# Ken Ham blames "Ark Encounter" failure on atheists **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575 "2017-06-21T23:28:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/201 "2017-07-07T08:26:05Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > No, they would all speak the _same_ language. Speaking different languages was the punishment for building the first one. The way I would imagine it, they would show them “building” it, all speaking the same language, have some light show showing God punishing them, then afterwards have them all speak a different language. And that’s pretty much all I can imagine it doing. There’s no room for exhibits or anything. Just a monument to the story of Man’s folly and God’s punishment. The only way it could possibly have an educational value is in actually telling the story (for what ever small values of “education” you use.) Other than that, it’s just him wanting to build what God expressly punished others for building. It make no sense for anyone who takes the Bible literally, and suggests to me that Ham does not. Guess Noah’s curse really worked on him. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/202 "2017-07-07T11:52:20Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It is also hilarious that Evangelical Christians want to put cuneiform tablets from Iraq in a Bible museum when the translation of cuneiform tablets from Iraq was one of the major factors in chipping away at the historicity of the bible in the late 19th century. Not all, but a large portion of fundamentalists have only a vague idea of what logic is and how to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/203 "2017-07-08T21:12:33Z")
“There’s nothing more American,than standing firm and resolute in the face of rational thought.” -David Cross ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/204 "2017-07-08T21:43:07Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > I blame Jesus. Jesus is the new Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/205 "2017-07-08T21:45:15Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Not all, but a large portion of fundamentalists have only a vague idea of what logic is and how to use it. Cite that a large proportion of fundamentalist have an idea of what logic is. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/206 "2017-07-09T01:23:10Z")
I had an OP many years ago asking if Humans left Earth, Can we leave this religious BS behind us and was called everything AND a Nazi. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/207 "2017-07-09T03:05:00Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Jesus is the new Obama. Thanks Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/208 "2017-07-09T04:20:35Z")
So who’s running the pool for when the place burns to the ground under suspicious circumstances? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/209 "2017-07-09T04:50:19Z")
Do you suppose he has flood or fire insurance? Acts of God and so forth… ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/210 "2017-07-09T04:56:22Z")
What I’m expecting is that he’ll finish pissing off everyone in the entire region, be forced out by the board (planned that way), sell off his ownership to some rubes and walk away before the entire thing collapses. ‘Forced out’ so he can claim victimhood and zero responsibility for the subsequent failure of the venture. Isn’t that how you con your way out of such things with maximum possible money? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/211 "2017-07-09T06:37:02Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Do you suppose he has flood or fire insurance? Acts of God and so forth… Wouldn’t flood insurance be just a wee bit ironic? ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/212 "2017-07-09T07:18:42Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > What I’m expecting is that he’ll finish pissing off everyone in the entire region, be forced out by the board (planned that way), sell off his ownership to some rubes and walk away before the entire thing collapses. ‘Forced out’ so he can claim victimhood and zero responsibility for the subsequent failure of the venture. > > **Isn’t that how you con your way out of such things with maximum possible money**? Ask the President. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/213 "2017-07-09T07:26:37Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Wouldn’t flood insurance be just a wee bit ironic? Deliciously so. Same with acts of god. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/214 "2017-07-09T12:40:05Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Cite that a large proportion of fundamentalist have an idea of what logic is. [Here](http://www.allisnow.com/blog/critical-thinking-2/most-common-logical-fallacies-used-by-christian-fundamentalists/) are some common fallacies. While they are a poor way of using logic, at least it demonstrates evidence of awareness of logic’s existence. Rather in the same way those old-fashioned kiddie car seats with a plastic steering wheel demonstrates an awarness of the existence of driving. In its article on [YEC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Earth_creationism), wiki says, > [@](#): > > A 2017 Gallup creationism survey found that 38% of adults in the United States inclined to the view that “God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years” when asked for their views on the origin and development of human beings, which Gallup noted was the lowest level in 35 years. That’s a pretty large chunk, but not a majority. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/215 "2017-07-10T02:30:32Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I live in Kentucky. Taxpayer money went towards the building off this thing, and Ham has said that next up is the Tower of Babel. > [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > What a Nimrod. ISWYDT. I needed a name for a dweeby comic character in the 70s and called him “Norman B. Nimrod”. I had no idea he had a connection to the Tower of Babel. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/216 "2017-07-10T21:27:57Z")
While I’m personally embarrassed by the Ark, the Patheos website sited in the OP is just as cringeworthy. Anyway, I actually know the Sales Director at the Ark, and acc to him, they are doing great. Acc to a recent FB post of his, Dry Ridge hotel occupancy is 98% with thee more hotels breaking ground. P.S. If you want to get an accurate read of attendance, you can’t count cars in the parking lot. A huge percentage of visitors come in buses. He routinely is on FB welcoming youth and church groups bused in from all over the country. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/217 "2017-07-11T10:52:13Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I plan on passing through the area next year–if it’s still open I’ll probably check it out. $50 is a lot, but seeing places like that is one of the main reasons I go on road trips. The value to me is the story I can tell afterwards. I live in Louisville. Let me know when, and we’ll convene a “Doper Duo” visit. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/218 "2017-07-11T16:47:12Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > on the website, there is a page that tries to validate the story of the ark by pointing out that there are many flood myths from around the world. The epic of Gilgamesh being one. but then it goes out of it’s way to say that the epic is clearly a work of fiction. Whaaaa? Is it a work of fiction is is it further proof that the story of Noah is true? I don’t get what they’re trying to say with this twisted little bit of info. > > mc Lots of cultures around the world talk about an ancient flood. Therefore, there certainly WAS a flood in mankind’s early history. Because people wouldn’t just make something huge like that up independently. You dig? Now, mention of a flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh is a famous example. Everybody knows that one. But, inasmuch as that Epic is also often used as an example of how several key Biblical stories have clear parallels (and possible, even likely, origins) in Ancient Mesopotamian works presumably acquired during the Babylonian Exile of the Israelites, well, that is NOT TRUE. PUT THAT OUT OF YOUR HEAD RIGHT NOW. The Epic of Gilgamesh is pagan mythology, invented from the heads of pagans. But the story of Noah and the Flood is in the Bible, the Word of God, and Not At All Fiction. Instead, those pagans were simply distorting the record of What Really Happened, and the fact that the books of the Bible were first written down after a long, multi-generational Exile in Babylon just shows that those Babylonians weren’t paying complete attention to the Prophets of the Lord when they told them about the reasons behind that enormous flood that everybody was still talking about. I mean, Gilgamesh is described as the son of a goddess. How could a human be born of divine origin? It’s IMPOSSIBLE!\* \*Except that it happened only that one time, which PROVES there is only one God! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/219 "2017-07-11T17:00:07Z")
That part of the world isn’t that big. Don’t you think stories could have been passed around a bit? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575/220 "2017-07-11T17:03:37Z")
If you live near a river, eventually it will flood. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-ham-blames-ark-encounter-failure-on-atheists/789575.md?page=12)