Why Ark Encounter is suing Kentucky
Mark Looy is chief communications officer and co-founder of Answers in Genesis and the Ark Encounter.
In addition to being forced to file a lawsuit against the state of Kentucky to protect religious freedom at the Ark Encounter, it has become necessary at Answers in Genesis to dispel a number of myths related to the construction of our Ark in Northern Kentucky. Sometimes the battle in the court of public opinion is as important as the one in the court itself.
In court, we look forward to showing why AiG has the right to hire people at the Ark who agree with our core beliefs – allowed for religious groups by both federal and state law – and that we also possess the right to share our religious beliefs with visitors who will voluntarily visit our biblical theme park.
In the court of public opinion, we have been busy making certain that the public understands that not a single penny is coming out of Kentucky's state budget to construct the park in Williamstown. To the contrary, AiG has merely applied to participate in a rebate program that has been used by many other tourism developments in the past. The program allows a possible refund of a portion of the brand-new sales tax that is generated by a tourist venue (such as from ticket sales and merchandise), if and only if that attraction draws large crowds and brings hundreds of millions of new tourism dollars into the state.
Obviously, no unwilling taxpayer is involved in the rebate, because each new sales tax dollar generated will come from the pocket of those who choose to visit the Ark and its attractions. Our feasibility studies suggest there will be more than 1.2 million visitors in our first year of operation alone.
Illogical as it is, the state has bowed to pressure from anti-Christian groups and decided to reverse course and withdraw its preliminary approval of the tax rebate. Ironically, when asked during a 2010 press conference if a theme park based on Noah's Ark would pass constitutional muster, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear stated emphatically: "The law does not allow us to discriminate" about a tourist attraction's subject matter. While the governor's position has suddenly changed, the law has not. He was correct in 2010, and he is clearly wrong now.
Since our efforts to explain this simple truth and reason with state officials have been ignored, we have been left with no option but to proceed to court. We are grateful that two of the nation's most experienced religious liberty defense organizations have agreed to handle our important case free of charge.
Our attorneys have already shown the state that these matters are well-established in the law. It has long been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that religious groups cannot be excluded from economic development incentive programs simply because of their viewpoints or who they may choose to hire.
One would expect that everyone in our region would enthusiastically welcome any project that will bring millions of dollars in new capital investment, be a net gain for the state treasury, create thousands of jobs directly and indirectly, and pass constitutional muster. The Ark's sister facility, the Creation Museum, has already added hundreds of millions of dollars to the regional economy from its 2.3 million guests. The Ark Encounter will be even bigger.
Every American needs to know that we should still enjoy the fundamental right to religious freedom, and that the Constitution does not allow any state to treat religious groups as second-class citizens.
Meanwhile, construction has begun on our massive ship. We're preparing for a giant flood of tourists – and new tax dollars – in 2016, and everyone in this region should welcome that.