
Science educator Bill Nye took a tour of a new Noah's Ark attraction in Kentucky that he has called a danger to the nation's science education.

Answers in Genesis president Ken Ham invited Nye, best known for his 1990s science TV show, to visit the Ark Encounter on Friday.

The Christian group says the ark is part of its ministry that teaches Old Testament stories as true historical events.

Nye toured the ark with his own film crew and the pair engaged in an unscheduled debate discussing creationism versus evolution in front of hundreds of people.

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Science educator Bill Nye (right) took a tour of a new Noah's Ark attraction in Kentucky that he has called a danger to the nation's science education

Answers in Genesis president Ken Ham (right) invited Nye (left), best known for his 1990s science TV show, to visit the Ark Encounter on Friday

Nye said: 'This could be just a charming piece of Americana, just something — I recently used an app called Roadtrippers that takes you to odd or unusual places…but this is much more serious than that.

Nye 'The Science Guy' told The Washington Post that his takeaway from the visit was that the kids were being 'brainwashed'.

He added: 'This could be just a charming piece of Americana, just something — I recently used an app called Roadtrippers that takes you to odd or unusual places…but this is much more serious than that.

'This guy promotes so very strongly that climate change is not a serious problem, that humans are not causing it, that some deity will see to it that everything is ok.'

Meanwhile Ham wrote in a Facebook post: 'Bill challenged me about the content of many of our exhibits, and I challenged him about what he claimed and what he believed. It was a clash of world views. At one point I asked Bill: "What would happen to you when you die?" He said: 'When you die "you're done".'

He added: 'We both agreed to video the entire discussion as we walked. Numerous children, teens, and adults swarmed around us as we passionately interacted as the audience grew.'

The president of Answers in Genesis said that those who gathered around the pair as they walked and talked later 'prayed for Bill'.

Teenagers and adults also came up and spoke with Nye, asked him questions and 'challenged him' according to Ham.

He also said he 'had the opportunity' to share the gospel with Nye a number of times.

The Ark Encounter, pictured, is the brainchild of Ken Ham and his Answers In Genesis group. Donations to the project rose markedly after Mr Ham debated evolutionist TV presenter Bill Nye on YouTube in 2014

Inside the Ark are museum-style exhibits: displays of Noah's family along with rows of cages containing animal replicas, including dinosaurs. But the project has been criticized by pro-science groups who say it is based on a myth

When Ham suggested that Nye speak to Answers in Genesis's team of scientists, Nye said they were 'all incompetent'.

Ham asked Nye if they could be friends, but Nye replied that they 'could be acquaintances with mutual respect, but not friends.' Ham described the two-hour encounter as 'fruitful and exciting' and said they ended the talk with a friendly handshake.

The two first became acquainted when they engaged in an online debate in 2014. After the debate, Nye said he hoped the ark would never be built, because it would 'indoctrinate children into this extraordinary and outlandish, unscientific point of view.'

The attraction opened to the public Thursday, after a group of Christians - who believe every word of the Bible - cut the ribbon on the 510-foot-long (155 metre) version of Noah's Ark which cost more than $100 million to build.

The ark, in rural Kentucky about 20 miles south of Cincinnati, has been criticized by evolutionists, who say it will be detrimental to science education.

But Australian Ham said he believed it would be one of the 'greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history.'

Since its announcement in 2010, the ark project has rankled opponents who say the attraction should not have won state tax incentives.

A protest was held outside ark on Thursday and hundreds gathered with placards that read 'A tax-payer funded flood of lies and hate. What a disaster!' and 'This fable won't float', while people chanted 'One, two, three four, we don't want your ark no more.'

A protest was held outside ark on Thursday and hundreds gathered with placards that read 'A tax-payer funded flood of lies and hate. What a disaster!' and 'This fable won't float', while people chanted 'One, two, three four, we don't want your ark no more.'

Larry Decker, director of the Secular Coalition for America, told the Lexington Herald: 'We stand for secular values: Freedom, inclusion, equality and knowledge,' he said. 'This ark doesn't stand for any of those values.'

Larry Decker, director of the Secular Coalition for America, told the Lexington Herald: 'We stand for secular values: Freedom, inclusion, equality and knowledge,' he said. 'This ark doesn't stand for any of those values.'

Meanwhile Patrick Barnett, of Westchester told the site: 'This engenders anti-science attitudes. You are limiting children's futures by suggesting science is a conspiracy against them.'

The protest was planned by the Tri-State Freethinkers and their spokesman Jim Helton said: 'Basically, this boat is a church raising scientifically illiterate children and lying to them about science.

'It's a clear violation of separation of church and state. What they're doing is utterly ridiculous and anywhere else, I don't think it would be allowed.'

According to the site, employees at Ark Encounter must agree to the group's Statement of Faith, which requires a doctrine of strict adherence to biblical scripture.

Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built the ark, says it is built based on dimensions in the Bible

The group believes God created everything about 6,000 years ago — man, dinosaurs and everything else

This includes the belief that the world is 6,000 years old and also prohibits 'premarital sex, opposes homosexuality, abortion, and requires regular attendance at a local 'Bible believing church, as portrayed in the New Testament.''

Ham said the massive ark, based on the tale of a man who got an end-of-the-world warning from God about a massive flood, will stand as proof that the stories of the Bible are true.

'People are going to come from all over the world,' Ham said to thousands of people in front of the ark.

The group invited media and thousands of supporters for a preview yesterday, the first glimpse inside the giant, mostly wood structure.

The Governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevin, and the state's Lieutenant Governor, Jenean Hampton, both attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Ham's group has estimated it will draw two million visitors in its first year, putting it on par with some of the big-ticket attractions in nearby Cincinnati.

The group says the ark is built based on dimensions in the Bible. Inside are museum-style exhibits: displays of Noah's family along with rows of cages containing animal replicas, including dinosaurs.

The group believes that God created everything about 6,000 years ago — man, dinosaur and everything else — so dinosaurs still would've been around at the time of Noah's flood. Scientists say dinosaurs died out about 65 million years before man appeared.

The museum-style exhibits inside the giant ark feature biblical scenes, but also caged replicas of baby dinosaurs

A visitor looks into a cage containing a model dinosaur inside a replica Noah's Ark at the Ark Encounter theme park

This 510-foot-long (155 metre), $135 million Noah's ark is the brain child of Australian creationist Ken Ham

The massive ark, based on the tale of a man who got an end-of-the-world warning from God about a massive flood, will open on Thursday

Media and thousands of supporters were invited for a preview on Tuesday, the first glimpse inside the giant, mostly wood structure

Ken Ham's group estimates it will draw 2 million visitors in its first year, making it a major tourist draw card for Kentucky

NOAH'S ARK: TRUE STORY OR MYTH? Mount Ararat, pictured, on the border of Turkey and Armenia is often said to have been the place where Noah's Ark finally came to rest after the floodwaters receded. But scientists remain unconvinced In the Bible, the story of Noah's Ark appears in chapters six to nine of the Book of Genesis. It tells how God, spurred by the wickedness and corruption of man, vows to send a great cleansing flood. Deeming Noah to be the only righteous man worth saving, God commands him to build a vast ship, the Ark - capable of saving himself, his family and a representation of the world's animals. When Noah has completed his task, and God has sent 'two of every sort' of animal to the Ark, the flood waters rise until all mountains are covered and life (except fish) is destroyed. When the flood subsides, the animals leave the Ark and God vows to never again send a flood to destroy man. The story can also be found in the texts of Judaism and Islam. Although considered a historical event, most scholars and archaeologists do not believe in a literal interpretation of the Ark story. The vessel was said to measure '300 cubits, by 50 cubits, by 30 cubits', which translates to up to 515ft long, 86ft wide and 52ft high. The traditional shape of Noah's Ark comes from 19th century artists. But some experts say it would have had to have been 450ft long and would have broken apart. In 1851 British archaeologists discovered hundreds of clay tablets while digging in ancient Babylon. They were later found to contain the story of Gilgamesh, who strongly resembles Noah. There have been frequent claims that the Ark ended up at the top of what is now Mount Ararat (pictured, above), on the border of Turkey and Armenia. In 2010 researchers working for Noah's Ark Ministries International in Hong Kong claimed to have found wooden remains from the Ark 13,000ft up the mountain. But Nicholas Purcell, a lecturer in ancient history at Oxford University, said it was 'nonsense' and added: 'If floodwaters covered Eurasia 12,000ft deep in 2,800BC, how did the complex societies of Egypt and Mesopotamia, already many centuries old, keep right on regardless?' Advertisement

Visitors rest on giant logs at the Ark Encounter theme park. The towering replica of Noah's Ark stands behind them

Ham says the massive ark will stand as proof that the stories of the Bible are true

Ken Ham signs a model ark. Ham was a science teacher in Queensland before moving to the United States

A worker puts out stuffed animals in the gift shop at the Ark Encounter