$100m 'Noah's Ark' being built by Aussie teacher
A former Brisbane science teacher is building a mecca for Christians in the US – a $100 million, seven-storey ark.
Ken Ham, the leader of a god-loving empire called Answers in Genesis, has built the giant structure in Kentucky thanks to donations and hopes it will attract devout followers from around the world when it opens in July.
"It really is every bit the quality that you would expect from somewhere like Disney or Universal or Sea World or something like that but it is really meant to impact the culture with the message of Christianity," Ham said of the Ark Encounter.
In 2007, Ham also built the controversial $37 million Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky.
Answers in Genesis is based around the literal interpretation of Genesis and the belief that God created everything in just six days, Ham founded the organisation in Kentucky in 1994 and today has over 420,000 Facebook followers.
"I grew up in a home where were taught that Genesis was history," he said.
"Of course that sounds radically different than people saying billions of years but then I ask people. ‘OK so how do you know the universe is billions of years old?’ I mean you don’t’ see a label on it saying ‘oh, hi we’re billions of years old’."
His beliefs around creation are so strictly adherent to the book of Genesis he claims the world is just 6000 years old and humans walked alongside dinosaurs, which were also present on the ark.
The Ark Encounter website details how this was possible:
"Most dinosaurs were not enormous. The average size of a fully grown dinosaur was roughly the size of a bison," the site says.
Incredibly he also requires anyone working on the ark to sign a statement of faith, agreeing that homosexuality is a sin, that the earth is 6000 years old and that the Bible is literally true.
He hopes to communicate these messages in his Ark Encounter theme park, contained inside a replica of Noah's Ark situated strategically in the heart of the Bible belt.
Former Universal theme park designer Patrick Marsh, a devout Christian who has joined Ham's ministry, is the creative force behind the Ark Encounter.
"I truly think the Ark Encounter is going to be a mecca for so many Christians looking for answers," he said.
"This is a mission from God. That’s exactly how we believe. I think every person that’s here, every designer, every craftsperson is here because they believe that God has specifically sent them here to do this."
But Ham is not without his critics.
Bill Nye is one of America’s most beloved science teachers and he says he can’t ignore the ministry leader’s power and believes he has a responsibility to take him on.
"He’s trouble i mean as they say he can believe whatever he wants. He can run around influence all the adults he wants it’s the kids that are going to be a burden on me"
Earlier this year, the pair agreed to debate each other on creation versus evolution. It became a viral sensation, watched by a global audience of more than 10 million people.
"I want everybody in the world to be scientifically literate to understand what I call our place in space or place in the cosmos."
The Ark has been privately funded but has enjoyed some of the tax breaks the US offers to religious organisations.
"It will be $100 million and that has been funded totally by private donations, no tax money or anything like that has been used, totally privately funded."
The attraction will cost $40 for an adult and will include a restaurant and gift shop.
Additional future phases for the attraction include a pre-Flood walled city, the Tower of Babel, a first-century village, a journey in history from Abraham to the parting of the Red Sea, a walk-through aviary, an expanded petting zoo, and other attractions that will uphold the truth of God’s Word.
