Did you know that 10 years ago, in 2015, we were in the midst of a battle between AiG and the State of Kentucky over religious freedom and First Amendment rights involving the Ark Encounter?
Many of you who were our supporters at the time may remember that Mike Johnson (now the Speaker of the House) who was chief counsel with Freedom Guard, and Nate Kellum, chief counsel with the Center for Religious Expression (both nonprofit organizations dedicated to defending religious freedom) led the case against the state for us and won a very decisive victory!
One of the reasons I was reminded of this was with the new administration in power in the US—we’re seeing just how much an erosion of religious freedom and First Amendment rights had permeated so many levels of government and various institutions.
In fact, when one starts to understand the extent to which the anti-biblical worldview had permeated this nation, along with the erosion of Christian freedoms, it makes me realize how close we were to the brink of catastrophic change in this country. Personally, I believe the Lord has given us somewhat of a reprieve right now as we see certain things being reversed. To me, it’s a window of opportunity the Lord has allowed us to have, and we need to be doing all we can in “redeeming the time” (Ephesians 5:16 KJV) to reach as many as possible with God’s Word and the saving gospel.
I just want to remind us that, yes, I applaud Christians being involved in government, school boards, etc. In fact, we need more biblical Christians prepared to be involved in government and institutions to be salt and light. In many ways, I think so many Christians left positions of influence to anti-God secularists who have captured so much of this nation. It seems to me that many retreated to their churches and homes instead of being willing to be in the battle, which is a raging spiritual battle, that has devastated families and the nation as a whole.
Now having said that, let me also remind us that the answer to man’s problems has never changed and was told to this world 6,000 years ago.
As soon as man sinned, God said this: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
It’s written in rather cryptic language, but now, 6,000 years later and with all that God has revealed in his completed written Word, we understand that it means this: The solution to man’s problems is God’s Word and the gospel. That’s it. It’s always been the solution. As we do battle in the culture, we need to remember that it’s a spiritual battle, and ultimately, unless people have a change of heart and mind toward God, his Word, and the saving gospel, we will not see lasting change in the culture.
Now, all that means is that legislation is not the answer to all the issues in our culture. Legislation helps, but it’s not the ultimate answer.
I’ve always been emphatic that, all the way through Scripture, man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty go hand in hand. And that is so in any battle. So yes, we need to do all we can to be involved in the battle in government, institutions, and so on, but remembering that it’s only part of what we should be doing. At the same time, we need to focus on how we do battle for the hearts and minds of people, fighting for them to turn to the Lord.
The battle we fought 10 years ago reminds me of this.
The State of Kentucky offers a tourism incentive program to attractions that would locate in Kentucky and bring significant positive economic impact to the state through increased tourism. This incentive involved a rebate of a portion of sales tax generated within the attraction over 10 years up to a maximum amount determined by the capital investment. Thus, no existing taxpayer money is involved, and the attraction has to generate the funds through sales of tickets, etc. This was very attractive to AiG, which is why we ultimately located the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.
Through a rigorous process, the Ark Encounter incentive was approved by the Kentucky State Tourism Development Finance Authority. The Kentucky governor at the time, Democrat Steve Beshear (the father of the current governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear), supported the project. But as time went on, and we suspect due to pressure from secularists who were very vocal in their opposition to the Ark project and Answers in Genesis, the governor decided not to let the incentive move forward for final approval even though the Ark project fulfilled all the requirements.
So what reasons did he give for doing this?
In a letter from the state Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, regarding a job posting on the Answers in Genesis website for a CAD Technician designing exhibits in the Ark Encounter, we were told: “Based on the job posting outlined above, the Commonwealth doesn’t believe that Ark Encounter, LLC will be complying with state and Federal law in its hiring practices. Therefore, we are not prepared to move forward with consideration of the application for final approval without the assurance of Ark Encounter, LLC that it will not discriminate in any way on the basis of religion in hiring for the project and will revise its postings accordingly.”
The specific items listed in their letter they objected to were:
One of the goals of employees will be ‘edifying believers and evangelizing the lost.’ As part of the application process, applicants are required to provide, in addition to traditional employment information, the following:
- Salvation testimony
- Creation belief statement;
- Confirmation of applicant’s agreement with the AiG Statement of Faith, which states that it is imperative that all persons employed must abide by and agree to an itemized list of fundamental Christian beliefs, including a statement on marriage and sexuality.”
So now the Kentucky state government was discriminating against us because as a Christian organization, we required employees to be Christians and adhere to our mission and Statement of Faith!
When our attorneys contacted Mike Johnson and Nate Kellum, they saw it as a clear-cut example of a violation of our First Amendment rights. Mike and Nate led the charge beginning in 2014 and through 2015 when the case went to trial before a federal judge.
We received the ruling in January 2016, where the judge ruled decisively against the state on two issues:
- As the tourism tax incentive was a facially neutral incentive, the state was going against the First Amendment rights of the Ark Encounter to not approve the incentive for this project.
- On the basis of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Title 7 religious exemption for religious groups, AiG had every right to require employees to be Christian, agree with the mission, and sign the Statement of Faith.
It was a great victory. Now, please note the following:
- Many Christians told us we shouldn’t go against the state. But we saw our responsibility was to do battle with the State that was clearly discriminating against a Christian organization and undermining First Amendment rights in regard to religious freedom. We understood that the more one gives in to such situations, the more our freedoms would be undermined.
- We also knew that by being able to build the Ark Encounter and make it financially viable, we would be able to impact millions of people to see hearts and minds changed by God’s Word and the gospel.
- Our case has been cited by others in their battles over religious freedom. We helped set a precedent for others to use. And Mike Johnson is now Speaker of the House (and certainly needs our prayers in this influential but difficult position).
- We trust others would see how important it is to get involved in the battle. We can’t just sit back.
- The Creation Museum and Ark Encounter have had billions of dollars in economic impact on the State of Kentucky. Also, because of that impact, we’ve been able to develop wonderful relationships with local businesses and many secular groups.
Interesting sidenote: Even though the Ark Encounter is the biggest themed attraction in Kentucky, the current governor, who does not support our biblical stand, will not even acknowledge our existence when he talks publicly about tourism, and we rarely get any mention in official state tourism promotions. But God knows all that.
As I stated earlier, I believe God is giving us in this nation a window of opportunity to get involved in the spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of people and a reminder of how easy it is to lose this freedom.
