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Ken Ham Gives Bill Nye Tour of Newly-Opened Ark Encounter

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Jul 11, 2016

Ken Ham, who recently saw his idea for a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark come to fruition, shared about giving atheist scientist Bill Nye “The Science Guy” a tour of the completed Ark Encounter project.

Ark Encounter opened on July 7, in honor of Genesis 7:7 which states: “And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.”

Ham, who is the CEO of the creationist organization Answers in Genesis, encountered many challenges while working on Ark Encounter. He and his team faced financial difficulties, as well as legal opposition. 

In fact, according to The Christian Post, Nye himself condemned the project, stating, “If he builds that ark, it's my strong opinion, it's bad for the commonwealth of Kentucky and bad for scientists based in Kentucky and bad for the U.S. And I'm not joking, bad for the world.”

Nye, however, decided to accept Ham’s invitation to take a tour of Ark Encounter.

Talking about Nye’s visit, Ham said, "Mr. Nye wanted to start his tour on the third deck where we discussed Flood geology and the ice core exhibit, which is part of the larger Ice Age exhibit. This display features a short clip from our debate of Bill Nye referring to ice cores in Greenland as an objection to the young earth view. In our exhibit I answer this objection; we even have a diorama to visually illustrate the answer." 

"As we discussed geology and the Ice Age, our discussion turned toward worldviews," Ham continued. "Ultimately, this is the heart of the issue — we have two different worldviews and two different interpretations of the same evidence because of our different starting points."

After Nye's tour of Ark Encounter, however, the Daily Mail reported that Nye said children who visit Ark Encounter are being "brainwashed."

Although Nye and Ham hold very different worldviews, Ham said they are still able to maintain their friendship. Ham added that he was able to share the Gospel with Nye.

Ark Encounter is located in Williamstown, Kentucky. To learn more, visit the Ark Encounter website

Publication date: July 11, 2016