"Ark Encounter" Facing Tax Issues For Not Hiring Nonbelievers

Started by stromboli, October 09, 2014, 12:20:34 PM

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stromboli

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/09/noah-ark-theme-park-employee-believe-flood-bible-kentucky

Noah's Ark park warned over suggestion nonbelievers need not apply
Kentucky warns company it could lose millions for asking employees to sign faith statement about creationism and flood

QuoteThe developer of a Noah’s Ark-based theme park in Kentucky said on Wednesday he would fight for his religious rights after state officials warned he could lose millions in potential tax credits if he hires only people who believe in the biblical flood.

Ark Encounter, which is slated to open in 2016 in Williamston, Kentucky, is not hiring anyone yet, but its parent company Answers in Genesis asks employees to sign a faith statement including a belief in creationism and the flood.

State officials and Ark Encounter lawyers have exchanged letters in which the state threatened not to proceed with tax incentives for the park if there was discriminatory hiring practices, a state official confirmed on Wednesday.

The letters between the parties came to light after the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader obtained them through open records requests.

“We’re hoping the state takes a hard look at their position, and changes their position so it doesn’t go further than this,” Ark Encounter’s executive president Mike Zovath told Reuters.

Zovath, who is also co-founder of Answers in Genesis, said that if tax incentives for the project are withdrawn because it does not give written assurances the state now seeks, it would violate the organization’s first amendment and state constitutional rights.

Plans for the park include a wooden replica of the ark during the $73m first phase and other biblical-themed attractions will be added in phases. The project has been financed through donations and bonds, but Zavath said the state’s incentives could help finance future phases.

In July, Ark Encounter LLC, received preliminary approval to collect a rebate from a portion of the sales tax revenues generated at its park.

The tourism tax credit is potentially worth more than $18m over a 10-year period.

Zovath said the state has added a requirement about hiring practices that is not part of the existing tourism tax credits law.

But a state official said on Wednesday that everybody knows laws regarding hiring practices and that the states doesn’t need to elaborate them for companies seeking incentives.

“We expect all of the companies that get tax incentives to obey the law,” Gil Lawson, communications director for the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, said.

So apparently the people they hire can't be nonbelievers. And that isn't discrimination? Any venue that is opening its doors to the public and asking for tax credits not allowing anyone not a believer to work there? And the rights of the Answers In Genesis people is being violated?

Wooden replica?

   

   

Wooden I beams. Assembled with wooden riveted steel plates and built with wooden, donkey powered heavy equipment.   :biggrin:

Desdinova

$73 million just for the first phase?  I wonder how much of that the executives of "Answers in Genocide" are paying to themselves in salaries and bonuses.
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SGOS

I'm not sure I'd want my taxes to go to a religious organization in the first place.  But then I suppose there's lots of things I wish my taxes didn't support.   But I suppose I see their other point.  You wouldn't want an electrician working on the ark project if he hadn't been reborn.

Minimalist

The Christian church, in its attitude toward science, shows the mind of a more or less enlightened man of the Thirteenth Century. It no longer believes that the earth is flat, but it is still convinced that prayer can cure after medicine fails.

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Desdinova

"How long will we be
Waiting, for your modern messiah
To take away all the hatred
That darkens the light in your eye"
  -Disturbed, Liberate


Desdinova

It would be hilarious if this thing were washed away in a flood.  A flood of..............


wait for it.............


biblical proportions!
"How long will we be
Waiting, for your modern messiah
To take away all the hatred
That darkens the light in your eye"
  -Disturbed, Liberate

Hakurei Reimu

It's actually possible that the Ark replica would be smashed to bits by an oncoming flood, especially if it were anchored to the ground like a proper building would. After all, they ain't building in no dry-dock.

And if a nonbeliever is applying to work on any part of the Ark... they're probably desperate enough to swallow their pride and rattle off the spiel, faith statement or no. The statement proves nothing.
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stromboli

It is located near the Ohio River between Petersburg and Cincinnati. Don't know much about how often the Ohio floods.

Hijiri Byakuren

All I hear this guy whining about is, "laws for thee, not for me."


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AllPurposeAtheist

Quote from: stromboli on October 09, 2014, 06:05:53 PM
It is located near the Ohio River between Petersburg and Cincinnati. Don't know much about how often the Ohio floods.
It used to flood quite a bit, but there's shitloads of dams along the way blocking up almost every major tributary with cities, towns, counties and of course industries siphoning off a biblical floods worth..
Don't worry though.. Mitch will fix this pesky fair labor law shit for them.
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Mr.Obvious

Can't we be reasonable and make a deal here?
No non-religious arc-builders? Fine. We'll grant you that.
But! In return we get no creationist/intelligent design and/or young-earth sience-teachers.
I'd make that deal.
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Gawdzilla Sama

It's four hours drive or so from here. I'm going there just as soon as I have bail money saved up.
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AllPurposeAtheist

I bet nobody realized that Kentucky isn't the highest point on earth..  They should have to move the whole damned thing to the top of Mt Everest.
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stromboli

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on October 10, 2014, 06:14:23 AM
It's four hours drive or so from here. I'm going there just as soon as I have bail money saved up.

Are we talking sledgehammers or verbal harassment? The latter, I suspect.