We seem to have succeeded in driving Kent Hovind underground. He still has a Twitter account, but as we all know, every Nazi on the planet can get a Twitter account. His Facebook page is almost dead, only sporadically updated. He set up a Dinosaur Adventure Land page on Facebook in 2016, in which he announces that Dinosaur Adventure Land is the funnest soul winning Christian theme park on the face of the planet,
but nothing has ever been posted there. He has been banned from Facebook. I suspect he has accounts on the usual right-wing places, like Telegram and Gab, but I’m not going to bother checking on those.
As a grifter who relies on drawing in suckers to give him money for his pedophile-friendly cheesy little camp, all the pressure has hurt him. Even Matt Powell drifted away. I really wonder what his revenues are right now, and I would guess there’s been a bit of a financial crash for him.
However, Kent Hovind is low-hanging fruit. He’s a small time yokel with a following of even more ignorant yokels. He was broken when he spent 9 years in jail for tax evasion, and he’s never going to regain his former popularity.
The real threat is Ken Ham. Ham’s doctrine is virtually indistinguishable from Hovind’s (I’m sure they would argue about fine points of their theology), believing in a host of anti-scientific nonsense like that the Earth is less than ten thousand years old and that humans coexisted with dinosaurs, but the difference is that Ham is a politically savvy con artist who has successfully cheated Kentucky out of millions of dollars, and runs a multi-million dollar, elaborate Christian theme park where it costs over $70 just to park. It’s a redneck swimmin’ hole vs. expensive park for separating fools from their money.
Dinosaur Adventure Land
Ark Park
Ken Ham is a polished version of Kent Hovind who went straight for the big money — tax breaks from the state government, grand but pointless projects to lure in donations, national advertising to draw in tourists, and a slick and superficial theology to persuade the gullible that he’s presenting the truth of the Bible. If we’re going to rhetorically beat up creationists, Ham and Answers in Genesis are far more significant targets. They are the more powerful grifters.
At least we’ve got Dan Phelps, who is probably the most persistent and consistent opponent of AiG. He’s been hammering on AiG, and also on Kentucky’s complicity with the idiot’s version of Christianity that Ham peddles.
In late 2022, I began receiving, almost daily, “sponsored posts” in my Facebook feed for the Ark Encounter that were sponsored by the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (NKCVB). The NKCVB is partly funded by a tax charge when hotel rooms are rented in Northern Kentucky. Since the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum are Kentucky tourist sites, the mere advertising of these sites is not objectionable. However, the wording describing the Ark Encounter is objectionable. The “sponsored ad” (see Figure 1 below) and working on the the NKCVB website https://www.meetnky.com/about-us/ is troublesome. The advertisement states that the Ark Encounter is “a full-sized replica” of Noah’s Ark, indicating that the NKCVB agrees with Answers in Genesis that the Ark actually existed. Obviously, one cannot have a “replica” of something that never existed.
Kentucky, you’re embarrassing yourself.
AiG, though, is really, really good at promoting itself. They can sell anything to anyone. Would you believe they’ve coopted the state’s DEI policies and an international LGBTQ+ organization?
I was about to ignore this as just another inane thing that Answers in Genesis (AiG) has received from a taxpayer supported government entity. However, I noticed that the NKCVB has the imprimatur of Destination Marketing’s Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Accreditation Program and The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (actually the IGLBTQ+ Travel Association). This seemed very odd, given AiG’s stances on diversity and sexuality.
That’s impressive. They’ve got the LGBTQ community, or at least a few blind-sided organizations, to promote a company with these claims in their statement of faith.
- “The concepts of ‘social justice,’ ‘intersectionality,’ and ‘critical race theory’ as defined in modern terminology are anti-biblical and destructive to human flourishing (Ezekiel 1:1-20; James 2:8-9).”
- “The only legitimate marriage, based on the creation ordinance in Genesis 1 and 2, sanctioned by God is the joining of one naturally born man and naturally born woman in a single, exclusive union as delineated in Scripture. God intends sexual intimacy to only occur between a man and a woman who are married to each other and has commanded that no sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. Any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, prostitution, homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography, abuse, or any attempt to change one’s gender, or disagreement with one’s biological gender, is sinful and offensive to God (Genesis 1:27-28, 2:24; Matthew 5:27-30; 19:4-5; Mark 10: 2-9; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7; Hebrews 13:4).”
- “Gender and biological sex are equivalent and cannot be separated. A person’s gender is determined at conception (fertilization), coded in the DNA, and cannot be changed by drugs, hormones, or surgery. Rejection of one’s biological sex (gender) or identifying oneself by the opposite sex is a sinful rejection of the way God made that person. These truths must be communicated with compassion, love, kindness, and respect, pointing everyone to the truth that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking his mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ (Genesis 1:26-28, 5:1-2; Psalm 51:5, 139: 13-16; Jeremiah 1:5; Matthew 1:20-21, 19:4-6; Mark 10:6; Luke 1:31; Acts 3: 19-21; Romans 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 3:28).”
Amazing. You think AiG will be sponsoring something like Disney’s Gay Days anytime soon?
Also, as Dan Points out, none of those Bible verses actually support any of their claims. That’s a common tactic of the Christian grifter, spewing out lists of Bible verses to confer false authority, while avoiding actually reading any of them.
But that’s not all. AiG has a hard-line stance on abortion — they advocate the death penalty for women who get abortions.
On January 25 the Creation Museum hosted a political event designed to fire up support for anti-abortion legislation in Kentucky. The event featured Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis (AiG) and Jeff Durbin of Apologia Church, Mesa, Arizona.
Durbin sees abortion as analogous to the Nazi slaughter of the Jews, although he thinks such a comparison “is a bit of an insult to Hitler,” given that, “if you take a body count of Hitler’s Germany to what we’ve had since Roe v. Wade, we beat him by the metric ton.” In response, Durbin argues that women who have abortions – and this includes instances of incest or rape – must be punished:
Whether it’s a mother who kills her child in the womb or a mother who kills her five-year-old twins by drowning them in the bathtub, we would want it to be treated as a murder charge, and for that to be applied consistently under the law. I believe that a just answer to murder is the death penalty. Historically that’s the standard we held to for a long time, and ultimately when God has spoken to the issue of justice for murder, he says it’s a life for a life.
Would you believe that AiG then claims that they are apolitical? Sure you would. But then readers here all know that Ken Ham is a big-time liar and fraud.
Shut ’em down. Choke off their revenue stream. Remember what the Bible tells us: “And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers.” (Ezekiel 25:17)*.
*Totally fake quote from Pulp Fiction, but who cares?
How big was Noah’s Ark? Come see a full size replica right here in Northern Kentucky. Start planning your trip today!*
*Only one family of eight will be allowed to board at any given time. Everyone else drowns in the parking lot. Have fun!
I must admit that when I’ve read previously about AiG’s hiring policy and the statement of faith employees must sign up to, I’d not followed it up by reading any of the bible verses used to support their claim. I’d assumed that several were going to require some tortuous twists and turns in the interpretation in order to reach the desired support, but they would at least be arguable in the finest tradition cough of apologetics, even for biblical literalists.
Reading those verses now, I can see that several are utterly unrelated to the claim being made, while others merely repeat the same thing about sexual immorality while never defining it. AiG has got scriptural support for their view on adultery and homosexuality, for the biological sex of Adam and Eve (though not their descendants other than Jesus), and nothing else. If they could have found wider support elsewhere in the bible they would have used it.
I wonder what happens when a potential employee does read that statement of faith and checks the references. Do they realise they are about to go work for a bunch of liars, throw it to the ground and walk away, or has Ham put it in there to see who will swallow his bullshit and joyfully slave away at the coalface for him?
West Virginia Senate OKs intelligent design bill
Since Ken’s gone all Old Testament on us, let’s see if the Old Testament has anything to say about the values of the lives of pregnant woman and foetus. Exodus 21 (my bolding);
So, dead foetus = a fine.
Injured/killed woman = eye for an eye, etc
Ken must have missed that bit.
@ ^ Rob Grigjanis : Sure you’ve probly seen before but for me on this issue Bettey Bowers sums it up best in her :
Biblical abortion video here spot on and includes that and much more. Under 5 mins long.
Note : the bits here where a baby counts only after being a month old – out of the womb – & “god’s grimy abortion inducing cocktail” and more..
I came across a portmanteau we need for these types of situations–where people act like dicks and then pretend to be victimized by cancelation: playing the dicktim.
Even if those Bible versus explicitly said what Ken et al think they say, so what. I don’t see any need to grant any authority to writings from the ancient world. Frankly, I suspect much of what we think of as ancient Biblical writings were conjured up fairly late in the ancient world for political and economic purposes. If Ken Ham can use religion and political connections to make himself rich, the Hasmoneans, Herodians, et al have him beat by miles.
Ken Ham wouldn’t have any success if there weren’t millions of Americans who vehemently believe in Gawd, Biblical literalism, and the supernatural. However, I don’t hear anyone suggesting how to deal with that cancer. If anything our system is designed to protect wrong thinking, not punish it.
I’m still trying to figure out marriage and “natural born man and natural born woman”, by their daffynition, Adam and Eve were unwed and decidedly unnatural, as neither was born, but created.
Meanwhile, per the bauble, a fetus is treated as simple property, as Rob mentioned. Hence, they’re creating their own biblical law by fiat. I guess it was spoken in tongues of the giraffe or something to them…
As for the ark, it’d fit fairly comfortably on the Titanic, per the biblical measurements, which would vary depending upon whose arm was used to measure the cubit. It would be around 2/3 of the Titanic, so all life became magic and fit somehow.
And I’ve a fine bridge for sale that goes to Brooklyn.
I’m also wondering, given the Ark misadventure park, what book in the bible describes how to construct the Celotex used in the ark?
These types really hate getting into such discussions with me, as I typically know the bible far better than they do and undermine every point that they try to make.
Although, the real fun begins with the advanced class, where Adam was listed as created twice, once with other creatures as mated pairs, then later, when Eve suddenly became needed and I introduce the acolyte to Lilith…
Then segue into angels and demons being preexisting at creation and the same critter. Yet, Lilith went from human to become a demon, which means either Adam and Lilith were angels or the entire hot mess is bullshit.
Suffice it to say, I’ve converted Jehovah Witnesses frequently enough that, at first, they’d start sending elders to my door, then after a high enough attrition, they’d simply stop coming. Maximum number of visits being six for a couple of elders.
Bollocks! I just realized, got all of the ingredients to make some guac, save lime. :/
Grumble, grumble, grumble…
If you are want to know more — a LOT more — about the Ark Park, you can listen to the just-concluded ten(10!) part series of the Oh No! Ross and Carey podcast,
https://ohnopodcast.com/
Ross takes you through the whole thing in great detail, floor by floor, misleading exhibit by misleading exhibit.
This is the year 5782 for believing Jews. I always thought that they meant since Abraham, which is ridiculous (not to mention that he most certainly did not exist). Then I learned that the date is from Genesis, so yes the earth is less than 10,000 years old. Of course, modern Jews believe no such thing, except the ultra Orthodox? They still believe in the First Coming.
Ah, no better argument for the Pro Life movement than demanding the death penalty for women who had an abortion. (Apparently the IGLBTQ+ Travel Association missed the part where men are neglected.) Also, my biblical knowledge must be getting rusty. I don’t recall having read anything about intersectionality in Ezekiel or critical race theory in James.
I know of only one attempt to build an “ark” that would actually float, and it barely did that. The poor thing listed and wobbled so badly that any animals in it would have been crushed against each other or tossed overboard, and it looked just barely maneuverable at all. And that was in calm waters near (IIRC) some of the London docks. There’s no way that thing would have stayed afloat in even a normal storm, let alone a global flood.
@dstatton #11
The Jewish calendar is quite interesting. It is basically a moon calendar, with additional days (and an additional month 7 times every 19 years) to keep in pace with the solar calendar. A real treat for astronomers.
@rietpluim, true, but the lunar calendar is a true treat for selenographers. ;)
@ ^ wzrd1 : Ah, the lunar calendar wherea day is a whole month long .. well almost 29 & a half Earth days rioughly anyhow..
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_day )
“..as Dan Points out, none of those Bible verses actually support any of their claims. That’s a common tactic of the Christian grifter, spewing out lists of Bible verses to confer false authority, while avoiding actually reading any of them.”
All of Ham’s publications is like that. One of his best examples of how he mishandles Bible verses is Genesis 3:21, the verse where God made clothing out of animal skins for Adam and Eve to wear. It was never told how He did it and of what animal the skins came from, but Dumb Idiot Ham thinks that the verse implies that Adam and Ever had to sacrifice a lamb on the altar in order to introduce them to the concept of physical death, something Dumb Idiot Ham claims to have never existed before Adam and Eve bit the apple, or a large purple raspberry as illustrated in some of his putrid publications.
Problem with Ham’s twisted logic is that there was nothing in the verse that says anything about Adam and Eve sacrificing a lamb or two and made clothing out of their skins at God’s command. Dumb Idiot Ham just made the whole thing up out of thin air while avoiding anything else that would contradict his fantasy worldview.
I looked up these passages. Here’s Ezekiel from the King James edition:
Here’s James, again from the King James:
WHAT THE FUCK DOES EITHER OF THOSE PASSAGES HAVE TO DO WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE, INTERSECTIONALITY, AN/OR CRT?
Whoops! Forgot passage 20. Not that it helps:
Akira@18
The James part is easy, but it’ll take more drugs than little Timmy Leery took during his whole life to make any sense of that Ezekiel. James was paraphrasing Jesus about brotherly love and following Roman law. It seems he got some context wrong and ended up saying that you would do well to make love to your neighbor while giving a reach-around, but do not do so with respect, slap them around a bit so as not to transgress those Roman laws against respectful sex.
*no one was slapped around, either respectfully or with disrespect, in the making of this humor
@Owosso Harpist, that’s not just Ham, all of the fundies are on about Adam and Steve not knowing what death was.
Which makes the threat of not eating the forbidden fruit or they’d die rather odd. Don’t scratch your nose or you’ll yagamilch.
Never to define what yagamilch is.
StevoR, well, there’s always Venus, who has the poor grace to have a day that’s 243 (and some odd bits) earth days long. Not that one would notice on the surface, given the poor penetration of sunlight, not that you’d care being pressure cookered instantly by the molten lead heat and 90+ atmospheres of pressure.
Kind of like a thermonuclear fireball, where the ionizing radiation is largely contained within the fireball. I don’t think I’ll care too much about the ionizing radiation, what with being ultrapasteurized by the heat and pressure of the fireball. ;)
Don’t think my “Yikes!” sign would fare well either.
@ ^ wzrd1 : Yes and our Cytherean “sister” planet also roatets backwards too thus if we could see the sunrises and sunsets there they’d be happening in the opposite henmisphere s to ours ie rising in west and setting in east. Such a pity its unbroken superfluid atmsosphere deprives us of seeing those properly.. well that and the heat, the pressure the sulphuric acid clouds etc ..
@ ^ Well, that’s put a new spin on the spelling of the word “rotates” .. & I guess a “hen misphere” would be a mis-shapen ball of chooks? Typos huh. mea culpa. Hit “submit” instead of “preview.” Hope y”all get the gist anyhow.
Well, I noticed in the last month that Google’s news aggregator suddenly starting sending me stories from AiG under the science and technology banner, so you know Google doesn’t give a flying fuck about maintaining the science standards essential for the future of American tech developments so long as the advertisers keep giving them money to pretend it’s news.
And let’s not forget that for god’s kingdom to advance from Adam & Eve, incest and Oedipal complexities and other “forbidden” sexual kink would have to be involved.
So was it Cain or Abel who partook of Eve’s maternal buffet, or did Cain and Abel get it on, providing the visual of the original “miraculous conception”. Then the one who wasn’t given the blessing of pregnancy waited until the ” mother brother ” delivered (shat out?) the (hopefully) female child, and then killed him. Then, after that, Grandpa Adam waited patiently until the child attained puberty……………………..
The only question still have regarding the stupidity of these people is – Do they think tax records are like fossils, and its somehow impossible to find them in file cabinets based on year because, much like fossils, you can’t find related records in the same folder, aka “layer”, because no such thing as “index documents” exists, and you can’t use them to make an informed guess as to which folder you put the other documents in? I mean, this is their logic on certain… subjects, right?
@chrislawson
No different than Dumb Idiot Ham and the other creationists paying Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines massive amounts of money to help them spread lies by posting all their links to their faulty “dinosaur” articles and make them more prominent than the links to normal dinosaur articles.
@wzrd1 – So true.
@StevoR, no biggie, didn’t really notice, as I’m dyslexic and parse and interpret right through.
@chrislawson, either simple greed on Google’s part or as likely, greed and unwillingness to correct their Artificial Idiocy that gives that content. Although, I’ll say that I’ve yet to get such crap. Had I, their app would cease alerting me, courtesy of being disabled.
@Kagehi, idiots are idiots, enough said.
Well, off to limp the mile and a half or so to the store and back. Well, that or give up eating.
Tried to get Wallymart to deliver, but they’re back to not accepting my debit card again, so other companies will get my money instead. I did my due diligence last time there was a problem, if they’ve not corrected it in 3 months, that’s their lost business, not mine.
Limp, as two days of crappy weather fronts left me with a calf spasm of two days in length.
Oh well, I’m better off than I guy I know who has constant calf spasms, but lacks that leg. I still have a leg and the pain eventually subsides.
For whatever it’s worth, in Catholic school they taught that the whole eye for an eye thing wasn’t actually seen as barbaric when it was new. It was a limit placed upon revenge. The teachers in my religion class said the ten commandments were an improvement on it and we’re mostly supposed to be the new law of the land, replacing it. I don’t recall how they explained one being a list of things not to do and the other being a punishment guideline but but that was the story they told. And the golden rule from the new testament was supposed to supercede both of those earlier doctrines but they still focused quite a bit on the ten commandments. It’s more authoritarian friendly than a moral doctrine that requires you to think for yourself.
So as far as I can tell this means Ham and Durbin think we all need to be limited to whatever healthcare solutions tribal people from 2500 years ago were comfortable with and enforce that with punishments they would have considered outdated. All while supposedly worshipping and following in the footsteps of a guy who would have thrown them out of their own Ark Park for profiting off the faith of others.
Yeah. Great line of logic. Let’s all absolutely change our lives because of this infallible line of reasoning. How do people even get to be this gullible?