy based on any specific religious doctrine or values.

 

 

To me, these are the only two options that are available in the relationship between religious belief and the processes of government.. There is no such thing as a lukewarm hell, metaphorically speaking, in this situation; either the government must fully endorse and fund all religious ideologies, and fund them equally, or not at all.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[Westside Steve]

JB

To your question about whether there is separation of church and state or not, I say there is not and I don't care.

 

I believe that portion of our mistaken beliefor originated a couple centuries ago down south so the Protestants could keep the Catholics from having too much political power.

 

But as long as churches are not taxed, you can avoid military service because of religious beliefs or be exempt from anything on the basis of your faith there is not a true separation.

Personally I guess this thing will bring revenue to the state just like Dollywood and Kennywood. And provide jobs for the locals. I don't care if it's shaped like an ark or as a Magic Castle and features a talking bush instead of a talking mouse.

 

 

WSS

[LogicIsForSquares]

Bevin is a religious nutter so I am not shocked that he would just let it slide on the tax payer's dime.

[Clevfan4life]

socialism is evil till it isn't huh? This is why the republican party is so fucking dysfunctional. They'll label someone who talks about socializing education, something that "may" greatly benefit our economy, an evil commie but some state goes to it's taxpayers to foot the bill for a "theme park" and not a peep. A 92 million replica ark? Are you fucking kidding me? 100 amish guys could build it for less than 100k. Guarandamntee the people building that stupid park are related somehow to some donor or something generally corrupt like that. And charging the state 92 fucking million for a wood ship.

[MLD Woody]

If someone said they couldn't join the military for religious reasons, I wouldn't want them to anyway.

[jbluhm86]

Just to clarify Cleve, Ken Ham's organization isn't asking for $92 million from Kentucky; the total price tag for the ark project is $92 million. They are getting $18 million in tax incentives from Kentucky; the remaining balance is coming from the Creation Museum and donations. And I'm sure not all of the G.O.P is in lockstep with Gov. Bevin on using state funds to subsidize religious projects; it would just be nice if their voice was heard more loudly.

[OldBrownsFan]

If someone said they couldn't join the military for religious reasons, I wouldn't want them to anyway.

 

As long as we can do it I think we are much better off having an all volunteer military without a draft. As it stands today you have a military made up of people with much better attitudes who are there because they wanted to be in the military. JMO.

[gftChris]

It's a trade off between potential income from out of town tourists coming to Jesusland against the precedent of having to do the same for other religious groups and promoting scientific ignorance.

 

IMO, I'd avoid, but I can see why they might give the tax break.

[MLD Woody]

 

As long as we can do it I think we are much better off having an all volunteer military without a draft. As it stands today you have a military made up of people with much better attitudes who are there because they wanted to be in the military. JMO.

Or because they had no other option... Just sayin

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Or because they had no other option... Just sayin

Its not as easy to get into the military as you seem to think. And to stay in is even harder.

[tiamat63]

Its not as easy to get into the military as you seem to think. And to stay in is even harder.

 

Sure, now its more difficult. "Peace time" military. Circa 2001-2007? Different story.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

 

Sure, now its more difficult. "Peace time" military. Circa 2001-2007? Different story.

Sure, but you have to be willing to put your ass on the line also. Not like working in a cube punching out at 5 and going home to Moma (or whatever).

[MLD Woody]

This is just anecdotal evidence, but the military didn't exactly get the all stars from my high school.

 

No doubt there are talented, driven, hard working people that enlist because they want to. But I've also seen people join that don't really have anything else going for them

[DieHardBrownsFan]

This is just anecdotal evidence, but the military didn't exactly get the all stars from my high school.

 

No doubt there are talented, driven, hard working people that enlist because they want to. But I've also seen people join that don't really have anything else going for them

Of course. Thats true in any job. But successfully making a career of it is a different story. I dealt with a lot of dirt bags as a Master at Arms believe me.

[gftChris]

I'm sure the army is actually very good for a lot of the dregs of society, whether they realise it before joining or not. I'd generally be in favour of national service, with the option to opt out and do community service instead or something.