Creationist Ken Ham yesterday overcame his prissiness to post a picture on Facebook of an ‘obnoxious’ sign visible in photo of members of the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Ham warned:

Normally I wouldn’t post a photo with the obnoxious sign and the language used but I want you to understand who this group of atheists really are.

What prompted his angry post is that the FFRF successfully killed off a planned visit to Ham Ark Encounter and Creation Museum in Kentucky by the Charleston Department of Parks and Recreation in Illinois.

When the FFRF learned of a staff outing that would include visits to Ham’s idiotic attractions – due to take next autumn – they made clear to the Charleston authorities that the trip to the ark and museum was unconstitutional. A letter from FFRF attorney Ryan Jayne said:

It is a fundamental principle of Establishment Clause jurisprudence that the government may not promote, advance, or otherwise endorse religion.

The letter said that organising a trip of a religious nature sends the message that the Department of Parks and Recreation supports Ken’s Ham’s mission to:

Direct people to the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jayne wrote:

To avoid violating the Establishment clause, all City-sponsored events must be secular in nature … organizing a trip to a Christian museum and theme park alienates those Charleston residents who are not Christian, including the 23% of the American population who are nonreligious. Surely there are appropriate secular activities … that would not attempt to convert attendees to a particular religion.

FFRF requested that the trip either be cancelled or adjusted so as to remove the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum from the planned stops.

On its website the FFRF explains why it had opposed the trip:

Both attractions have an explicitly religious mission. The Ark Encounter, recently constructed in Kentucky, is a Christian ministry run by the creationist Ken Ham, who also built the Creationist Museum in Kentucky. Ham has been clear about the proselytizing nature of both attractions since their inception. In his June 27, 2016, letter entitled, ‘Our Real Motive for Building Ark Encounter,’ he lays out an openly evangelical goal: ‘The [Creation] Museum and Ark direct people to the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ … our motive is to do the King’s business until He comes. And that means preaching the gospel and defending the faith, so that we can reach as many souls as we can …’

Charleston City Attorney Rachael Cunningham responded to the correspondence on Tuesday to advise that the event had been cancelled.

A furious Ham, above, responded thus in a Facebook post:

If groups are organized to come to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum in an objective fashion, to show people the world-class exhibits and one group’s interpretation regarding the origin of earth history, the trip is fine as an exceptional and voluntary educational/cultural experience. Freedom From Religion Foundation atheists (like many liberals in politics) bully and threaten to impose their religion on the culture. Their anti-Christian zealotry results in grossly twisting the First Amendment to scare people with a total misinterpretation of the First Amendment. If people don’t have the courage to stand up to their bullying, we’ll continue to lose the free exercise of religion (especially Christianity) in this nation.

I’m guessing that the cancellation also angered Ham because the Ark Encounter is in a jam, and he needs all the money he can get to keep it afloat. With any luck, come next autumn, it will have been sold off and put to better purpose. It would make an excellent new headquarters for the Kentucky Equality Federation.