BY KEVIN SAWYER – A former schoolteacher from Australia has completed the construction of a gigantic Noah’s Ark in Kentucky. Ken Ham, a devout, and fundamentalist, Christian, decided to build the ark to prove that the stories in the Bible are true and the actual word of his Christian god. The massive 510 foot long structure is the largest wooden beamed structure in the world and it cost nearly $90 million to build it.
Ham, and his organization, Answers in Genesis, believes that Earth is only 6,000 years old and that the stories told in the Bible are true, especially the one about Noah’s Ark. Aside from many of the cages, Ham has included replica dinosaurs that are caged up because it is his, and other fundamentalist Christians’, contention that humans and dinosaurs co-existed for some time.
The exhibit opens on Thursday in the small town of Williamstown in northern Kentucky.
A high school marching band and a speech by Ham has opened the attraction and theme park. The ark is even complete with its own gift shop. Donations for the project poured in from all 50 states and Ham hopes to attract at least two million visitors in the first year of operation. Ham used over three million feet of wood boards and the ark stands an incredible 80 feet high. If it were a hotel, it could fit 16,000 guests in its massive hulk.
Ham said that, “In a world that is becoming increasingly secularized and biased, it’s time for Christians to do something of this size and magnitude. I believe this is going to be one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history.”
Of course, the religion of science had to weigh in with its outrage and indignation. A local atheist group, who claims to follow the religion of science, said that it was an outrage and that people were raising children who are ignorant of science. The spokesman for the group, the Tri State Freethinkers, Jim Helton, said that such a thing shouldn’t be allowed. He sees it as some sort of violation regarding the separation of church and state.
Ham hopes to expand the park in the future by building a walled city, a replica village from biblical times, and a petting zoo and aviary. the pre-opening ceremonies were held on Tuesday and estimates were that the crowd numbered around 7,000 enthusiastic visitors and supporters.
PHOTO CREDITS: The Associated Press / NPR