Crosstalk: February 11, 2016

Ken Ham is the president, CEO and founder of Answers in Genesis and the highly acclaimed Creation Museum. Ken is one of the most in-demand Christian speakers in North America. Ken is the author and editor of numerous books including the Answers Series (Volumes 1-4), The Lie: Evolution, Six Days: The Age of the Earth and the Decline of the Church, Already Gone, Already Compromised, Ready to Return and many more. Jim had Ken begin by bringing listeners an update on the building of a life-sized, authentic replica of Noah's Ark in Kentucky. The Ark Encounter will be a world-class attraction that will be open to the public on July 7, of this year. With its 3 decks, 132 exhibit bays and a length of 510 feet, a width of 85 feet and a height of 51 feet, it will be the largest timber frame structure in the world. Ken also presented details of a recent lawsuit victory involving a previous governor who wanted to wrongfully discriminate against the Creation Museum and the Ark Project. The governor would not allow them to be part of a tax incentive/rebate on sales tax because he felt that as a Christian organization they would be proselytizing and also because the museum has a religious preference in hiring employees. In a 71 page ruling, a federal judge recently ruled in favor of the museum quoting both the First Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Charles Darwin has long since passed on but his legacy continues in the teaching of the theory of evolution. In more recent times there's been a movement to get more and more churches to capitulate toward teaching his theory. This movement began in 2006-2007 by atheist Michael Zimmerman as Evolution Sunday and has been celebrated on the Sunday closest to Darwin's birthday (February 12th). In order to accommodate some Jewish congregations, this movement has expanded to the point where it's now known as Evolution Weekend. In addition to discussion of Evolution Weekend, Ken also presented listeners with information on Zimmerman's Clergy Letter Project. Over 13,000 congregation have signed the Christian clergy version of this letter. It claims that the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, stories such as the creation of Adam and Eve and Noah's Ark convey truth but are not to be taken literally as well as claiming that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth.