Ken Ham Denies Atheists' Claims That Ark Is a Failure, Says Attacks Mean 'We're Being Effective'
Answers in Genesis (AiG) founder Ken Ham is strongly denying claims being made by atheists and their secular media supporters that the ministry's Ark Encounter, the Noah's Ark-themed park in Williamstown, Kentucky, is a "dismal failure."
Interviewed by The Gospel Herald, Ham said the claims being made by the Ark critics are not only entirely "false" but also serve as proof that the exhibit is a success, in both commercial and spiritual senses.
"The fact that we're getting such opposition from avowed atheists tells you that we're doing something right, because if we weren't doing something that was effective, they wouldn't oppose us," Ham said. "The sort of opposition they give, it's a feather in our cap to say we're doing something, we're being effective."
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The 800-acre theme park, located just south of Cincinnati, is run by the Answers in Genesis as a sister attraction to the nearby Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. The park includes an ark built to the measurements God gave Noah. The exhibits in the park back up the "young Earth creationist" interpretation of Scripture, which establishes that the Earth is about 6,000 years old and that the cataclysmic flood described in the Bible is literally and historically true.
Since atheists do not believe in anything that's written in the Bible, they have long been waging a campaign to discredit the works done by Ham and other Christians who put their faith in God's Word.
But Ham said the atheists' attacks on the Ark Encounter and all that it stands for are unintentionally benefitting the park since they're giving it free publicity. He cited Genesis 50:20, which reads, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
Ham zeroed in on a report from the Lexington Herald-Leader, which claimed that The Ark Encounter, which marks its first anniversary on July 7, has experienced low turnout and failed to help boost local businesses in the area and Kentucky's economy.
He said the report is totally false. "Attendance has exceeded our expectations," he pointed out. "The original projection of the Ark Encounter – 1.1 million to 2.2 million in attendance –were in normal years, and we haven't had a normal year yet. We won't have one until our second year. And, as we mark our first anniversary, we'll hit the low end of the estimated guest number, which is absolutely amazing for an abnormal year."
He said attendance is "bound to increase significantly" in the coming year as "thousands of people" are "coming every day."
On his Answers in Genesis blog, Ham said many writers in the secular media "have an agenda to undermine Christianity."
Last February, the atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation tried to put a dent on Ham's project when it warned a department of a city in Virginia that a trip to The Ark Encounter and Creation Museum for the families of its employees would violate the Constitution due to the exhibit's "Christian and proselytizing nature."
Because of the warning, the department canceled its planned trip, The Christian Post reported.
