Noah’s Ark to Open in Kentucky

A Christian group won a tourism tax benefit for a major Noah’s ark attraction that will open the first week of July in central Kentucky.

The state was on the losing side of a federal ruling back in January that awarded a tourism sales tax incentive to the Ark Encounter, worth up to $18 million. Officials under former Gov. Steve Beshear had rejected the project’s application in 2014 for the tax benefit, saying state tourism funds “cannot be used to fund religious indoctrination.”

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But the Christian group behind the ark’s construction, Answers in Genesis, challenged the ruling in federal court and won. The ark will open to tourists July 7, the Associated Press and others reported. A federal court filing last month ordered the state’s tourism cabinet to send a check for $190,000 within 20 days.

The full-sized Noah’s Ark, according to builder Ken Ham, the president of Answers in Genesis, is 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high. Ham told “Nightline” he is building the enormous ship to match the exact dimensions laid out in the Bible. The project may cost as much as $100 million.

“The message that we have — it’s making the Bible come alive, really. By building Noah’s Ark, we’re saying, ‘This really happened. This is plausible,'” Ham told “Nightline.”

Among those building the ark are Amish carpenters — they’ve said that part of their faith includes accepting the Bible as truth, Yahoo News reported. The artists who created the ark’s exhibits are believers, too.

Ken Ham dismisses mainstream science institutions as evolutionary doctrinaires.

“Museums like the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian or Chicago Field Museum — mostly they teach that we supposedly evolved [from] apelike creatures. Why shouldn’t we be able to use the same technology and really challenge people to consider the Bible as the true history of the world?” he told “Good Morning America.”

Admission to the Ark Encounter will cost $40 for adults and $28 for children.

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