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Originally published in Christian Post
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The Ark Encounter, an ambitious life-sized Noah’s Ark theme park that is set to open on July 7, 2016 in Kentucky in the United States has released a creative promo video which will be aired on the Fox News channel.
The $35.5m project has been in the making for years and has had to overcome opposition from atheist and secular organisations.
The creationist endeavor, led by Answers in Genesis’ Ken Ham, features crowds of people in the video, young and old, following animals such as elephants, rhinos, and leopards on city streets as they travel toward Noah’s Ark in the distance.
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Ham, who also leads the Creationist Museum in Kentucky, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that the video is being shown on Fox News on “America’s Newsroom,” “Out Numbered,” Shep Smith, Neil Cavuto, “The Five,” and Election HQ.
The Ark Encounter project has been years in the making, and in January received a major court victory after a federal judge ruled that Kentucky officials violated the group’s First Amendment rights by denying it participation in a sales tax incentive worth millions.
US District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove ruled that the Ark Encounter should not have been excluded from the tax incentive because of its “religious purpose and message,” and for wanting to hire religious workers on the Ark.
Ham called it a “victory for the free exercise of religion in this country” back then, and added: “Atheist organisations and other secular groups have been falsely claiming that AiG/Ark Encounter should not receive a facially neutral tax incentive in Kentucky because of our Christian message.”
He continued: “They have also been wrongly stating that AiG would be breaking the law if we used a religious preference in our hiring at the future Ark. AiG has responded many times to their bogus claims, charges which are nothing more than the secularists’ blatant desire to see religious discrimination be practiced against AiG. Such discrimination against Christianity is growing across America.”
Latest work on project
The Ark Encounter website says that the project is costing $33.5 million to make, but most of the money has been secured. (See video summary of the project progress above).
The official blog keeps readers updated on the latest work surrounding the project, and on Tuesday revealed that a keel will be included on the Ark.
“Since the Ark Encounter will be a life-size Noah’s Ark, built according to the biblical dimensions and meant to educate people about the reality of the account in Genesis, we’re naturally including a keel on the Ark,” the blog stated.
It added that construction continues at a “deliberate pace” at the stern end of the ship where the keel is protruding, and noted that the bulk of the ship is being kept weatherproofed for winter, though a “beehive of activity” still goes on.
“Pray for the construction workers’ continued safety and that the Lord will bless us with good weather so the construction can move forward quickly,” the website asks.
