1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:1-2 (kjv)
Answers in Genesis (AiG) is a young earth creationist organization which operates the Ark Encounter exhibit in Williamstown, Kentucky, a small town nestled halfway between Lexington to the south, and Cincinnati to the north. Driving up to the exhibit it is hard to not be awed by the enormity of the grounded Ark, and also by the crowd of people who travel from all over to witness this enormous edifice. It is based on the biblical tale of Noah’s Ark, and is said to be built to the same specifications as the one written about in Genesis chapters six through nine. However, the main purpose of this Ark exhibit seems not to be so much about the biblical story of Noah, although it as well as creationist theory are two key secondary components, as it is about legitimizing a common Christian claim that the earth is only around six thousand years old.
Many Christians do not hold to a belief that the earth is merely six thousand years old because science tells us that it is about four and half billions years old. Other Christians hold to a “gap theory”, stating that the bible never specifically states the age of the earth, and that there is an unspecified “gap” in years between verses one and two in the first chapter of Genesis. (See quote at the top of this article for a reference.) Many other Christians believe that Genesis, especially chapter one, should not be taken literally, and that the earth has existed for much longer than six thousand years. The AiG, and other’s involved with the Ark Encounter are not these Christians listed above. They stand firm in their belief that the earth is only six thousand years old and use the bible narrative from Adam’s creation in Genesis through the last book of the bible (Revelation) in an attempt to prove this claim. Although many scholars would point to this as being a circular argument, by using the bible to prove the bible correct, the million yearly visitors to the Ark would probably consider this argument to be valid. As Daniel Pals points out in his introduction to Ten Theories of Religion, to Christians, “God alone was real and all others were mere figments of the human imagination, there was little about religion that needed either comparison or explanation.” [Pals 3]. With this being believed, there would be no need for them to turn to any other source other than the bible to prove their truth claims.
Christian groups can use the Ark Encounter as legitimation to “prove” that the earth is in fact only six thousand years old. They have an actual structure to point to, which to them helps to legitimize biblical truths in showing that Noah’s Ark could be built, and would be sea worthy (Even though this boat has only touched water when it rains, not during a worldwide flood, so their claim has yet to be proven true). Showing this Ark to be “the real deal”, the young earth proponents claims of the earth’s age must be legitimate as well. Or so their thinking goes.
Many believe using the Ark to legitimize claims of a young earth is misleading, harmful, and could even be dangerous. Most people however only agree in an effort to keep religious harmony, even when they believe something is incorrect. As Religious Studies scholar Stephen Prothero rightly points out in his book God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter, “The ideal of religious tolerance has morphed into the straitjacket of religious agreement.” [Prothero 4]. For these reasons the issue of the Ark’s legitimation claims has not received a lot of press. However, there are some voices speaking out against the Ark. For instance, the Tri-State Freethinker’s founder and president, Jim G. Helton, has referred to the Ark Encounter as the “Genocide and Incest Park,” while also stating that the “The moral of the flood story is horrible,”. Other opponents of the exhibit have been in legal battles with with AiG president and founder Ken Ham over his policy to only hire employees at the Ark who will sign a “statement of faith” rejecting evolution and declaring that they regularly attend church and view homosexuality as a sin. Others point to the AiG using the Ark for legitimation of a six thousand year old earth as dangerous, because they claim that Ham’s organization is violating the separation of church of state as laid out in the Constitution. Barry Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State in referring to Ham receiving subsidies for the Ark Encounter said, “It’s not good science. It’s not good anything. It ought to be unacceptable for a state at any level to treat this like one more bond-funded enterprise. Most Christians do not accept this as a literal or natural interpretation of the Bible.”
In his book A Critical Introduction to the Study of Religion, Craig Martin points out that, “Legitimations offer some sort of justification for conformity to a practice.” [Martin 103]. This ‘conformity to a practice’ is exactly what Ken Ham, and the AiG are hoping to achieve by making a six thousand year old earth the ‘truth’, by legitimizing their Ark exhibit. By showing this to be the ‘truth’ they can keep the message of a young earth alive, and growing, simply because people are drawn to the Ark Encounter to witness the Ark itself. When they get there though they learn about AiG’s beliefs, and many, being like minded Christians in other aspects, accept these beliefs of AiG in regards to a six thousand year old earth as their own.
Soup Steve’s Religious Studies Blog 