Tax Funded Scientific Ignorance (In Creationist Kentucky)

From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Gov. Steve Beshear said Wednesday that a creationism theme park, expected to open in Northern Kentucky in 2014, would have a $250 million annual impact on the state’s economy.

Ark Encounter, which will feature a 500-foot-long wooden replica of Noah’s Ark containing live animals such as juvenile giraffes, is projected to cost $150 million and create 900 jobs, Beshear announced at a Capitol press conference.

“Make no mistake about it, this is a huge deal,” he said.

And:

The project is a collaboration between Ark Encounters LLC, a for-profit company in Springfield, Mo., and Answers in Genesis, a non-profit organization that runs the Creation Museum in Boone County.

Ark Encounters plans to build the park and Answers and Genesis plans to operate it.

Beyond whatever Chuch-State issues are present when an obviously religious project like this could be reimbursed $37 million in tax incentives, I want to take a look at what they're teaching in this "museum."

Ben Armbruster at Thinkprogress is reporting that the ark in question will, of course, have dinosaurs in it.

What's Answers In Genesis?

From their website:

The 66 books of the Bible are the written Word of God. The Bible is divinely inspired and inerrant throughout. Its assertions are factually true in all the original autographs. It is the supreme authority in everything it teaches. Its authority is not limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes but includes its assertions in such fields as history and science.

And:

Scripture teaches a recent origin for man and the whole creation, spanning approximately 4,000 years from creation to Christ.

The days in Genesis do not correspond to geologic ages, but are six [6] consecutive twenty-four [24] hour days of creation.

The Noachian Flood was a significant geological event and much (but not all) fossiliferous sediment originated at that time.

The gap theory has no basis in Scripture.

The view, commonly used to evade the implications or the authority of biblical teaching, that knowledge and/or truth may be divided into secular and religious, is rejected.

By definition, no apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the scriptural record. Of primary importance is the fact that evidence is always subject to interpretation by fallible people who do not possess all information.

Young Earth Creationism.

It's that last part that's the most anti-scientific. Whereas real science collects data and then attempts to explain that data with various (and at times competing) hypotheses. The hypothesis that best explains all of the data is the one regarded as being closest to the truth.

Fake science like Young Earth Creationism has stated up front that anything that contradicts The Bible is simply factually incorrect.

It's not science, it's intellectual rubbish.

It's also intellectually damaging. From the Courier-Journal:

The National Center for Science Education asserts that “students who accept this material as scientifically valid are unlikely to succeed in science courses at the college level.”

Ignorance begets ignorance.

Welcome to America, a Christian Nation.