Ken Ham must be feeling the pressure from the secular community, government, and lawsuits that came from his requirement that all Ark Encounter employees be young earth creationists, a stance that almost lost him a substantial tax incentive.

While he did not say he would drop all religious requirements, saying, “we are not giving up our right to hire people with religious preferences.” Yet, he did say the theme park would likely have its own statement of faith that would be as strict as the Creation Museums.

This possible stems from the fact that even though Ham won a major legal victory over the Commonwealth of Kentucky, they have still not been approved for the tax incentive. While the state must now accept and process their application, they must still prove the state they can offer a boom in tourism revenue to the state. A task that may be hard if people are turned off from visiting because of discrimination from the park.

However, Ham is still lying to the public about the case in general. “Atheist organizations and other secular groups have been falsely claiming that AiG/Ark Encounter should not receive a facially neutral tax incentive in Kentucky because of our Christian message,” said Ham in a Facebook message.

Of course, the problem these groups has was not the message but the blatant and illegal discriminatory hiring practices by the park.

While changing the statement of faith to be less strict is not much of a victory, it does show that Ham is under a great deal of pressure and is not wielding the religious power he believes he deserves.

photo credit: Ark Encounter, LLC