Local geologist to speak at Humanist group about The Ark Encounter

By Pete Koutoulas

The Ark Encounter stands in Northern Kentucky as a testament to why fundamentalist religion and science do not mix. But a Central Kentucky man has been working to expose the hypocrisy, false claims, and (likely unconstitutional) use of taxpayer funds to help support the religious attraction.

Dan Phelps is a retired geologist with a background in paleontology and paleoecology. He has worked as a petroleum, coal, and environmental geologist. He has also taught geology and paleontology in the community college system and presently volunteers to teach OLLI classes on dinosaurs and the history of life.

Clearly, Dan has the credentials to question both the scientific claims and to draw attention to the problematic use of public money to help support a religious attraction with absolutely no educational or scientific value to the public.

Dan’s presentation, “The Ark Encounter: Anti-science with Government Assistance,” will be presented at the February 12 meeting of Humanists of Winchester. The event will begin at 6 PM in the community room of the library and is open to the public.

The Ark Encounter is an offshoot of the Creation Museum, which opened in Northern Kentucky in 2007. Both attractions and a “young Earth” organization known as Answers in Genesis (AiG) were founded and are run by Australian Ken Ham. He relocated to the US in 1987 for the stated purpose of “reaching the world” with the belief that the universe is only about 6,000 years old and that the creation stories found in the book of Genesis are literally true. As a result, Ham and his followers reject much of the core of modern science — biology, astronomy, physics, and geology being chief among them.

Dan Phelps has been a constant thorn in Ham’s side. And Ham is very much aware of Dan’s work to expose the hypocrisy and false teachings of AiG. According to Dan, Ham has asked his followers to “pray that the light of God’s eternal truth will shine on Dan Phelps’ heart.”

Dan has won numerous awards for his research and activism, including a “Friend of Darwin” award from the National Center for Science Education and the “Strimple Award” from the Paleontological Society (the world’s leading scientific organization devoted to paleontology.) He appeared in the 2019 documentary We Believe in Dinosaurs.

A personal note: I have nothing against churches teaching whatever doctrines they believe to be true. I also believe in the right of any church or parachurch organization — or anyone else, for that matter — to privately fund and operate attractions such as The Ark Encounter, regardless of what I know to be true about the history of the Earth.

But I strongly support the separation of church and state, a principle that has guided our nation for 250 years. When governments prop up religious institutions, the line between the two becomes blurred, to the detriment of both. Further, while I support AiG’s right to teach their beliefs, however misguided I think they are, I also affirm the right of people to publicly point out the flaws in their arguments and support science. This is how democracy works. Finally, I oppose the teaching of unscientific religious beliefs in our public schools, something AiG has promoted to the point of even developing curricula for use in both private and public schools.