Carlos Ramirez

Erlanger resident Carlos Ramirez is a rising sophomore in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University.

After the controversial opening of the Creation Museum in May of 2007, Ken Ham, the founder of Answers in Genesis, has another surprise in store for us. Ham, along with his ministry, is in the process of completing a life-sized Noah’s Ark theme park in Williamstown to convey the apparent importance of the biblical story.

The federal court recently ruled in favor of Answers in Genesis receiving an $18.5 million tax incentive from the state of Kentucky, despite issues raised with the age-old questions concerning separation of church and state. Ham believes that once visitors see the ark in its full magnitude they will have no choice but to believe the ark was real. The size of the ark surely would inspire awe in anyone who would stand before it, but is this feeling enough to make this biblical tale historically accurate?

The Ark Encounter will be advocating for the Young Earth Creationist standpoint, which asserts that the Earth is 6,000 years old, the “Great Flood” carved geological features like the Grand Canyon and other views that are contrary to information presented in any accredited natural history museum. When the United States is already lagging behind many prominent nations in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the creation of the ark can only be detrimental to our nation’s standing because of the false information it presents.

Living in a world pumping with religious fervor, it is quite apparent that religious tolerance is an important facet of a modern society. We are living in a time when various special interest groups in the United States have views that are protected by law, no matter what public opinion about them is. Although this is true, it is also necessary to consider to what extent religion needs to be tolerated based on its potential macro-scale effects on society. Bill Nye, who already debated head to head with Ham on his model of creation, commented on the creation of the ark saying, “Raising a generation of young people who are confused about the natural history of the Earth is not in our best interest.”

As a society, it is necessary to question the creation of this ark instead of defaulting to tolerate its existence. When state taxes are paying for an institution that preaches false information threatening our understanding of the natural world, it is necessary to decide the extent of our toleration. It is in our best interest as a society to disallow the existence of institutions such as this and collectively decide to not tolerate ignorance of the natural world.