Suburban Cincinnati Religious Museum Wants State $$$ For Ark Park: Sees Jews 'Subject To Everlasting Conscious Punishment'

The Ark Was Crewed By Jews

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Noah is the most famous non-Christian seafarer in history.  He is known to us today through the Hebrew Bible.  The effort to obtain state tourist tax incentives for a Noah's Ark theme park near the creationist museum could end up sailing into shoals of religious discrimination.  All employees at the Answers in Genesis creationist museum in Cincinnati's Kentucky suburbs must supply a "written statement of their testimony" and agree to support the religious group's articles of faith.  AiG requires belief in Jesus Christ and says anybody who isn't Christian is headed straight to hell.  Or, as the statement of faith puts it:  "Those who do not believe in Christ are subject to everlasting conscious punishment, but believers enjoy eternal life with God . . . It is the duty of Christians to attend a local Bible believing church as portrayed in the New Testament."

Clearly, the creationist museum is not very accepting of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or anybody else who happens to have a differing religious philosophy -- or no religious belief at all. It seems to prefer bigotry.  While Answers in Genesis is entitled to its own religious beliefs, can it force employees to adopt them to get a paycheck?  Religious non-profits are not totally exempt from fair hiring laws.  Xavier University, a Jesuit college in Cincinnati, employs Jews and non-Christians.  Hospitals run by Christian religious denominations in Cincinnati hire doctors and nurses and staff from diverse religious backgrounds.  Jewish Hospital hired non-Jews.  Those organizations adhered to non-discrimination rules and laws in order to access federal and state financial aid.  But the creationist museum and its partner are seeking Kentucky Tourism Development incentives to build a new park themed around a giant replica of Noah's Ark.  Noah was a Jew -- if you believe the Old Testament -- and wouldn't be eligible for a job with Answers in Genesis if he somehow showed up and tried to join its crew.

Stephenie Steitzer of the Louisville Courier Journal reports that the proposed Ark park is close to a deal with Kentucky officials to get the aid package:  "The developers are seeking incentives under the Kentucky Tourism Development Act, which allows up to 25 percent of the cost of a project to be recovered. Under the law, the state each year returns to developers of approved projects the sales tax paid by visitors on admission tickets, food, gift sales and lodging costs. Developers have 10 years to reach the 25 percent threshold. Advocates for church-state separation question whether the tax incentives would raise First Amendment issues."

The First Amendment probably is an issue.  But laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on race, creed and national origin likely come into play when a work force is required to meet this test:  "All job applicants need to supply a written statement of their testimony, a statement of what they believe regarding creation and a statement that they have read and can support the AiG statement of faith."

And here's a sample of what the "statement of faith" contains:

Section 3: Theology

1. The Godhead is triune: one God, three Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
2. All mankind are sinners, inherently from Adam and individually (by choice), and are therefore subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.
3. Freedom from the penalty and power of sin is available to man only through the sacrificial death and shed blood of Jesus Christ and His complete and bodily resurrection from the dead.
4. The Holy Spirit enables the sinner to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
5. The Holy Spirit lives and works in each believer to produce the fruits of righteousness.
6. Salvation is a gift received by faith alone in Christ alone and expressed in the individual’s repentance, recognition of the death of Christ as full payment for sin, and acceptance of the risen Christ as Savior, Lord, and God.
7. All things necessary for our salvation are expressly set down in Scripture.
8. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
9. Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead, ascended to heaven, and is currently seated at the right hand of God the Father, and shall return in person to this earth as Judge of the living and the dead.
10. Satan is the personal spiritual adversary of both God and mankind.
11. Those who do not believe in Christ are subject to everlasting conscious punishment, but believers enjoy eternal life with God.
12. The only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. Any forms of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, incest, fornication, adultery, pornography, etc., are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.
13. It is the duty of Christians to attend a local Bible believing church, as portrayed in the New Testament.