Biblical Theme Park Plans May Meet Different Fates In Kentucky, Tennessee

As a huge replica of Noah's Ark looks to prepare for a voyage to northern Kentucky, where it would anchor a proposed $150-million biblical theme park, former opponents of similar projects are warning that the park could end up being a massive boondoggle.

As The Lexington Herald-Leader reports, Murfreesboro and Lebanon, Tenn. both rejected plans for "Bible Park USA" on the grounds that the park's would-be developers couldn't back up their claims that new jobs and revenue they created would justify generous tax incentives and other accommodations.

"We just kept asking questions, and they couldn't provide any information," Dave Kirkey of Lebanon, one of the park's opponents, told the Herald-Leader. When the developers upped their request for tax incentives from $35 million to $60 million, he said, the town balked.

And despite preliminary approval for Kentucky's Ark Encounter to receive upward of $37 million in state funds to cover their costs, some appear worried that "public officials have not seen or released any financial information about Ark Encounter's investors," according to the Herald-Leader.

So far, the only information that Kentuckians have to judge the merits of the project on is an economic impact study conducted by Answers in Genesis, the group hoping to build the amusement park by 2014.

Final deliberations will rely on a separate economic feasibility study to be carried out by the state.

For more on Ark Encounter, check out The Lexington Herald-Leader's coverage.

Comments

[TXRed]

11:14 AM on 01/17/2011

What bothers me is SAFETY. A giant wooden ark (per December press announcements) filled with animals; people go into this big wood structure. OK, now animals need light and air and straw bedding (fire hazard) in a huge wood structure (fire hazard) filled with workers posing as Noah's family and many visitors in this big wooden tinderbox. Also worried for the animals cooped up inside in probably a stable-like enclosure for each species with no sun and fresh air.. FIRE TRAP. And they're asking for donations...(in God's name, of course) ... BOONDOGGLE.

[Deborah]

12:52 PM on 01/12/2011

How can government subsidize a religious park?? Separation of church and state?

[Todd12345]

12:31 PM on 01/12/2011

Is this going to operate as a tax exempt ? That would be interesting to know !

[Benjamin Fusilli]

06:54 PM on 01/14/2011

According to what I have read, the Ark Encounter theme park will be set up as a for-profit LLC, a subsidiary, owned primarily by Answers In Genesis Ministries, however, AIG has indicated that the replica ark itself, will be spererately operated by AIG itself.

[Todd12345]

12:26 PM on 01/12/2011

The ultimate fantacy!

[Tao-Chan]

12:07 PM on 01/12/2011

They have turned fantasy into reality.

[Richard Kairis]

11:49 AM on 01/12/2011

"We just kept asking questions, and they couldn't provide any information,"

Sounds consistent at least.

[TYRANNASAURUS]

11:45 AM on 01/12/2011

"We just kept asking questions, and they couldn't provide any information,...

God people never have information..........they have faith.........and that is not a good bet because it rarely materializes.

[Cdangers]

10:54 AM on 01/12/2011

"a massive boondoggle." No?? Really? Doesn't a bible themed creationist theme park sound like good time to you? That should definitely attract hundreds of people per year.

[anthonyparker80]

10:39 AM on 01/12/2011

Other than the tax incentive screw around ( which many many many other projects get ) why is this political news ?

If you have an issue with religion ( I myself have many ) , fine, but what is wrong with allowing people to believe what they want to believe ?

I mean if a guy believes you can put carnivores on a boat with walking food and survive, why should you be against him ?

The same rhetoric could be lodged against theoretical physicists who venture to guess whats on the other side of a black hole.

[susankhbelen]

10:18 AM on 01/12/2011

Ohhkay....there are many cultures that have been keeping recording history longer than these people think the planet has existed.
Get out a bit. India and China are excellent examples.

[Hillbilly49]

09:24 AM on 01/12/2011

"The so-called Christian nations are the most enlightened and progressive ... but in spite of their religion, not because of it. The Church has opposed every innovation and discovery from the day of Galileo down to our own time, when the use of anesthetic in childbirth was regarded as a sin because it avoided the biblical curse pronounced against Eve. And every step in astronomy and geology ever taken has been opposed by bigotry and superstition. The Greeks surpassed us in artistic culture and in architecture five hundred years before Christian religion was born."

— Mark Twain

[traumabob]

09:23 AM on 01/12/2011

Relax folks. Disney has something very similar to these creationist theme parks. I believe it's called Fantasyland.

[pkafin]

10:57 AM on 01/12/2011

Did they receive public monies to build it?

[Hillbilly49]

09:17 AM on 01/12/2011

"Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fo*ol."



— Voltaire

[wckoko]

08:49 AM on 01/12/2011

I've only read a few pages of comments, but I have to say that it is gratifying to see so many good posts from skeptics here. Maybe there is hope for this country & this world.

[LawrenceRoth]

08:44 AM on 01/12/2011

A thousands years from now some archeologists will find Noah's Ark in Kentucky. Now that's going to screw with some minds.

[krumudgen]

10:07 AM on 01/12/2011

with cheap laminate planks.