Original subtitles

[THUNDER CRASHING]

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

Deep in the heart of Kentucky, a man is building an ark.

He doesn't think he's the new Noah,

but he does think the Biblestory may in fact be factual,

and he wants to open a theme park to make the case.

[THUNDER CONTINUES RUMBLING]

FEMALE NEWSREADER: The $100 million Ark

is expected to draw about 1.4 million people a year.

Folks here in Williamstown say the ark is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

That would be incredible to go see.

[HORSE NEIGHS]

WOMAN: There's gonna be scientists on site

to talk with folk about what Noah's Ark is all about.

This is monumental. It's huge.

It's... Oh, my goodness!

Did man and dinosaurs live together?

MAN: Folks in awe.

[SOMBER MUSIC CONTINUES]

MAN: When finished, his ark will be seven stories tall

and a football field, and a half long.

Kentucky's tourism department has awarded $18 million in tax breaks

for a biblical theme park.

They wanna set up the Noah's Ark theme park.

That's all fine. I'm all happy with that.

Let them use their own money.

[SOMBER MUSIC CONTINUES]

[ANIMAL ROARS]

REPORTER: People get off the interstate to come to the Ark Encounter...

They're going to encounter this first.

[PROTESTERS CHANTING INDISTINCTLY]

The Ark Encounter is immoral, impossible, and un-American.

There's all kinds of stuff in there that's not in the Bible.

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

[SOMBER MUSIC CONTINUES]

PATRICK MARSH: The Ark Encounter is, is a project

which ultimately will entail 800 acres.

And it's a 510 feet long ship

set 12 feet off of the ground.

It's gonna be about 65 feet if you're standing on the top of it.

This is something I think that has a great lasting ability

to be able really introduce people

to biblical truth and biblical history.

So, yeah, I would ultimately say this is gonna be the greatest thing

I will have... Ever had a chance to do.

This first phase is, uh, something like $57 million.

The whole...

The whole park itself is somewhere around $160 million.

People will enter it from behind here,

all of the queue lines that we have are all teaching queue lines.

So basically, you're really kind of learning about

the pre-flood culture as you walk along.

Really starting all the way from Adam in the beginning of creation.

Well, the Ark is just one huge museum

in the way that it functions.

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

[PEOPLE CHATTING]

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

Check one, check two, check, check.

Um, I'm speaking, I think...

[LAUGHS] Oh, on the relevance, I'm pretty sure.

I do one of two talks, usually.

But I'm pretty sure it's on the relevance of Genesis.

So kind of focusing on how that's relevant in our culture today,

and young people leaving the church.

It's a pleasure to be here with you this afternoon.

and to talk with you about creation vs. evolution,

is Genesisrelevant?

And what we're going to talk about...

We live in a very visual society,

and we wanna... We wanna be able

to bring that same level that you see

for example at the Smithsonian,

but without the evolutionary indoctrination.

The evolutionary fairytale, so to speak.

We need to educate our children from a very young age

about the truthfulness and authority of God's word,

because they are hearing all of this stuff out there in the world

about dinosaurs and millions of years, and evolution...

We know from scripture that if you look at the genealogies,

especially those in Genesischapter five and eleven.

It tells the names of people,

how old they were when they died.

So, we can actually add those ages up.

And if you go from Adam to Abraham,

you'll see there's about 2,000 years.

And from other genealogy,

we know there's about 2,000 years between Abraham and Christ.

And we, of course, know there's about 2,000 years between Christ and today.

So that gives us a grand total of 6,000 years.

There's only 6,000 years, not millions and millions of years

being possible.

If we don't take what the Biblesays in one part as true,

then it becomes a problem for the rest of the scripture.

And that's really what this is about.

And is it all true, or is only a part of it true?

Because if only a part of it's true,

then how do you know any of it's true?

The scripture doesn't need anything other than itself,

because it is the ultimate authority,

and it is true, so therefore, whatever it says is true.

Because it's the inerrant the word of God, so...

But because it's true,

we would expect science to be consistent with it,

and confirm it. And it does.

We've actually gotten to the point in our home

that we do not use the term "Biblestory" anymore.

It has been outlawed.

We will say Bibleaccount,

Bibleevent, Biblehistory,

but it's not a story.

These are things that really happened.

This is true.

One of our themes this year is about rescuing our kids,

from the evolutionary ideas of millions of years,

because it's just rampant in material for children.

Whether it be cartoons, or books, or school.

We have a lot of stationary of dinosaurs,

as well as several animatronic dinosaurs.

[ROARING]

Because kids really are fascinated by them.

And there's just something about, you know, going out into the museum

and seeing these dinosaurs

and seeing all those things that you might see

at a "regular" museum so to speak.

But from a very different perspective.

[DINOSAUR SCREECHING]

Our design team has been working really hard

on putting together an exhibit donated to us.

I think it's one of the largest Allosaurus ever discovered.

And so, that's just great for us,

to be able to display something just as fine

as what the Smithsonian Museum would do.

Because we believe that these things are not millions of years old.

They're actually only thousands of years old.

For some reason, after the flood,

just like with a lot of other organisms,

the animals weren't able to survive,

and so, they've become extinct today.

As far as we know, they've become extinct today.

I'm very excited, yeah.

Yeah. It's gonna be awesome.

Oh, sorry, man.

When a guy comes at you with a dinosaur femur, you get out of the way.

-[MEN SPEAK INDISTINCTLY] -Yeah.

As a Creation museum, this is great for us.

We believe in dinosaurs. People think we don't believe in dinosaurs.

We believe in dinosaurs. We believe that, um,

dinosaurs and man lived at the same time.

TheBible does talk about Creation Week.

And all the mammals and human were created on day six.

So, that would mean that they were on the same day.

Does it just have one clavicle?

-Yeah. -I didn't know that.

-A furcula. It's a fused spine. -Furcula.

Oh, that is weird.

I think that it's just a really cool thing to have

a, a real dinosaur

of this caliber.

This is a fossil created during Noah's Flood.

And so we're gonna have signage that teaches about that idea.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, wait a minute. Oh, that looks nice.

I like that.

It's easy to read.

If there was a global flood, you would expect to find

billions of dead things buried in rock,

laid down by water all over the Earth.

And that's exactly what we find.

We look at all these layers of sediment not as a record of millions of years,

uh, of life on Earth,

but rather as a record of burial during Noah's Flood.

I just wanna take a minute

and thank the Lord for getting this in here.

Father, thank you so much that you've,

um, allowed all this to come together.

Thank you that we can have this fossil,

and it's just a really cool thing.

Thank you for the testimony that it is of the flood.

Of the judgement of the flood,

and ultimately, of your reality.

And uh... Just thank you so much.

And especially I wanna thank you for Jesus.

And it's in his name I pray.

Amen.

Okay, we're gonna get it unveiled here.

We're going to open and dedicate

a new exhibit here at the Creation Museum.

Before we unveil this beautiful fossil and the reconstruction,

I just want to mention something about the new Ark Project.

It'll be open in 2016, by the way.

A life size Noah's Ark is being constructed.

Okay. Now if we're ready for the exhibit to be unveiled,

we shall take down the plastic curtain.

[CROWD EXCLAIMING]

[PEOPLE SINGING] ♪ I don't believe in evolution

♪ I know creation is true

♪ I believe that God above created me and you

♪ So praise His name and what he says...

[SINGING CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY]

[INAUDIBLE DIALOG]

♪ I don't believe in evolution I know creation is true

♪ I don't believe in evolution I know creation is true ♪

[SERENE MUSIC PLAYING]

DAVID MACMILLAN: When I started talking about the Ark Encounter

and getting it all set up,

I was really excited 'cause I was still a Creationist.

I thought, "Wow, we'll get a whole scale model of the ark.

"That's not been done."

I really wanted them to really go into detail

and show how it all could have worked.

I prefer to use the term "indoctrination".

These ideas are very deeply imbedded.

You hear them over and over and over again

that theBible has to be history.

If you go over,

if you believe in evolution, you're hurting the gospel.

You're making it hard for people to get saved.

Next thing you know, you're going to be a raving atheist, feminist, communist,

and you're just gonna give up everything.

I had a lot of people tell me

that you're attacking God.

That you're, you're trying to... You hate God.

You are... You are out to...

Out to take people away from God.

And, and, you know... And I... And I wasn't.

That was difficult.

Because when you grow up believing that

this is the only way to hold Christianity,

you lose creationism, and suddenly you're like,

"Wait, do I still keep... Am I still a Christian here? What do I do?"

This is a picture of me and Ken Ham.

I was probably about 16 at the time.

And I said, "Hey, Mom and Dad. I'm going to earn some money

"and I'm going to one be of the Lifetime Charter Members there,

"because this is something that's important to me."

And then, uh, they sent me a polo as well.

It's a nice Creation Museum polo.

It still fits.

And, so I was really thrilled about this as well.

I wore this to Creation Museum when I was taking some of my friends there,

and everyone thought that I worked there,

and I was flattered, of course, about that.

And, uh, I still have...

Let's see. I still have my, um...

My Creation Museum membership card.

Here's that.

It's got a nice dinosaur eye there.

Um, and it says, "Prepare to believe."

And there's my name.

And this entitles me to free admission

with four guests,

and free planetarium passes.

So...

[INTERVIEWER SPEAKING]

I don't know.

There are a lot of gaps in just the average lay person's understanding of science,

and so, Creationism comes in and fills those gaps

with things that aren't quite right.

They're just wrong enough to make it sound good.

And that's why as a Creationist,

I thought that I knew way more science than the average person,

because I had so much more information.

I had all of these gaps filled in.

I just had 'em filled in with the wrong ideas.

So I wanted to just share it

if there are people who are interested

in how Creationism is based

and why people believe these things.

I wanted to be able to share my experiences.

And that's something that people have been very receptive to.

I've had a lot of readers,

and I also send it to the science editor ofHuffington Post.

And then it got picked up as well

byLexington Herald Leader.

The approach from most Creationists has been very, very hostile.

"Stop being angry at God.

"Stop being offended at God.

"God's waiting for you." Stuff like that.

And that's... that's... that's...

Well, frustrating, because I'm a Christian.

I'm not... I haven't... I haven't left anything.

[STUTTERING] It's...

And that's just this assumption that

it comes from evolution and deep time, and all these things.

They come from this philosophy of atheism.

That that's where they're based.

And that's just not true.

DAN PHELPS: And it's 25 after, so we should probably be heading on.

All right, well...

We're gonna turn right out of here

and then get on this road.

The white hallway.

Here in Kentucky,

we have lots of hilly topography.

When the highways are built, they go through the rock,

and leave these outcrops behind.

Which are always wonderful for geologists and paleontologists.

I mean, it's one of the great things about the masonal area

is the collecting is just so easy.

Side of the road, um...

It's a little bit gray area

whether we're allowed to collect.

But I've had state troopers help me collect before, so...

Usually, if you're not drunk, or anything like that,

they won't kick you off the outcrops.

Or at most, they'll ask you to leave.

People honk at you and sometimes throw beer cans.

[CHUCKLES]

Well, I think I got this for Christmas

in probably 1967, or 1968.

And when I was in high school, in the late 1970s,

we had a little bit evolutionally talked about genetics.

But the chapter on evolution, the book was so cool,

and I had all these fossils I was gonna bring in to class

to show the teacher.

We ran out of time.

And we just didn't have that.

Darn! We just ran out of time.

We had plenty of time to talk about the coach's track victories,

or the track team.

But we didn't have time to talk about evolution in biology class.

And by the time I was in my second semester of college,

it was a big deal here.

The local community wanted Creationism taught in schools.

And the schoolboard was divided to two,

with one undecided member.

And I got involved in this quite early.

I was writing letters to the editor pretty much

at the end of high school and college that summer.

This is one time I really wish the James Bondjetpack

had been perfected.

[LAUGHS]

It seems like always the very nice place to collect

is something like this where you have to climb over all this stuff,

and your feet will ache tomorrow morning,

from stepping on all these rocks.

Pretty neat bottom feature. I'm not sure what it is.

I don't know what causes that.

It's interesting.

I was thinking at first it might be a trace fossil of some sort,

and it could be.

But sometimes you just don't know.

That's the strength of science, though.

We don't say that we know it,

and then refuse to change our answer.

In science, it's all right to say, "I don't know.

"Might never know.

"Might think you know and might be wrong."

But you can change your mind based on the evidence,

not because of some sort of religious dogma.

There's videos of Ken Ham on the Internet

talking to groups of school kids.

He'll say things like,

"When a scientist says a certain rock is such and such

"millions of years old, what do you say?"

And he'll tell them to say, "Were you there?"

As if you had to be there

in order to make an interpretation of the geological past.

And you don't have to be there.

You can observe evidence in the present

and see things and figure out

just like forensic science,

what happened in the past.

There's just so many different crazy things

that would have to be changed about the world

if we did things the way the Creationists are doing geology.

That's my rant, I guess, for right now.

[CHUCKLES]

MAN: You ready?

KIDS: Yeah!

Okay.

[SPEAKING]

Sixth day.

[SPEAKING]

[CLOCK TICKING]

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[PEOPLE SCREAM]

[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]

I'm Mark Looy, and welcome to another milestone

in the construction of this life size Noah's Ark

behind me.

It's going to be an impressive structure when it opens,

Lord willing, summer of next year.

Let me introduce Ken Ham, our president.

He is the visionary

behind the Ark Encounter, and he'll say a few words here

and then we'll lead you on a tour of the Ark.

Ken.

Okay. Thank you, Mark. And good morning and thank you for coming.

The ark itself is going to be built up on that platform that you see.

Now, that concrete platform,

that pre-cast concrete that you see there

won't be visible when it's open.

The whole point of this park

is to teach people that these biblical events

were real history, in real time,

that actually happened.

So that's really what this is all about.

That there really was a flood.

It's not a bathtub ark,

he created a real ark, for a real flood,

that probably destroyed

upwards of 10 billion people on the Earth.

We've got an ark that was created to save eight people

and the rest of the population was literally obliterated,

because God was really unhappy with what He did.

That's what the Biblesays.

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

I'm gonna say, come January,

we, the design team

can actually get inside there

and start installing exhibits.

So that's really gonna be the next thing.

[SPEAKING]

Even more watered down?

[CHUCKLING]

You barely... You just barely want to adjust it.

So you almost want it just to be water with a little bit of yellow in it?

That's a good way to put it.

Okay.

DOUG HENDERSON: Since the last time we talked,

we were working on Allosaur at that point.

And a totally different team

was working on designing the ark.

And I actually at that point,

I didn't think I was going to get to work on the ark,

because we had a special team for that.

And at some point, um,

I was switched over to full time on the ark.

And... Which is awesome. It's a dream job.

Almost everything that you're seeing is going into the ark

to represent animals that were on the ark

to be saved from the flood.

A lot of people falsely think that

Noah had to take two of every species of animal,

of which there's millions and millions.

You know, people make jokes about that.

[SPEAKING]

But no, no, no. It would have been far fewer numbers,

in just a few thousands,

because just like, um, you know, you've got dogs,

you don't need all the varieties of dogs,

you just need two dogs

and then breed out everything else.

So the same thing is true with all of the animals.

So that's why theBible specifically says "kinds".

[MACHINE WHIRRING]

What... What are you cutting right now?

[SPEAKING]

It's some scientific name.

It's a really weird looking, almost turtle looking thing.

Got a tiny head and a really big body.

But it's not related to a turtle.

So these are all printed on our 3D printer.

And then, all these people...

This is gonna be obviously Tower of Babel display.

Panic? No.

Occasionally I will lay awake

thinking of, you know, what's next,

and how strategically how are we gonna get all this done.

We got out first furred pair of animals done.

This is a saber-toothed marsupial.

And then, here's one that's all curled up and sleeping.

I feel like this is what I've been preparing for all my life.

And so I feel like that.

That sort of hits me like a wave every once in a while,

just purpose.

Everybody who works for Answers in Genesis is a Creationist.

I actually have been a Creationist

as long as I've been alive basically.

But I actually went through

a period where I kind of was questioning that.

I thought, well, they seem to have some good points

about how the Earth can probably be really, really old.

And I was like, maybe the Earth is millions of years old.

It doesn't matter, really.

And then... And then when I met Ken,

and he just said the Earth can't really be millions of years old,

if death and suffering came in when Adam and Eve sinned.

Because you couldn't have millions of years of death and suffering

before sin, if that's the case. So...

It wasn't that I came back from not believing in six-day creation,

but at the same time,

I realized it was more important than I had even thought it was originally.

This is actually a grandfather of the giraffes.

And then, this is a classic stegosaurus.

This one's reclining.

[MAN SPEAKING]

Yes. Very important.

On the ark, we're assuming that...

We're assuming, 'cause it doesn't say,

but it would make sense for him to take younger animals,

because they would eat less,

and they would have a chance to live longer after the flood.

So it just made sense they were going to be younger.

Plus, they take up so much less space.

You know, you think of dinosaurs, you think, "Oh, my goodness.

"He'd never be able to get those on the ark."

Well, the eggs of dinosaurs are only this big.

T-Rex when it was born was only that big.

So, you can have a juvenile, no problem.

So, yeah, stegs got big. These things got really big.

Not as big as T-Rex.

That's what the guys are working on in there.

I think a lot of people when they look at these,

will assume that they are raptors,

because they are so similar in size.

But even though T-Rex got to be about 40 feet long,

we're representing them as juveniles.

I don't feel like I'm gonna just talk to you

and convert you as you walk out the door.

But I want you to see that I'm a normal person.

I am not crazy.

But I do believe in all of this,

and any opportunity I get to talk about it, I'll take it.

Hey, this ape's almost done.

Just a couple little final touches.

I think you've seen that in several stages along the way.

HAM: When you create a park like this, you've gotta do two things.

You gotta entertain people,

you want them to have fun,

but you also want to teach them.

And so, we have a section within the walled city

as I'm calling the entrance area there,

where we will bring people through,

that will literally show them what we think is going on

during that period of time.

And it's a lot like walking through Main Street, Disney,

where you've got food, and you've got entertainment,

and you've got crafts, and you've got, you know,

things, gifts, shopping, all of that kind of stuff.

So, as you walk through that,

plus, you know, with the live entertainment and the shows that we'll do,

we'll give you what our rendition is

of what we think the culture was very much like.

And you know, it's gonna be graphic in a lot of ways,

so you can decide whether you wanna take your children through it or not.

[WOMAN SPEAKING]

Well, let's talk about the society that we have today.

We have crime, we have rampant sex out of marriage,

We have all kinds of deviations

that are going on within our society today.

You know, so much of it has fallen apart.

When I was a kid growing up,

everybody was married, everybody went to church.

You know, and the American society was very different than it is today.

God says, "That's the kind of stuff that I'm gonna judge."

And so, that's basically the kind of thing

I think on a more extreme level

that we'll be showing within the Walled City itself.

You've got slavery, you've got bestiality,

you've got all kinds of crazy stuff

that's going on, and--

[WOMAN SPEAKING]

Uh, you'll just have to wait and see.

Tonight, a biblical based theme park

is creating controversy.

It's about whether the government is too involved

in helping to build it.

Democratic Governor Steve Beshar

said that government is very excited about it,

and explained why.

The numbers alone tell the tale.

This is a $150 million investment

that is projected to create nearly 900 jobs

including almost 550 full-time jobs.

Folks here in Williamstown say the ark is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The county went through some hard economic times

several years ago.

But they are hopeful that will change now with the ark.

DAN PHELPS: It looks like a very neighborly type place to live and all.

It looks very nice for the most part. Nice small town.

Horrible financial situation,

so you understand why they're so desperate.

I really feel sorry for the town.

REPORTER: President and CEO of Answers in Genesis

and Ark Encounter, Ken Ham,

believes the ark will generate $4 billion in revenue,

and bring 20,000 jobs to the region over the next 10 years.

DAN PHELPS: The locals seem to be completely snowed in by this.

They were pretty much told that the streets will be paved with gold.

The mayor even told the citizens

that their utility rates would go down

because of the ARK Park.

It just seems so flim-flamish

that I can't really envision things turning out like Ken Ham says they're gonna turn out.

One of the first things I did when I started

opposing the ARK Park

is I got a subscription to the Grant County News.

So I was able to get a sort of inside source of information.

And I have lots of stories going all the way back from...

This is 2012. "ARK Park moving slowly."

They'll have guest columns by Ken Ham.

They occasionally have

op-eds by various Creationists

including Mark Looy, one of the spokespeople for Answers in Genesis.

This one might be replying to something I wrote.

He didn't mention me by name at all in his reply.

This is when they started some of the construction.

Ark taking shape.

People that visit the ark,

they have to pay sales tax.

And Answers in Genesis, they get back

up to like $1.8 million per year

of the tax money they normally would send to the state coffers.

So, instead of the state getting the money,

Answers in Genesis gets to keep a good portion

of their sales tax.

I got on the Answers in Genesis website,

and I got on there and I looked at the employment thing,

and lo and behold, there was one for a CAD,

a Computer Assisted Design Operator

specifically for the ARK Park.

And basically what I found

was they required the salvation history,

the agreement for the Answers in Genesis Statement of Faith.

All these different things

that even included

what church you went to, and things like that.

I've never seen a job, not even for a janitor

that didn't require the Belief Statement.

If you're getting any sort of public funding,

and all at once you only hire certain people based on their religious beliefs,

that contradicts the idea

that you're actually helping the economy.

You're just helping a specific religious sect.

So I wrote the op-ed where I wrote the Herald Leader

about the discovery that they were discriminating in hiring.

Unfortunately, the Herald Leader said,

"Non-Christians need not apply."

And actually, most Christians are not eligible for jobs at the ARK Park.

It's not just unbelievers,

Jewish people, Muslims,

Mormons, anything like that.

Mainstream Protestants and Catholics

and even old-Earth Creationists

would not be eligible for hiring.

Americans United jumped on it,

and sent a formal letter to Kentucky Tourism

about the tax incentive.

ROB BOSTON: One of the most frustrating things about this whole situation

is that Ken Ham continually tried to play on both sides.

He would argue that, "Oh, the ARK Park is really just a tourist attraction.

"And we're welcoming everybody. It's all right."

HOST: Mr. Ham, do you see this park

as part of a ministry, as essentially a church,

or is it purely business?

Uh, well, actually the ARK Encounter is

a profit organization

that's set up to give a particular view of biblical history--

ROB BOSTON: But then, he would then tell his supporters

that it was designed to proselytize

and convince people of the truth of the story of Noah's Ark,

and the truth of the Bible,

and persuade them to adopt the religious views

favored by some Fundamentalist Christians.

Think of a Christian facility...

But I believe it.

...that stands on the word of God,

and 132 Ark bays with exhibits.

And it's gonna really show that we can give answers

and challenge them that they need to put their faith and trust

in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So it's an Evangelistic ark.

We have many, many...

You can't have it both ways. And that's where we really have the problem.

CHRIS CALDWELL: Americans United for Separation of Church and State

contacted me and asked me

if I would be willing to be party to their legal action.

I readily agreed to do so.

Because they thought it was important to represent the fact

that there are religious people, deeply religious people

who are also uncomfortable with those sorts of

government benefits going to a religious purpose.

I think implicit in the idea of

the separation of Church and State

is humility.

That no one religion, no one philosophy

has all the answers.

And they're very confident in what they believe,

and they have strong reservations about me.

I'm confident in what I believe, too.

And I believe if you allow the free flow of ideas,

that a more mature faith is going to do well in that conversation.

And so, I would just encourage more conversation,

and I think that the scripture says

"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

DAN PHELPS: And at that point,

December of 2014,

the state basically said, "No, we're not gonna give you this tax incentive."

You don't really realize until a particular religion

manages to take over an entire county and city government

and get them to do everything that they're asked,

how important the separation of church and state is.

Park officials are seeking legal action

after being denied tax incentives.

The Commonwealth says it cannot give tax incentives to a company that quote,

"Intends to discriminate in hiring its employees based on religion."

MALE REPORTER: The Ark's parent organization, Answers in Genesis,

has launched a billboard campaign

to bolster supporters.

Federal lawsuit could soon follow.

DAN PHELPS: Throughout this whole debate,

Ken Ham continued to insist

that he was not receiving any state support.

And he would get mad when we said that he was.

And let me say this for all the media.

Not one cent

has come from taxpayer money.

[CROWD CHEERS]

[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]

And he won by a rather large margin actually,

in spite of being five points behind in the polls.

ROB BOSTON: Governor Bevin is a Fundamentalist Christian.

You could be an atheist and you would appreciate there's a lot of wisdom

in the Bible.

He has tweeted pictures of himself visiting the ARK park.

The governor came in at just the time

when it would have been decided

what's gonna happen with his ruling.

And the governor had campaigned

in part on the idea that he would support the ARK park.

Basically the judge bought the idea

that the ARK Park was just another tourist attraction,

and that it should get the same benefits

that similarly situated attractions have received in the past.

NEWSREADER: A legal win for a biblical them park in Kentucky.

A federal judge says the state cannot exclude the park

from a tax incentive program

worth millions of dollars.

We're thrilled, of course, with the result,

because the judge ruled in Answers in Genesis' favor.

Tickets are now available online

for the Ark Encounter.

DAN PHELPS: I really wish there were more people helping me fight this.

A lot of the people that I know scientifically

just won't get involved with this.

They don't wanna take the time.

They're like, "Well, Dan will do it."

And... You know, maybe if I stop doing some of the stuff I do,

somebody else will step in and do something.

But people don't wanna be unpopular.

They don't wanna say things that'll draw attention to themselves.

I've been the object of several Ken Ham blogpost

specifically aimed at myself.

And maybe people, they don't wanna have to deal with

basically bullshit like that on the side. I'm not really sure.

It's like, um,

grabbing hold of something and it gets sticky all over you.

And if they were to come forward

and say very much against the ARK park,

they would have the people from the ARK park

breathing down their throats all the time.

It's... It's frustrating.

I mean, people ask me why I spend so much time on this,

and this is one of the reasons why.

I mean, nobody else seems I think

to give a damn about it.

I mean, I know they really do,

but they can't really come out and say anything.

[WOMAN SPEAKING]

DAN PHELPS: I'm tempted all the time.

My family is all gone.

Kentuckians have a difficult time leaving the state apparently.

It's one of those places

you always say, "I'm gonna get the hell out of here."

And you do, and then you come back here.

I don't know what it is.

It's sort of a cultural thing almost.

What would Ken Ham do without me?

He would miss me, wouldn't he? I mean...

JAMIE BAKER: The ark puts us on the map, so to speak.

One of my favorite headlines I ever wrote

when I was at the paper was "Ark brings flood of possibilities."

I couldn't help it.

I can remember as a little girl

coming into downtown and skating in the skating rink.

And the downtown area was always bustling on Saturdays.

And then we went through the downturn economic times

when you could almost see the tumbleweeds blow through downtown.

And now we're excited because...

we got business coming back

It's awesome to see young people getting excited

about the potential for our community again.

Okay, so this is Elmer's General Store.

We've got hand dipped ice cream,

homemade fried pies and other desserts.

So we do the old time malts, milkshakes.

There's sodas and all that stuff.

Like I said, we have the vendors and we're looking for more.

But we have experience of work in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

So we know what a tourist attraction can do

for a community. So we're excited.

When you're getting calls from places like China

and Wisconsin and Missouri,

people wanna know, "Where can I stay, and what can I do?"

We've never had that in the past.

So you capitalize on that.

MCKAMEY: I say we serve about 50 at the moment.

You know, it just depends on days, of course.

We have ups and downs.

But, when we have music shows, we bring anywhere from 50 to 150.

So we're doing fine, you know.

We can make it barely.

But the ark really will help our tourism

and will help the people come in through the doors.

You know, this time next year, this town is not gonna look like this.

I know they're already planning on having shuttle buses

come and drop tourists off in Williamstown.

So hopefully, you know, they'll get an ice cream,

or listen to a song or two here.

It will really help us.

[BANJO TUNING]

So, Jimmy wrote this song about the ark.

And he's lived here, um...

Jimmy you've lived here, what about 30 years or so?

-JIMMY: Twenty. -Twenty?

He's lived here longer than I've been alive, so... [CHUCKLES]

[SPEAKING]

-You guys ready? -Yeah.

[PLAYING COUNTRY MUSIC]

♪ I went up to the edge of the light

♪ And looked into the dark

♪ Yonder in the field somewhere

♪ I declare I saw the ark

♪ A businessman stood next to me

♪ He'd come to bless this county

♪ So come in two by two

♪ 'Cause the ark is in Kentucky

[SPEAKING]

♪ Pretty people moving

♪ No, this ain't no trick

♪ The arc was relocated

♪ On Highway 36

♪ Exit 154

♪ On Highway 36

[PEOPLE CLAPPING]

DAVID MACMILLAN: I haven't been to the Creation Museum in years and years.

I grew up in Central Kentucky,

and I, of course, had a lifetime pass to the Creation Museum.

Here I am getting a picture with my name on the wall of Lifetime Charter Members.

Very proud that I was on the wall there.

I think I may have subtly dropped that from time to time

when I was talking to a girl from a Christian family.

You know, "I'm on the wall of the Creation Museum."

It was... It was a big deal.

This is, uh... I was street preaching

in Huntington Beach in California.

Did some street preaching.

I've got some money shaped gospel tracks there,

and I'm explaining the effects of sin on the world,

and the importance of the Genesis,

and the importance of the ten commandments,

and everything that goes along with that.

I don't know. There might be a degree to which I think back to where I was,

and think what would have changed my mind.

I... Some of the stuff is new, so I don't know my way around at this point anymore.

Hey, where are the Charter Member plaques?

Are they further on, or...

It should be right down here.

Right down here? Okay.

I was certain that I knew everything.

I was really, really, really prideful

in my knowledge of Creationism,

and how I knew more than the scientific community,

and I knew more than all of these people

who were just accepting evolution

without asking questions.

I regret that I was a big know-it-all.

Ah, it's a... This is a different person.

This is... This is someone else.

This is someone who's lived a long time ago.

Many years ago.

And I don't know... I don't think he'd recognize me.

It feels kind of strange.

MAN: This is the king.

The king of the pre-flood world.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he talks in a King Julien voice.

[IMITATING KING JULIEN] "Whereith, you crazy fool?" [LAUGHS]

"Welcome to my party."

[CHUCKLING]

Everybody will be rooting for the water to take him out at that point.

[LAUGHTER]

TRAVIS: He has no name. We call him "the King".

So, he's gonna have this golden,

uh, helmet going on here.

Yeah, he's just having a good time.

[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

It's a very... Very fun diorama to work on.

A lot of dynamism.

And all these figures we started with

a 3D scan of actual people.

And then, from there, we take it into the computer,

and we do a lot of re-sculpting,

uh, tweaking, changing,

reposing in some cases, but...

But it's really fun stuff.

This is the kind of thing that

you dream of doing as a kid, you know.

And I get to do it as a grown-up.

We're working out really the face of Noah.

He's the iconic character.

So he's probably the most important character that we have.

And of course we got Ham, Shem, and Japheth.

And then all of their wives.

Noah has to be a very iconic figure,

because we're not only gonna use him in pictures like this, this illustration.

We're gonna use him in static figures and animatronic figures.

And also, we will recreate him in film as well.

You know, according to the Bible,he was, um...

-Hey, pal, was it... -500 years.

-Five-six hundred? -Yeah.

He's probably equivalent of a 50-year-old.

About equivalent, yeah,

in the looks about a 50-year-old.

PATRICK MARSH: A 50-year-old person who's in really good shape.

Come on, on the other side. I'll show you what a couple of the other designers are doing.

These are some of the different face concepts

for the wives of the sons.

So I'm just kind of pulling some different features from people from all over the world,

so that they show that it's a compilation

of different characteristics.

So we get to kind of invent things.

We don't know what they looked like.

We get from the Bible that the Ham's descendants

went to the Americas

through Asia, Africa.

And so, we kind of have

a bit of a challenge to kind of put all those kinds of features into

the faces of Ham's wife and Ham.

TAYLOR: Here, you know, you have Ham's wife.

We, we do research.

We have some physical features here.

PATRICK MARSH: And so, based upon the characteristics that we find,

some gave you Asian, some gave you, you know,

a darker, more Middle-Eastern features.

Some maybe gave you a more African features, etc.

'Cause you basically...

Everything literally comes out of these three couples.

[SPEAKING]

PATRICK MARSH: You know, middle brown color with brown eyes and brown hair.

Some as a little darker, some of the people.

Or a little bit darker, some a little bit lighter.

TAYLOR: And here's what?

[SPEAKING]

TAYLOR: Light skin tone, eye color.

Stuff like that. Um...

This is Japheth's wife, and this scene

that we're doing is deck three,

she's holding a paintbrush and a cup.

In this torso,

we'll actually change the hand out

but the arms will stay in the same position.

And we will use this for

deck two, where she's holding a broom, sweeping the floor.

So we try to reuse as many parts as possible.

JIM HELTON: We're gonna do a peaceful demonstration.

They have the right to build their park.

But we also have the right to protest it

that this story is not scientifically accurate.

And not only is it not scientifically accurate, it's immoral.

The original idea was to put up a regular billboard for 30 days.

And if we raised enough money, we'd put up a couple.

This was just the shot that let people know we had...

If you gave us $500,

you can actually take a photo of yourself,

we want you all wet, whatever pose, take several poses,

and we will actually put you in the billboard drowning in the ocean.

So it got us a lot of press.

We raised almost $10,000 in a couple of days.

The problem was the billboard company backed out when it got all this press.

We didn't expect radio, TV, papers would pick it up.

NEWSREADER: Atheist group's anti-Ark Encounter billboard is rejected.

Two billboard companies have refused to display an advertisement

by an atheist group to protest the Ark Encounter Amusement Park

in Kentucky.

Tri-state free thinker, the president Jim Helton,

welcome to the Bill Cunningham Show.

Thanks for having me on.

CUNNINGHAM: Now, why do you say genocide and incest

somehow is part of the ark?

I don't know how else to describe it.

In the story of Noah's Ark,

God drowned everybody.

Now some Christians will say that people were wicked.

But he drowned everybody.

Even the innocent women, children, bunny rabbits, everybody.

That is textbook genocide.

I see no other way to describe it.

And then he re-populates the Earth through incest,

for the second time.

CUNNINGHAM: What do you mean incest?

If you only have one family,

the only way to re-populate

is having sex within that family.

CUNNINGHAM: They could have had some other family

on the top of the mountain somewhere.

Noah's family and his kids. That was it.

And keep in mind, Adam and Eve was through incest, too,

to populate Earth for the first time.

So this is the second story of incest.

And if you go to Ken Ham's Creation museum,

he says incest is okay, because God said so.

CUNNINGHAM: Well, if God says it's okay, it's okay.

No! Killing people and incest is not okay.

CUNNINGHAM: Well, what are you gonna do about this?

You have two companies Event Advertising and Lamar,

that said, "Nah, bubba, nah." What do you do now?

A mobile billboard campaign reached out to us,

and said, "We'll put it up."

But, man, recently with all the press it's gotten,

he backed out for fear of his personal safety.

He did not feel safe driving it around.

So we have $10,000,

and we cannot find a company in the State of Kentucky or Cincinnati

willing to take our money.

CUNNINGHAM: Have you confronted Ken Ham on this?

Uh, Ken Ham has...

We have had a back and forth through Twitter.

He has personally called me out

half a dozen times on Twitter this morning alone.

He has blogged about us several times.

So the reason why we called this out is

it doesn't stop here.

It seeps into our politics.

It seeps into our law making.

And that's why we made the stand.

CUNNINGHAM: Well, you're a heathen that's gonna burn in Hell,

and if that's the case,

I will say a prayer to get you out.

If you're lucky, you'll end up in purgatory,

in which case, I can help you.

If you're in Hell, you're beyond my reach.

Then I'll be in good company.

CUNNINGHAM: There'll be a lot of other Hell characters will be down there

and you'll be burning,

and there'll be a million serpents biting your legs for eternity.

See, you're threatening me with torture

which proves my claim that that's immoral.

Just because I require facts and evidence

should not be a reason to torture me forever.

CUNNINGHAM: Well, you're gonna burn in Hell.

I'm okay with that.

CUNNINGHAM: All right. What's your website, if any?

Uh, tristatefreethinkers.com.

CUNNINGHAM: Well, look. Stay in touch.

All right, I will.

CUNNINGHAM: God Bless America.

[CHUCKLES]

How'd I do?

I'd like to go protest

a protest.

On July 7th, a group of atheists

are planning on protesting the opening of Ken Ham's Ark Encounter attraction.

Ken Ham was getting ready to be done with the ark,

and he texted me as said,

"Hey, I just learned some atheists are gonna be protesting

"the opening of the Ark Encounter."

I texted him back and said, "Man, I would love to be there for that.

"I would have a great time."

So, here's the deal.

I would love for you to help me get a team of people

that I've assembled to the Ark Encounter,

so that we can protest the protest.

At the end of the day, what's fun about it is

these are people that right now, if my world view is true,

they're on their way to Hell.

I get the privilege, I get the joy...

I would say more than fun, it's joy

of trying to go into these storms

and rescue people,

and say, "Listen, you need the truth."

By the way, don't tell the atheists that we're coming.

My name is Eric Hovind.

I get the privilege of traveling around and talking about creation vs. evolution...

We're seeing a resurgence of the Creation movement.

People realizing science doesn't fit the evolution worldview.

Let's go back and rethink this.

And so, we're seeing the Creation movement as a whole raise back up.

Let me just tell you something.

Scientifically it is impossible

to maintain a tiny human population

for millions of years.

And they say we've been here, humans have been here

around two million years.

The evolution worldview says that somewhere between 13 and 20 billion years ago,

there was a big bang.

The idea that the universe came into existence instantaneously

is exactly what we get out of Genesis 11.

So the Bibletells us stuff, it's our authority,

and science is gonna confirm that.

So I'd like to try to prove to you...

So you have this idea of lot of people believed evolution.

Some people use that as an argument.

Well, evolution must be true.

The majority doesn't determine right and wrong, you know.

Jean-Luc Picard can tell you a lot about the starship Enterprise.

That doesn't make it true.

I know people that can teach me a lot about evolution

and it doesn't make it true.

The longest wavelength we see is red.

Well, if God stretched out the heavens as a curtain,

we would expect to see the longer of the wavelengths of light,

which is the red, of the light.

And everywhere we look,

guess what we're seeing?

The red shift in starlight.

The fact that our vice-president

is somebody who believes in Creation.

Um, I think that leads

just even more credibility

to the number of people out there that go,

"I don't believe this because I'm ignorant."

"I've thought this through. I've looked at the information.

"I've concluded... this is the truth."

It's a... Yeah, I'm excited that we've got lots elected officials

that hold to this worldview.

MAN: Do you believe in evolution, sir?

Um... Do I believe in evolution?

I embrace the, uh...

The view that God created the heavens and the Earth

and the seas and all that's in them.

Right, when you believe in evolution--

What means... The means, Chris,

that He used to do that, uh,

I can't say.

But you don't believe that...

You don't take a Fundamentalist view

of the seven days of creation, do you?

-[LAUGHS] Chris... -I'm just asking.

-Do you? -Chris...

Where are we going with this?

CHRIS CALDWELL: The idea that if...

If even one part of theBible

is not true, that the whole thing crumbles,

is a very difficult piece of terrain to defend.

It seems obvious to me

that science at multiple levels

clearly has proven the Earth is more than 6,000 years old.

And why some folks,

um, in the name of their religion, I assume,

choose to ignore that

and to cling to a religious viewpoint

that says otherwise

is not something I fully understand.

I never heard anyone say

that Genesis can be inspired, can be from God

and not be history.

That God can give us something that's something other than history.

That was just not an idea that was ever presented to me.

CHRIS CALDWELL: I believe the Bible is true in what it says inGenesis.

Principally communicating the idea that God created this world.

And I believe this.

I believe that God has a purpose and a will for this creation.

That having been said,

science informs how I understand what that creation is.

How this planet functions.

And there have been hundreds and thousands of years of project,

uh, progress in human thought since that time

that help us to better understand the world that God has made.

And I welcome that aid and understanding of God's work.

It's like there's a little voice in your head

that closes the door whenever you see evidence that doesn't fit your beliefs,

and then opens it whenever you see evidence that you can make fit.

And that's something that, you know,

every Creationist have,

a little guy in their head saying,

"Wait. No, stop. Don't look at that."

And, "Wait, we can accept this."

I was also debating anyone who would pay attention to me

whenever I got the chance.

You know, online I would find some poor scientist

and be like, "All right, let me tell you."

And so, I would debate everybody I could,

and they would come back with really clear, obvious answers to what I was saying.

And I was saying, "Hold on. Let me go consult my Answers in Genesis Material.

"Oh, there's the answer." And then I would come back with that.

Um, you know, 'cause they have answers.

They have a lot of answers. That's what they're called, Answers in Genesis.

BRYAN OSBORNE: We have all these different DVDs.

And if you stop to read all the different titles,

I mean, it's on so many different subjects.

Anywhere from biblical authority,

to how is Genesis relevant in our culture today,

to what about geology,

and what about the ape man,

how do you explain dinosaurs?

So forth and so on.

So it's literally just the whole gamut

related to science fields and biblical authority issues.

A lot of people love dinosaurs,

and kids love dinosaurs.

This is one of our most popular books.

Dinosaurs of Eden

from Ken Ham.

And so, it looks like this.

Walkthrough with really good artwork.

And this has got some up to date scientific information in it

to help the kids understand all about dinosaurs and things.

Yeah, there are surely tens of thousands of families around the country

using our different resources.

Knowing that it's going out and influencing people is...

It brings me great joy.

KEVIN ANDERSON: This event is called the International Conference of Creationism.

We believe the authority of the Bible.

We believe that the biblical account in Genesis

is historically and scientifically accurate.

We present various papers.

It's only creation that's presented.

It's only creation that is promoted,

as opposed to other scientific organizations

would really promote only evolution.

Well, this is the Creationist version of that.

The rise had to take over a period of time.

DAN PHELPS: The audience is being snowed.

I mean, it looks like science, and unfortunately it isn't.

It's a parody almost of science.

Answers in Genesis puts these things on their website

they claim are scientific papers.

They can range from very densely written things

to things that invoke miracles,

and all sorts of other stuff.

And they are people with degrees.

But a degree basically means that you're capable of doing science.

It doesn't mean that you're a scientist.

You basically have to agree that the Earth's 6,000 years old,

that Noah's flood was a real event.

All these different things before you can even publish a thing

in their supposedly scientific journal.

So your conclusions are foreordained.

Pretty much kills the scientific method before it even starts.

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

If we can start handing pamphlets out by hand.

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

[SPEAKING]

Awesome.

That would be perfect.

[LAUGHS]

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

DAVID MACMILLAN: You know, driving by this when I was growing up,

it was always, "Okay, all those layers came from Noah's flood.

"All those layers are about the same age."

But actually getting out and taking a closer look,

it's not quite so easy to think that.

You see stuff that's really fine grained.

DAVID MACMILLAN: Oh, wow.

See the laminations there?

Yeah, you can barely even see that.

It's like it's painted on.

So it means they were probably deposited really slowly.

There might have been a another storm

-and layer after layer just... -Gotcha.

It's so inconsistent with anything the Creationists are claiming

-about the nature of the rock. -Yeah.

So this piece is actually...

DAVID MACMILLAN: I know that there were definitely

a lot of concerns about me when I first started writing this stuff.

It surprised a lot of people, alarmed a lot of people.

DAN PHELPS: Well, he probably... A lot of his family

was invested in supporting the Creation Museum.

And sometimes a turn against what your family believes

can be heart-rending.

It's... I'm running the risk of really,

you know, really upsetting people I care about.

I kind of feel like, "Oh, if I can just explain

"why and how and all this stuff."

But explaining doesn't always work.

DAN PHELPS: It takes guts to go after something you've been raised with.

It's... It's been difficult.

A lot of people have asked, you know, when I've been talking about this,

was there a time that I kind of

switched from I was believing one thing and the then I wasn't.

It was definitely a lot of successive steps.

It's a lot of small, you know, gradual things.

Learning, "Oh, I was wrong about this.

"That's not quite how it works."

And there was one day that I was at work,

and on my lunchbreak, reading about astronomy stuff,

and galaxies, and reading about discoveries.

I saw an image of a galaxy

that was running into the center of a galaxy cluster.

There was a trail of hot gas

coming out from behind this galaxy.

Two-three hundred thousand light years.

Basically footprints in the sky,

with paths that go way, way, way farther

than anything could move in 6,000 years.

And just seeing that

and saying, "Wait, if something can traverse

"you know, 200,000 light years of space,

"that they can't be 6,000 years old.

"It just can't work."

I realized at that point that yeah,

I don't believe this anymore.

I can't believe this anymore.

And so, I was able to look at the universe and hear what it was saying.

This is a new world.

It's a different... It's a different world than I thought it was.

[SUBLIME MUSIC PLAYING]

Make sure that I have this up here.

All right.

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS]

JEN SCOTT: You know, we saw busloads of kids going in there.

And knowing that children are being lied to

and science is being misrepresented

is just... It's a horrible feeling to see that.

-Morning. -Morning.

I just wanted to touch base before it gets a little...

-Yeah, before it hits the fan. -...a little busy. Yeah.

What's this I'm hearing about anti-protester?

Yes. Eric Hovind, I believe is his name.

He's coming up from Florida. He's...

Ken Ham, I guess, texted him and said,

"They're protesting. You should come up here and counter-protest."

JIM HELTON: So we just want to make you aware.

If there's an issue, we'll just let you know.

-Cool. -Okay.

-So about 150 people? -Yeah.

All right. Just try to keep everybody safe, okay?

-We will. -Yeah. Absolutely.

As long as nothing's confrontational, we're good.

As long as you guys are, you know, doing your thing.

-Have a good one, guys. -All right. Thank you.

[SPEAKING]

So he made each kind.

And each kind of land animal

was represented on Noah's ark.

So what we today call dinosaurs

were represented on the ark.

See, people haven't been given these answers.

They haven't been taught genetics correctly.

They haven't been taught about speciation and natural selection correctly.

We're gonna correct that in here,

and undo the brainwashing that's occurred through this.

[CROWD CHEERS, CLAPS]

And I encourage you, when you come to Answers in Genesis,

talk to our PhD scientists.

You won't understand what they're saying, but talk to them.

[LAUGHTER]

What's really going on here.

So, we're excited about what God is doing

and how the truth will be presented today.

It's gonna be fantastic.

[SPEAKING]

Okay.

[SPEAKING]

HOVIND: This is gonna be fantastic.

We are gonna correct you guys on some of the misstatements that you guys are making.

I'll give you time to get set up and everything.

As long as we're all in agreement, we'll be fine.

Long as you guys agree with me, we'll be good.

We are actually here all about science and reason.

The ark was built with science and reason.

Look at what a magnificent structure it is.

Disneyland quality,

some of the very best stuff that's ever been built.

I think the atheists should be proud

and say, "Christians, I can't believe you've used science and reason so well."

Let's not engage them, let's not talk to them,

let's have zero conversation with them.

What I want you to do is stand in front of the sign and back of the sign

for every sign they have.

I would prefer if they go over there,

so we're less likely to have confrontations.

[SPEAKING]

Yes.

Thank you.

[SPEAKING]

No, I... I made all these signs myself.

I haven't asked people to come at all.

I'm telling you. I have not asked anybody to show up here at all.

[BLOWING TRUMPETS]

[CROWD CLAPPING]

HAM: Thank you.

Gonna be a little different than what you might be,

say in church, or in some special meeting.

Normally I know you're told to turn your cell phones,

your smartphones off,

put them in your pocket,

turn them on to vibrate.

I want you to make sure they're on.

We want you to tweet. We want you to blog.

We want you to post.

Because we want seven billion people to come here.

[APPLAUDING]

Forty-three thousand families or individuals

that gave 123,000 gifts.

That's you.

Thank you for being a part of this ministry.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

This park tells people that evolution is not true,

science isn't true, this Earth is only 6,000 years old.

This is ridiculous.

But keep in mind, we didn't build a park based on genocide and incest.

We're just advertising for them,

and calling it what it is.

And now we've changed the conversation.

Anybody wanna engage in good dialog?

Actually we do know that it never happened.

No, we know that it actually did happen.

[CROWD CHANTING INDISTINCTLY]

[SPEAKING]

CROWD: ♪ Tax break there

♪ Here a break, there a break Everywhere a tax break

♪ The Ark Encounter is a shit

♪ E-I-E-I-O

[SPEAKING]

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]

CROWD: ♪ Hey, hey, hey Goodbye

♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na

♪ Hey, hey, hey Goodbye ♪

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

Um, on behalf of the city of Williamstown,

and the State of Kentucky,

I would like to officially declare the Ark Encounter open.

[PEOPLE CHEERING]

[TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING]

[MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

The entrance to the ark is on the right hand side.

[CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY]

The visual impact of a structure like this is just crazy.

It's astounding. I'm really, really excited. I...

I don't want to be, but I am.

It's just insane how big this thing is.

It's... It's...

Really, really, really big.

It really isn't what I expected at all for this initial entrance area.

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

Yes, there's a part of me that's just super thrilled that it's here.

Just because it's really cool to see.

Even if it can be a little bit frustrating to think about.

It's just massive. There's no denying that.

You know, this might be some people's definition of Hell. [LAUGHS]

I've never smoked marijuana,

but if somebody offered me a bit of acid right now, I think I'd take it.

Ooh!

The baby dinosaur.

Who knew that Adam and Eve sacrificed dinosaurs. Look at that.

[CHILD SPEAKING]

[WOMAN SPEAKING]

DAVID MACMILLAN: Science denial is huge.

Creationism is one of the most far reaching examples of science denial.

Creationists have been pretty vocal.

And they're gonna continue to have dinosaurs.

They're going to have flashy exhibits.

They're gonna build new museums.

And they're really going to try hard to leverage everything they can.

One, two, three.

[ALL SPEAKING]

Rad!

One more time. With your hands up.

Especially you. You need to be more excited. I know you can.

All right. Ready?

One, two, three!

ALL: We love the Ark Encounter!

It took us several decades to build the ark.

Why don't I look 600?

What do you mean?

I look about the same age as any other 600-year-old person I've met.

[CHUCKLES] Well,

except for my wife,

of course.

She doesn't look a day past 400.

Weird in saber-jawed carnivoran,

but it's not related to cats apparently,

even though it looks like them.

Are they like pre-turtles?

Are they like turtle super... We can't... We don't know.

I think these are the T-Rex kind.

It's a little racy in here.

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

[WOMAN SPEAKING]

-WOMAN: Did they have underwear? -Yeah.

DAN PHELPS: Of course, us Kentuckians like to say,

if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything.

I can say positively that the building was nice.

It was beautifully constructed,

and amazing amount of work.

As far as the content, however,

of course, I have a much more negative view.

I'd really even hate to say bad science or pseudo-science.

The anti-science and non-science that's depicting

the age of the Earth and Universe.

Claiming that all the world's sedimentary geology

is the result of Noah's flood.

The pieces of evidence that they try to use for that

are really, really bad.

They've been debunked for years.

It's bullshit.

I mean, there is not a fair word, scientific word to describe it.

Of course, this will follow Kentuckians wherever they go.

Kentucky always has had the backward image

as being non-scientific, or anti-scientific.

And now, people besides saying,

"Oh, you're from that place where that crazy Creations Museum is.

"Oh, you're from the place where the Ark is."

[MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING]

[TRAIN CHUGGING]

MAN: What's it meant for Downtown Williamstown?

Nothing. I was one of the believers that when the ark came,

just everything's gonna come in.

It's not done it, Joe. It's not done it.

I think the ark's done well. [LAUGHS]

And I'm glad for them on that.

But it's not done us good at all.

And I was very direct with them. You know, uh,

if somebody asked me

if we were getting any taxes from it,

I can't lie about it, you know.

[SPEAKING]

It wasn't the friendliest letter in the world.

He just was a little upset with me.

And I agree with him. I should promote it.

But you know, I just... And I do!

But he didn't like what I said about a couple of things, you know.

I hated that he was angry.

Well, he was real angry.

But he was pretty... straightforward.

Well, let me tell you something.

Nobody and their ark's coming into town.

Maybe eight cars a day.

And then they drive two days.

There's nothing here.

I hate it, too. But this used to be a wonderful little town.

My hope is that it is successful, really.

We're hoping some restaurants are coming here.

But I haven't heard anybody

or anything coming in right now,

to Williamstown.

I was in as much shock as you.

I didn't know it was going to close,

even though I knew they weren't doing well.

And I know he thought this could be the new Gatlinburg.

It's a shame.

JAMIE BAKER: " Well, of course it's in Kentucky.

"'Cause they're a bunch of religious zealots."

Or, "They're part of the Bible Belt."

You know, those kind of comments.

I think those were generalizations that,

that are very unfair.

I've had people say, "Do you believe the theory about the dinosaurs?

"Do you believe, you know, how old the Earth is?"

And I said, "I'm not gonna address any of that."

Religion is a personal choice.

It is the way you view the world.

I don't know how to explain faith to somebody.

Um, it is the thing that is hoped for and unseen.

But again, when you're talking about the ark itself,

as a community, we have to put that aside.

And it comes down to we are home to the ark,

it is a business, it is an attraction,

and it is bringing people here.

So we have to capitalize on that

if we wanna move forward and grow, and be successful.

And I am very optimistic that we can do those things.

Time is what it's gonna take.

DAVID MACMILLAN: I've lost the sense that I have to be right.

I've lost the obligation to always be correct,

and always be this authority.

I've lost that sense of obligation

and that hunger that I have to know everything

or otherwise everything's gonna crumble.

I would definitely be interested in writing about how

the current political climate has changed the way we look at Creationism.

These things are being turned into policy

and we're seeing that impact,

and I'm really worried about what that impact's going to be.

[MAN SPEAKING]

No.

I don't. I can't say I miss Kentucky much.

DOUG HENDERSON: [CHUCKLES] The ark has been good for business.

That is an understatement.

The attendance here is doubled. Yeah.

We're actually doubling our leach beds

and our sewage and all that stuff on property

because of it. We have no choice.

Since this is so much of the biblical history,

there's only a little bit of evidence.

There's only a little bit of fossil stuff.

There's only a little bit of that kind of stuff.

So what we wanna do is put another museum over there

that really focuses on evidence.

We own 50 acres here, so we got room to grow.

MAN: Our next speaker is Daniel Phelps,

who is a Lexington native.

He is the winner of the prestigious

National Center for Science Education's Friend of Darwin award.

[CROWD CHEERS]

DAN PHELPS: Of course, I'll remain Ken Ham's nemesis

as long as he's here in Kentucky.

...reality based on the light of evidence.

-Thank you very much. -[CROWD CHEERS]

And he better behave himself.

Ham is more complex than people realize.

I think that he has a business

ability about him.

That he's a good propagandist.

He is a wonderful propagandist.

He holds the whole thing together.

Within a few years he had the Creation Museum,

and eventually he had the Ark made.

[INAUDIBLE DIALOG]

Like I've said before. I sort of feel like I failed basically

fighting this.

My goal was to make sure

that they didn't get the tax incentive money.

Which is 18 and a quarter million over a ten year period.

So, I feel I lost major on that.

It was just something that I put a lot of time in,

and it just didn't work out.

You can't have everything work out.

I remember when I was a little kid,

my dad took me downtown

without my mother knowing we watched the movie Patton.

And I'll never forget the opening scenes where Pat was talking to the troops

saying, "Someday you're gonna have your grandkids ask you what did you do in the war?

And are you gonna tell them that you shoveled shit in New Orleans,

"or you actually went out and fought?"

You can say, "Well, I posted stuff to Facebook."

Or you can say, "I actually went out and we tried to do something."

And I think at least... At least I tried.

Of course this problem isn't going to go away in our lifetime,

or maybe even our children or grandchildren's lifetimes.

The Creationist movement will be with us for a very long time.

Here's another exciting part of the project.

We building Noah's Ark,

that's only phase one.

We have other phases planned as well.

We master planned an entire park to go with Noah's Ark.

We have, for instance,

a petting zoo, a stage for live animal programs,

the children's area.

a Tower of Babel with a 5-D theater, ride through the plagues of Egypt.

A first century village.

Drama theaters.

[VOICE FADES AWAY]

[THUNDER CRASHING]

[MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING]

MODERATOR: Senator McCain, this comes from a politico.com reader

and was among the top vote getters in our early rounds.

I want a yes or no.

Do you believe in evolution?

Yes.

I'm curious. Is there anybody on the stage that does not agree on that,

believe in evolution?

I've come to understand that all that stuff I was taught about evolution

and embryology and the Big Bang Theory,

all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell.

I don't believe that the earth's but about 9,000 years old.

I personally believe that this theory

that Darwin came up with

was something that

was encouraged by the adversary.

[SPEAKING]

All right. We're gonna go through some interesting news items

of the past few days.

The first one involves a group called 137 Films

that asked for access to our designers

and others associated with building the ark.

And they wanted to come and film for a documentary.

So, 137 films from their website

says, "Creationists have built a $100 million, 510 foot Noah's Ark

"with the express purpose of debunking evolution."

Wrong.

It's science vs. religion.

And over and over again.

-What do they mean by science? -Yeah.

Over and over again we say it's not science.

-This is religion. -That's right.

It's religion vs. religion.

Exactly. The thing is they don't want to admit

that evolution really is a religion.

I mean, molecules demand evolution.

It's a belief.

Again, it's an attempt at brainwashing and indoctrinating the public

that, "I don't believe these Creationists,

"because they're not real scientists

"and that's religion.

"Real science believes, millions of years believes,

"man evolved from ape-like creatures."

Well, they say we're gonna have rides at the Ark Encounter,

like a Tower of Babel ride. Things like that.

I mean, is that kind of stuff really gonna happen?

Well, it'll be a different sort of ride.

-It's not a ride for an amusement park. -That's right.

It'll be just like a people carrier.

To carry people through maybe the history.

Anyway, this 137 Films is trying to raise money for their documentary.

They wanna get it shown in picture theaters,

so they can try to indoctrinate and inoculate the public

against the Bible.

That's the way it goes.

Hey, here's a piece from Publishers Weekly...