‘Noah’s Ark’ Opens in Kentucky, USA

A Christian organization in America has reconstructed a large-scale replica of Noah’s Ark and opened it to the public as an amusement park.

This ark replica, which measures 155 meters in length, was built by the Christian organization Answers in Genesis.

Followers of this Christian organization believe that the story of Noah, as narrated in the Bible, the holy book of Christians, is factual and based on a historical event.

The builders of this ark say they even calculated its dimensions based on biblical data: 155 meters in length, 26 meters in width, and 15 meters in height.

Ken Ham, the president of the “Answers in Genesis” organization, stated that building ‘Noah’s Ark’ cost 100 million dollars.

Inside this ark replica are scale models of animals and Noah’s family based on the beliefs and interpretations of the Genesis organization.

The ark even contains models of dinosaurs, as followers of this Christian group believe that the ‘Lord created all creatures, including dinosaurs, approximately 6,000 years ago’.

This is in contrast to scientists, who say dinosaurs went extinct approximately 65 million years ago, before humans appeared on Earth.

The construction of this massive replica in recent years has sparked numerous controversies in the state of Kentucky.

Critics of the project argue that since the hypotheses behind this project contradict accepted scientific theories, the government should not have granted it tax exemptions.

The project received a tax exemption worth 18 million dollars in 2014.

This tax exemption allowed the Genesis organization to be exempt from paying sales tax on ticket revenue from visitors to the project (during its construction period).

However, this exemption was temporarily revoked when it became clear that the Genesis organization intended to hire only Christians for staff positions at the recreation facility. Although after Genesis filed another complaint, the court ruled in favor of this religious organization.

Nevertheless, critics told the Associated Press that exempting ‘Answers in Genesis’ from taxation contradicts the principle of separation of church and state in America.

Jim Helton, one of the critics of ‘Noah’s Ark’ who lives near it, believes: “Simply put, behind this ark is a church that is lying to children who don’t yet have sufficient knowledge about science.”

Bill Nye, a prominent science news figure, is one of the most serious critics of this project, and his face-to-face debate with Ken Ham, the president of ‘Answers in Genesis’ in 2014, which was broadcast via YouTube, attracted approximately 5 million viewers.

Immediately after this debate, Mr. Ham announced that financial contributions to the project had increased, reaching 64 million dollars; a budget that accelerated the construction of ‘Noah’s Ark’.

The builders of Noah’s Ark have stated that they expect to attract two million visitors in the first year after its opening.

Source: BBC