Letters to the Editor Should at Least Show a Grasp of the Subject

In a letter to the editor from the Lexington Herald Leader, this little bit of inaccuracy appeared.  I'm not going to quote the whole letter, you can read it for yourself.  But the writer got a few things in error.  He said that at little kennie ham's ark park public school students will be "presented with a theory".  Talk about incorrect!  Creationism, either the wider Christian version or the narrow Fundamentalist Evangelical Ham version is not a scientific theory and trying to equate it to actual science theories is creating an equality that is completely artificial and misleading.  I have to wonder if the letter writer even knows that in saying something like that, he's actually lying?

Then he goes on to say that neither ham's version of Creationism nor Evolution is scientific, which tells me the people of Kentucky are well served because he ended his letter with "(NOT THE STATE EDUCATION CHIEF)" and I am sure every person in Kentucky should have been breathing as sigh of relief that the writer isn't the chief of education in Kentucky or the state of your educational system would rival the absolute worst in the world.

Then the author goes on to pass on one of kennie's mantras, of how "Both models rely on the exact same body of evidence but the adherents of each interpret the evidence differently."  Does anyone still buy into that anymore? Little kennie doesn't 'come' to a conclusion, he already has his conclusion, it's whatever he interprets from his reading of the Bible. He then ignores the majority of the actual evidence and does his best to twist what little evidence remains to fit his preconceived 'conclusions'. I think we need to use a different word than 'conclusions' when discussing kennie ham. A 'conclusion' is something that occurs at the end of a process.  You can't start with a 'conclusion', as kennie does and then he tries to find a way to back to it no matter how convoluted the path he creates.  Yes, kennie does create his own path, for example the log rafts he claims delivered animals around the world following Noah's flood, that's not in the Bible, but a Hamian invention.  So is his explanation of where the Land of Nod is, and . . . well we could be here all day listing the things kennie invented to rationalize Biblical stories.

The most annoying thing in this letter is the mandate that if education is doing its job then "a field trip to the Ark Encounter should not only be permitted but required".  I have to wonder does this writer work for kennie and he's trying to bump up ark park attendance, especially since preliminary numbers do not seem to be supporting kennie's 2 million a year estimated attendance?  Going against the Constitution of the US and having public schools fund a visit to a specific religious ministry isn't something any school system should be contemplating.

Of course kennie is trying to pass off his ministry as an educational, recreational, or historical attraction, but that's just a recent turn of events ever since he found out some people have an actual understanding of the Bill of Rights and a public school funding a school trip to one of his ministries is a clear violation.  His pseudo-museum and ark park are ministries, something he has stated repeatedly and the purpose of those ministries, in his own words is 

• Our work at Ark Encounter is not just a job, it is also a ministry.
• Our purpose . . . to serve and glorify the Lord with our God-given talents with the goal of edifying believers and evangelizing the lost."
• "Yes, our motive is to do the King’s business until He comes. And that means preaching the gospel and defending the faith, . . ."

Sure, educational, recreational, and historical . . . where?  His own words betray him.  I know the author of the letter already buys what kennie is selling, but looking at the many comments about the letter, not too many other people are.  The bodes well for Kentucky's future.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article93154457.html#storylink=cpy

Follow up on the Ark Park

Here's a quick follow-up to "The 'Ark Park' is not an Educational Institution! Nor is its purpose Recreational or Historical!"

Kennie Ham has double-downed his whine toward the Freedom From Religion Foundation.  He's offering public school who organize a field trip a price decrease.  Instead of $28 per child, they can get preached at for $1.00 a child and the accompanying teacher can get in for free.  Imagine that, a 96% price decrease.  How incredible, it must be a miracle!

And, yet another bout of discrimination, and this one is against his own believers.  If your parochial school organizes a field trip, you get to pay full price.  Yes, a public school trip of 20 students and two teachers will run $20, but a Christian school trip will run $640, $28 per child and $40 each for the teachers.  I guess you don't need to cut believers a break.  We now know who kennie really, really wants to visit his church, don't we?  Believers get to foot the bill so he can preach to children who don't share his narrow worldview.

Here's what I see happening.  The majority of teachers and schools will ignore kennie's monument to himself.  But a few might get caught up in his delusion.  While you would normally assume teachers would know better, there are always instances where a teacher is also a believer of such fervor, that sense is overwhelmed by their religious beliefs.  Just ask John Freshwater and a pair of teachers  I read about just today concerning a school in Texas:

" . . . complaint alleged that one teacher showed the Christian movie, “God’s Not Dead,” to his ninth-grade health class in the spring of 2015 and other another showed a documentary about the theory of intelligent design to a ninth-grade biology class."
when a science teacher said they didn't believe in evolution and showed their students "Expelled!" and also the Christian movie "God is not Dead!" (source)

At least one parent, probably more, will object and find a lawyer.  The school system could very well end up in a costly litigation, something like the Dover Trial . . . and guess what that would cost little kennie . . . not one damn dime.  Plus he will get hours of airtime and inches of newspaper columns of free publicity.  Hopefully it won't come to that, but some teacher will probably put his religious beliefs ahead of his duties as a public school teacher and not only lower the education standard of their students, but place their school system in a precarious legal position!

I wonder what the DI is going to say about any of this?  I imagine they will be cheering kennie on, after all it won't cost them anything if Kentucky loses.  I wonder how many Kentucky lawmakers are they hitting up with a copy of their 'academic freedom' bill?

The 'Ark Park' is not an Educational Institution! Nor is its purpose Recreational or Historical!

Make no mistake about it, in kennie ham's own words, his 'Ark Encounter' is a ministry, nothing more and nothing less.  He said it back in 2011 when he posted for one of his earliest Ark Park job openings:

The first paragraph of the Summary section is a little hard to read, here is what it says:

"Our work at Ark Encounter is not just a job, it is also a ministry. Our employees work together as a team to serve each other to produce the best solutions for our design requirements. Our purpose through the Ark Encounter is to serve and glorify the Lord with our God-given talents with the goal of edifying believers and evangelizing the lost."

Those are his words, not mine.  I just added the underlining for a little emphasis. Back a couple of weeks ago, kennie wrote this about the reasons he built his ark:

"Yes, our motive is to do the King’s business until He comes. And that means preaching the gospel and defending the faith, . . ."

So when you think of his ark park, in fact when you think of his pseudo-museum as well, you have to think an incredibly narrow Evangelical Christianity viewpoint and, most certainly, a ministry.

That being said, should public school students visit either his ark park or his pseudo-museum on school trips?

Let's ask it a slightly different, but more accurate way.  Would you support your local public school making a school trip to a Catholic Church for Mass? 

Of course not!  Don't get annoyed for me picking out the Catholic Church, I figured it was better to have a specific religion in the question, because that makes a much better analogy to Ham's places of worship.  So why would you send them to ham's church to be preached at?  That's what it is, isn't it? It's a ministry for preaching the gospel.  Plus, if you have ever visited his pseudo-museum you know it's not even the gospel of Christianity, but it's the gospel according to kennie ham.

OK, as reported over on The Panda's Thumb, "Atheist group warns public schools against field trips to Ark Park …", the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a “warning” to more than 1000 school districts in Kentucky and neighboring states, advising them against field trips to the Ark Park. Of course, kennie had to respond . . . nothing really unexpected.  But what bothered me was how he tried to re-label his ark park . . . here is a quote:

"To repeat: as long as a school trip fits an educational, recreational, or historical purpose, for example, it would be constitutionally appropriate."

So, instead of being a ministry, now he is claiming educational, historical, and recreational purposes? Do you, or anyone, actually believe a visit to ham's ark park or pseudo-museum has a purpose that is educational, recreational, or historical?  Seriously?  Look at his original purpose, "edifying believers, evangelizing the lost, preaching the gospel and defending the faith."  Again, his words, not mine.  He's a garden variety preacher, selling his religion, and gets really whiny when anyone reminds him of that.  If he hadn't spent other people's money to build this monument to his own ego, he would have a revival tent somewhere.

He not only has a license to discriminate against Kentucky workers who don't share his religious beliefs, now he wants public schools to fund trips to his ministry so he can market his incredibly narrow set of religious beliefs to students, claiming educational -- of only his personal religion, historical -- of a flood that has no evidence of actually happening, or recreational -- people always have so much fun being preached at, don't they?

I have said it before and I have to say it again.  Kennie Ham's idea of religious freedom is not based on the Constitution, not matter he claims, nor is it based on even the idea of actual religious freedom.  He doesn't want anyone to have the freedom to believe as they wish, he demands that everyone believe as he does!  And if you don't wish to give him the opportunity to preach to school children, he calls you an 'antireligious zealot'.  Zealotry, bigotry, and discrimination seem to be the hallmarks of kennie and his ilk, not those who don't wish to give him free reign in his preaching.

I hope public schools keep as far away from his religious zealotry as possible.  Even if you share some of his beliefs.  A visit to one of his 'edifices to himself' isn't to share your common ground, but so he can tell you how wrong you are because you don't share all of his beliefs, narrow as they are

Good luck Kentucky!  You let him build this foolishness in your state.  The question I have is are you going to continue to support it, especially after giving him a license to discriminate?

Kenticky Lawmakers never seem to learn. Ark Park wants more help!

Article from the National Center for Science Education "Extending summer vacation for the sake of creationism?".  The title pretty much says it all.  Two lawmakers are apparently sucking up to kennie ham for some reason I will never understand.

Let's see, kennie ham starts another project, claiming it would be a for-profit tourist attraction and asked for Kentucky help to get it going, claiming pretty astronomical number of tourists will be visiting his 'Ark Park'.  Kentucky jumped in and offered several forms of help.  While I disagreed, my initial disagreement was more based on not trusting kennie ham and knowing kennie was the one who drew up the tourist figures and not an objective party fed that mistrust.

What happened next was kennie started advertising for employees at his new park, he did it through his Answers in Genesis ministry and was inflicting several requirements on applicants, like signing his statement of faith.  (Kentucky Common Sense Part II) That flew in the face of complying with the employment laws he promised he would follow, you know the ones about not discriminating based on a number of factors, including religion.  So you can see that kennie not only wanted state assistance ($$), but he wants to discriminate in hiring, of course Kentucky pulled their support -- as required by law.

Aside from the fact little kennie trying to paint himself as the victim of religious discrimination, he apparently also has a couple of pet lawmakers trying to 'help' him again.  This time by extending summer vacation so there would be more time for people to visit his ark park.  Are you kidding me?  Why be so covert, why don't they just pass a law making a visit to kennie's abortions mandatory?  Does kneeling before kennie a requirement to win elections in Kentucky?

Kentucky, isn't it time to stop?  If kennie's tourist numbers are right, he shouldn't need any help.  If his numbers are off, then he deserves to foot the bill.  In any event, the State of Kentucky needs to draw a hard line and tell kennie that he and his ministries are on their own.  If you don't think his ark park is a ministry, you might remember this from his original job application:

"Our work at Ark Encounter is not just a job, it is also a ministry. Our employees work together as a team to serve each other to produce the best solutions for our design requirements. Our purpose through the Ark Encounter is to serve and glorify the Lord with our God-given talents with the goal of edifying believers and evangelizing the lost."

It is nothing but a ministry, and it's time the State of Kentucky ends any subsidies.

Latest on the Ark Park Ministry

Does this surprise anyone, kennie ham calling the Ark Park a  . . . well you can read some of it for yourself if you want, the headline is: "Ark Encounter—A Great Evangelistic Outreach".  So right there in the headline is 'Evangelistic', gee!  Isn't it time for the lawmakers and citizens of Kentucky to wake up and realize they are giving away potential revenue and other incentives for a totally religious purpose?  Not even a generic religious purpose, but one for a very specific religion!  I would assume so, but they don't seem to care.

Let's quote a few more lines from his post(I added the underlines for emphasis):

•  ". . .we are now starting construction of the evangelistic Ark Encounter project . . ."
• "When you think about the fact that the Ark Encounter will be one of the greatest evangelistic outreaches of our time . . ."
• "I believe the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum will be two of the most powerful evangelistic outreaches in the world today!"
• "How many other centers are boldly, unashamedly, and uncompromisingly standing on God’s Word? Defending our faith against the attacks of our day? Equipping Christians of all ages with answers? Challenging non-Christians with the truth of God’s Word and the saving gospel?"

Does anyone actually believe the whole artificial structure kennie and his folks built to con the people of Kentucky out of revenue?  Really?  The Ark Park is an Evangelical Christian Ministry, nothing more. The people of Kentucky should realize that, and also realize that it's for a narrow sect of Christianity and not even one that is particularly inclusive.  Little kennie doesn't seem to believe that Christians who don't share his narrow view of things even have the right to call themselves Christians.  Instead I propose we should rename kennie's followers to 'hamians' to be able to more easily distinguish them from actual Christians!

The rest of kennie's post is about how he and his ministries keep coming under attack.  Nothing new there.  Anyone who dares to be critical of kennie is obviously the enemy and any criticism is called an 'attack', and not just a plain and ordinary attack, an 'atheistic attack'.  He does mention 'blog posts', I do so hope he counts my little effort here under that heading, it would make me so proud!

So just to be clear, if you oppose anything little kennie does you are not only not a Christian, but you are an atheist and your criticism is an attack.  That seems to hold true even if the rest of the Christian community accepts you as a Christian and also regardless of your actual religious beliefs.

 . . . A brief aside . . .

Let me tell you what annoys me about little kennie more than anything else.  I would like you to remember a lady named Tammy Kitzmiller.  She was a parent in the Dover PA school district and one of the 11 parents who were plaintiffs in the Dover suit.  For whatever reason her name was listed first so the suit is commonly referred to as Kitzmiller v. The Dover Area School District. According to Lauri Lebo's excellent book "The Devil in Dover" and many articles about the trial, Ms Kitzmiller suffered verbal abuse and attacks from self-identified Christians.  In a York Dispatch article they mentioned some of it:

• One letter she received, scrawled in big letters across a sheet of yellow notebook paper, begins, "When you open your eyes in hell. ..."
• One boy at school told the girls to tell their mother to "go to hell," delivering the message through a third person.
• The atmosphere worsened as campaigning began for a hotly contested school board election and people prepared for the trial. There were nasty phone calls and confrontations in restaurants and on the streets.

Imagine what your life is like when you stand against obvious injustice, when you publicly voice opposition to something the local school board was doing that is patently illegal!  You get ostracized by members of your own community, often people you once considered friends and neighbors.  These were attacks, enough to have her stop her daughters from even answering the phone!  This isn't the only example.  I believe the parents who sued John Freshwater after he burned a cross into their son's arm also received similar backlash. The members of the Iowa State University, after they refused to give Guillermo Gonzalez tenure -- tenure let me remind you that he failed to earn -- were vilified by some online blogs and posts, same with Ball State University's president, Jo Ann M. Gora and the whole Hedin/Gonzalez issue (yes, the same Gonzalez who screwed up so spectacularly at ISU).

Little, small-minded, kennie ham is the same sort of person who would encourage such behavior.  That's what he's doing when he calls anyone who criticizes him as an atheist.  Does he know what religion someone is by their critique of his actions?  Of course not!  But he's quick to label because nothing bring out the ire of a Christian, especially an Evangelical Christian, like the label 'atheist'.  In my opinion kennie views anyone who doesn't agree with him an atheist.  That's crap, but that's just what I have some to expect from little kennie.  Of course his 'defense' if you can call it that, is a form that old favorite 'But God is on my side!' and he seems to think that excuses his behavior! 

  . . . OK, soapbox put away and now back to the main reason for this post . . .

I did enjoy his closing paragraph (again, I added the underline):

"If you are looking to invest time, prayer, and finances in a Christian ministry and see a great spiritual return, I believe the evangelistic Ark is a great Kingdom investment opportunity!"

And after touting the recent successes, and the gaining of more State incentives . . . and after whining and crying about any form of criticism being an attack . . . he hits up his 'hamians' up for more money.  Plus he's offering a great spiritual return, not even a mention of a financial return.  Little kennie ham has no shame!  In my opinion, kennie is the modern equivalent of the snake oil salesman! 

Tactics may change, but strategies . . . never!

Ken Ham must be reacting to critics.  I, and a number of others, have pointed out that Kennie Ham and the Ark Park should not be taking Kentucky money and incentives while discriminating on hiring practices.  As far back as 2011 this was noticed (here) and more recently the same issue with a job posting for the Ark Park.  The bottom line was kennie required you sign the AiG Statement of Faith as part of the application process.  The way it was worded, you HAD to sign before submitting your application.

Well I am pleased to report that requirement appears to have disappeared.  However . . . and you knew there had to be a however . . . The Sensuous Curmudgeon, whose blog I read regularly, reported that as you go deeper into the application process you have to answer several questions and requests for information that seem a bit suspect:

• How old would you estimate the earth to be?
• Please provide your Salvation testimony:
• Please provide your Creation belief statement:
• Please write the confirmation of your agreement with the AiG Statement of Faith:

OK, more than a bit suspect. Instead of requiring you you sign it, you have to write your confirmation of your agreement.  So I guess he can swear on a stack of Bibles that he wasn't requiring applicants to sign the statement itself.  Yea, real honest, kennie!

What makes this worse is you get to these questions AFTER you read that AiG doesn't discriminate. Yes, believe it or not, this is on the site before you get to those questions:

"Answers in Genesis, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, sex, age, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, citizenship status, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. We prohibit discrimination in decisions concerning recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, training, termination, promotions, or any other condition of employment or career development." 

So what really happened here is AiG, after getting some flack, took their requirement to sign their Statement of Faith off the front page and buried the equivalent in the application itself, along with several other questions regarding an applicant's religious beliefs and how they relate to AiG's and, of course that mans kennie ham's beliefs.  They also added a disclaimer, I guess people are supposed to read that and believe that kennie isn't being discriminatory!  If anyone believes that, I still have this bridge in Brooklyn I need to get off my hands.

First question is  . . . and I am not a human relations expert so I really don't know . . . but is it legal to ask these questions?  Supposedly the Ark Park is a for profit public company.  Add in that they are taking Kentucky money and tax incentives for the tourism they are supposedly going to bring into the park  Regardless of the legality, it's pretty obvious that the information will be used to filter applicants well before the process gets to the interview stage.  That's called discrimination, plain and simple!

Second question . . . posting that you don't discriminate and then asking questions designed to discriminate . . . isn't that lying?  Now according to my understanding of kennie's religious beliefs, isn't that a sin?  Well it is, but we are dealing with kennie ham and it certainly didn't bother him to lie before (Turnabout is fair play!), lying for Jesus is apparently an acceptable tactic.

Final question . . . why are the people and politicians of Kentucky putting up with it?  That's the part that I don't understand, that's the part I will never understand.  You shouldn't be paying for kennie's follies!  You certainly shouldn't be paying for someone who will violate Federal and State hiring practices!

Kennie Ham is still making a fool out of Kentucky!

The people in the Great State of Kentucky should be outraged!  Back in 2011 I posted the following "Kentuckians, kennie ham is making a mockery of you!".  It was a post about how Answers In Genesis (AIG), a non-profit Evangelical Christian Ministry, is hiring people for jobs at the Ark Encounter Park, a for-profit business.  That was over three years ago.  Since then little kennie has struggled with funding and Kentucky has offered him even more tax breaks for his Noah's Ark replica.

Here we are in 2014 and AIG is still doing it.  "The dishonesty continues from Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis" lays out exactly what was happening.  Once again AIG, who also runs another ministry, the poorly named Creation 'Museum', is still advertising for positions.  The first part of the job opening says:

"Our work at Ark Encounter is not just a job, it is also a ministry. Our employees work together as a team to serve each other to produce the best solutions for our design requirements. Our purpose through the Ark Encounter is to serve and glorify the Lord with our God-given talents with the goal of edifying believers and evangelizing the lost."

In order to be considered you must also sign a:

• Creation belief statement
• Confirmation of your agreement with the AiG Statement of Faith (If you need a real laugh, you really need to check out their statement of faith.  It's hilarious and, in my opinion, should be illegal for a for-profit business who is using State tax money and incentives. 

Why are the people in Kentucky putting up with this?  I believe little kennie is ripping you off and breaking your own employment laws.  He's claiming since the employees will be working for AIG, he can flout the law and have them working on a for-profit business!  If this continues I expect someone to eventually sue AIG/Creation Museum/Ark Park Ministries and also name the State of Kentucky as defendants for letting them get away with it.

Based on this, what I think should happen is any and all tax breaks, subsidies, and incentives should be removed from little kennie and his pet project.  Unless he complies with existing laws and it's proven he has done so.  You shouldn't be subsidizing his ministries.  Plans to expand the roads and upgrade highway exits should be put on hold until his Park is up, running, and drawing in the 'crowds' little kennie has claimed it would.  I believe it was his own study that predicts fairly large numbers of tourists. 

More to Kentuckians, you are certainly betting on the wrong horse!

Just caught this from Jen McCreight over on Blag Hag,"What exactly is Christian about being gay?" Apparently two guys attempted to attend 'Date Night' at the Creation Museum. It's not what you might think, the girl friends of two of the guys had to cancel out. I guess this led to a mistake and a couple of security guards refused admittance. In the words of one of the guards "How exactly is it Christian to be gay?" An attempt was made to explain, but I guess once the idea of 'gay' sank in, the guards were taking no chances.

Does any of this surprise you? I mean Creation Museum and kennie ham . . . homophobia? (Remember the letter sent to PZ Myers before the Aug 2009 visit from him and members of the SSA? Specifically called out as a no-no was . . . you guessed it, homosexual behavior.) So this really isn't much of a stretch, more business as usual.

However, this is the Creation Museum who apparently welcome . . . well here, read it for yourself:

"Anyway, the great irony is that while two men were not allowed to attend the Creation Museum last night, guess who they are welcoming with open arms today? None other than Jeffrey Bornhoeft, a lovely fellow making his first trip out of Ohio since the time that he shot his ex-wife's husband three times in the head 11 years ago. Jeffrey is OK though, because he's totally not into dudes." (No same sex couples allowed at the Creation Museum Date Night (UPDATE))

So, Kentucky Christians, you can go to the Creation 'Museum' and soon its other new ministry, Ark Encounters, and you can rest assured that you won't see any gay couples; however, you can run into a guy -- who was found not guilty by reason of insanity after shooting his ex's husband three times -- on his first out-of-state visit in 11 years. Does that make you feel better?

Kentuckians, kennie ham is making a mockery of you!

OK, I haven't written to much on the Ark Encounters, more because there have been so many other things to bring up. But I think kennie ham and his supporters in the government of the Great State of Kentucky are smoking crack and they seem to think they can get away with it.

OK, what has me so annoyed. I really don't care if little kennie wants to spend more of other folks money and create his little monument to his own inadequacies. It really doesn't bother me that he formed a public company in order to solicit money from the State of Kentucky. I don't even care that their vote pandering Governor is going along with it. The reason none of that bothers me is because while I disagree with it, they still have the right to be as foolish as they wish. If the people of Kentucky want to support them -- that's their right.

However; and you knew there had to be a however. Little kennie is advertising job openings at the Ark Encounter. Now please remember this is a park supposedly being done by a secular company and using some amount of public funds and tax incentives to do so. So can anyone tell me why do:

"All job applicants need to supply a written statement of their testimony, a statement of what they believe regarding creation and a statement that they have read and can support the AiG statement of faith."

Yes, if public funds and tax incentives are given for this park, the employment opportunities should follow State guidelines! I don't have a link to those guidelines handy, but isn't that the law in Kentucky?

Suppose someone asked you to do this during a job interview? How quickly would you be looking for a lawyer to sue for some sort of discrimination? And you would be justified! Little kennie can get away with it for folks working at his ministry -- and make no bones about it AiG (AiG's about page) and the Creation 'Museum' (an outreach of AiG) are nothing but ministries. However Ark Encounters isn't supposed to be one. During a recent interview on Anderson Coopers 360 little kennie side stepped the question about trying to convert people to remind us, yet again, that the company running it is a separate for-profit company, not a non-profit ministry. So this requirement makes it plain that Ark Encounters is an extension of the Creation 'Museum' and AiG and so there should be no question of public assistance. Tell kennie that the till is closed.

Anyone else feel more than a little bit of not-particularly-ethical Pinocchio-ism going on here? I think now is the time for the folks in Kentucky to start telling the Governor and his cronies that enough is enough. Either kennie ham plays by the rules, or he can build his little playhouse without any state money or tax incentives! Come folks from Kentucky, it really is time!