Are school trips to Ark Encounter legal? Ken Ham and group wage battle

Billy Kobin, Louisville Courier Journal Published 8:18 a.m. ET Jan. 19, 2019 | Updated 8:22 a.m. ET Jan. 19, 2019

Ken Ham, the creationist founder of the Ark Encounter in Northern Kentucky, is sparring with a national group over whether public schools are legally allowed to visit his religious attractions.

Earlier this month the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which promotes the separation of church and state, sent letters to more than 1,000 public school districts in Kentucky and four other states saying that field trips to Ham's Ark Encounter and Creation Museum are unconstitutional.

The letters, sent Jan. 8, were prompted by Ham encouraging public schools to visit his theme park, which features a 510-foot-long model of Noah's Ark.

"It is unacceptable to expose a captive audience of impressionable students to the overtly religious atmosphere of Ham’s Christian theme parks," wrote Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker, co-presidents of the Wisconsin-based foundation.

Ham is the founder of Answers in Genesis, a Christian creationist ministry that runs the Ark Park in Williamstown and the Creation Museum in Petersburg. Creationists reject the teaching of evolution and believe the Earth was created in a few days about 6,000 years ago, based on the Bible's teachings in Genesis.

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