Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham

You think so? You think it is that and not just the fact that they were the group that stopped Dobson from getting money from Iowa and has opposed many of Dobson's attempts to try to insert Christianity (as he imagines it) into our government; that they and others like them are the front line protecting us from the Christian Cult of Ignorance?

Would you at least agree that that is the interpretation of the organization?

I would agree that that's what they think they are doing, yes. But look at their list of linked headlines. Lots of anti-Religious Right stuff there, and those of us on the Religious Right are going to dispute their interpretation.

Would you also agree that there are plenty of people who are not atheist who are anti-religious right?

Is it even possible to be pro-First Amendment without coming into conflict with the Religious Right? I don't see how.

So you think Ham is wrong, but you can see that there might be some potential advantages to hiring only Christians, so it must be your position that not following the law is okay as long as "they have a good reason for it."But regardless of Ham's rationale, if he succeeds it means that Muslims could take public money for their own theme park and hire only Muslims. To be consistent, if you think what Ham doing it is okay then you have to agree that Muslims doing it would be okay, too. As long as they have just as good a reason.--Percy

All I've said is that apparently HE thinks so, I have no idea what they might be in his mind. I don't see the need myself, as I've said, but I refuse to second-guess HIS reasons. Since nobody is "not following the law" this is a strange accusation out of the blue. I assume if he ends up hiring only Christians it will either be because the court agreed with him about whatever his argument is, or it disagreed and he's giving up the tax exemption.

There's no accusation. We're talking hypothetically. If Ham accepts public money from the state while discriminating in hiring practices on the basis of religion then that would violate separation of church and state. People have been driven by financial motivations to get around separation of church and state since the beginning of the republic. Thus far no one has succeeded and stayed within the law.--Percy

He thinks he has a case. The law will decide. That's the end of it for me.

Ham is still just selling lies, nonsense and fantasy, no different than Knott's Berry Farm or The Wizarding World of Harry Potter but without the social significance.

I think he has a case. The law will decide against him.But then he will cry "persecution of Christians". The donations will come pouring in. He will benefit financially.Yes, he has a case for ripping off the gullible.

How naive.I'm not sure why Nwr thinks Ham has a case (maybe he meant Ham has some arguments he can raise no matter how hopeless) but he might otherwise have the right take on this. Ham has no case but by losing in court he gains Christian donations. If he continues to take public money, if the ark park remains non-religious, then donations are taxable income, but it's more money than he had before.--Percy

Read his first sentence then read his last sentence.

Thar's gold in them thar Biblical Christian pockets but even more money in everyone's pockets. If you can't pick everyone's pockets then just pick a few but do it well.

Good grief, the man is building a multi-million-dollar theme park that should benefit the State of Kentucky, which is exactly the sort of thing that Kentucky's tax exemption was meant to encourage, and you all talk like he's some kind of rip-off artist for wanting to get that exemption.What if he has a really good reason for wanting it to be run by Christians? I don't know what his reason might be but what if the success of the place depends on it? Then it's intrinsic to the enterprise that it be run by Christians and for that to disqualify the incentive exemption really makes no sense. The law would then be requiring him to compromise the success of his venture by giving him the choice between losing the exemption and losing the employees that are needed. He decided to build it in Kentucky in the first place because of the exemption.I personally can't think of a reason in this case why Christians should be needed but I can imagine such a situation.