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LostOne4Ever

(9,267 posts)
Wed Aug 20, 2014, 01:13 AM Aug 2014

Creationist's Noah's Ark Theme Park Gets $18 Million Tax Break, Won't Hire Gays, Atheists

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Creationist Ken Ham has very strict standards when it comes to hiring people -- not so strict standards when it comes to accepting donations.

His Ark Encounter theme park late last month was unanimously approved for an $18 million tax break -- paid for by the citizens of Kentucky, thanks to the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority -- and after many years of trying to get his second creationist-motivated museum moving, he says they have secured financing and broken ground. What Ham doesn't say much about is a reported donation worth $1 million from the leader of a certified white supremacist hate group.

"The project is slated to include a facsimile of Noah’s Ark and the Tower of Babel, and will proselytize Christian evangelicalism to patrons, an Answers in Genesis spokesman said," reports an NPR affiliate.

But Daniel Phelps, the president of the Kentucky Paleontological Society and vice president of Kentuckians for Science Education, isn't pleased. In an op-ed at the Lexington Herald-Leader, "Non-Christians need not apply," Phelps explains his concerns.

More at link

Apparently do unto others as you would have them do unto you means that they want to be discriminated against through hiring policies. Not that any self respecting atheist or member of the LGBTQ community would in any way WANT to work for this asshole.

That said, times are hard for many people right now and self respect takes a second seat to earning money to put food on the table

Regardless, if they are going to be discriminatory in their hiring policies they should lose their tax break.
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Creationist's Noah's Ark Theme Park Gets $18 Million Tax Break, Won't Hire Gays, Atheists (Original Post) LostOne4Ever Aug 2014 OP
Now, to find out if Bullshit floats! Warren DeMontague Aug 2014 #1
Lemme guess, it's legal to do that in that state? sakabatou Aug 2014 #2
Yep. Another travesty of Kentucky's politics and priorities theHandpuppet Aug 2014 #3
Another example of profits over people sakabatou Aug 2014 #5
And of religious privilege over minorities (nt) LostOne4Ever Aug 2014 #7
I thought Noah built the damn thing on his own. mr blur Aug 2014 #4
Based on the requirements for working there LostOne4Ever Aug 2014 #6
... Bryce Butler Aug 2014 #8
Or Lot being raped by his daughters. Goblinmonger Aug 2014 #12
If it doesn't actually float.... AlbertCat Aug 2014 #9
I hope a federal court burns it down. AtheistCrusader Aug 2014 #10
Editorial, Louisville Courier-Journal, 2010 onager Aug 2014 #11
I don't object to the tax break... brooklynite Aug 2014 #13
But how would you feel Curmudgeoness Aug 2014 #15
Some christians awoke_in_2003 Aug 2014 #14

theHandpuppet

(19,964 posts)
3. Yep. Another travesty of Kentucky's politics and priorities
Wed Aug 20, 2014, 06:31 AM
Aug 2014

Wasting money by giving millions in tax breaks to Noah's Ark when the Appalachia people in the eastern part of the state live in misery. Want to see how this works? Here's another example that I saved to my journal:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023147631

 

mr blur

(7,753 posts)
4. I thought Noah built the damn thing on his own.
Wed Aug 20, 2014, 06:58 AM
Aug 2014

Who are all those guys operating the cranes and stuff? Cranes?

 

AlbertCat

(17,505 posts)
9. If it doesn't actually float....
Wed Aug 20, 2014, 10:40 AM
Aug 2014

..... will they start over and try again?





And of course, if the Tower of Babel is accurate, English will no longer be the official language in KY.

Right?

onager

(9,356 posts)
11. Editorial, Louisville Courier-Journal, 2010
Wed Aug 20, 2014, 02:23 PM
Aug 2014

Not very long, so I'll post the whole thing.


Creationist tourism

Gov. Steve Beshear needs a vacation. Indeed, he should have taken it this week.

Other than extreme fatigue, how else can one explain his embrace of a project to build a creationism theme park in Northern Kentucky (near the Creation Museum) and the apparent willingness of his administration to offer tourism-development tax incentives to developers of the park?

Even if technically legal (in that the law allowing the tax breaks doesn't discriminate against other religious or anti-religious views), a state role in a private facility that would be built by a group called Answers in Genesis and espouses a fundamentalist view resting on biblical inerrancy indirectly promotes a religious dogma. That should never be the role of government.

Moreover, in a state that already suffers from low educational attainment in science, one of the last things Kentucky officials should encourage, even if only implicitly, is for students and young people to regard creationism as scientifically valid. Creationism is a nonsensical notion that the Earth is less than 6,000 years old. No serious scientist upholds that view, and sophisticated analysis of the Earth's minerals and meteorite deposits generally lead to an estimate that the planet is about 4.5 billion years old. Furthermore, creationism teaches that the Earth (including humans) was created in six days, thus rejecting the well-established science of evolution.

But if the Beshear administration is determined that Kentucky should cash in on its stereotypes - and wants to fight Indiana to snare the theme park - why stop with creationism? How about a Flat-Earth Museum? Or one devoted to the notion that the sun revolves around the Earth? Why not a museum to celebrate the history and pageantry of methamphetamines and Oxycontin? Surely a spot can be found for an Obesity Museum (with a snack bar).

And while we're at it, let's redo the state's slogan. Let's try: Kentucky - Unbridled Laughingstock.

brooklynite

(93,873 posts)
13. I don't object to the tax break...
Wed Aug 20, 2014, 03:43 PM
Aug 2014

It's from the Tourism Authority, dedicated to promoting tourism to Kentucky, and I have no doubt this will attract suckers from all around the country.

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
15. But how would you feel
Wed Aug 20, 2014, 06:58 PM
Aug 2014

if you were having to pay more in taxes so that they could pay less? And this will also be a money-making enterprise (or at least that is the hope of the developers), so why do ordinary working people have to pay taxes to support something like this, even if there are suckers who will show up and pay big bucks to get in?

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