Ark Encounter Denied Roughly $18 Million in Tax Incentives

Answers in Genesis, the organization behind the infamous Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, plans to open a Noah's Ark theme park. Ark Encounter, scheduled to open in Williamstown, Kentucky in summer 2016, will include a full-scale replica of Noah's ark as described in Genesis 6. However, when an Ark Encounter job posting required applicants to provide a "salvation testimony" and affirm a statement of faith, Americans United for Separation of Church and State urged Kentucky's Tourism Development Finance Authority to deny state tax subsidies to the project.

The Tourism Authority agreed. Earlier this week, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that the theme part planned will not receive roughly $18 million in state tax incentives. Ark Encounter was denied the tax incentives over concerns that awarding such incentives would violate church-state separation, the article explains. Americans United applauded the decision.

According to the Washington Post, Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet sent a letter to Answers in Genesis arguing that the Noah's Ark park resembled a ministry rather than a tourist attraction, and that its hiring practices failed to meet state requirements for tax incentives.

Answers in Genesis may challenge the decision in court, according to the Associated Press. In a video statement, Answers in Genesis CEO Ken Ham offered his side of the issue, urging Christian groups to take note of Kentucky's decision. (Hat tip to Friendly Atheist.)

"This employment issue is a matter of great importance not only to AIG, but to every Christian organization, to every church that doesn't want to give in to demands from the government to hire non-Christians. In fact, every religious organization should be worried at what the state of Kentucky is trying to do."

What is so confusing about this? Answers in Genesis is a religious ministry. Ark Encounter promotes religion -- in this case, a literal interpretation of the Great Flood story -- and hires only employees who embrace a particular interpretation of Christianity. If Kentucky were to offer tax incentives to Ark Encounter, it would raise problems for church-state separation. Whether Answers in Genesis takes this decision lying down remains to be seen.


To read additional commentary, visit the following links.

Think Progress: Noah’s Ark Loses $18 Million In Tax Breaks

Danthropology: Ken Ham continues to lie about the Ark Encounters employment discrimination

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: Ky. Officials Reject ‘Ark Park’s’ Request For $18 Million Tax Rebate

News Tidbits

New York Times: Bob Jones University Faulted Over Treatment of Sex Abuse Victims

USA Today: Kentucky rejects $18M in tax incentives for Noah's Ark park

Associated Press: Noah's Ark Builders May Fight Kentucky Tax Break Rejection

Q Notes: Anti-gay N.C. church members indicted on felony kidnapping, assault against gay man

Windy City Times: Agenda for Synod on Family previewed, DignityUSA responds

LGBTQ Nation: Lawmaker responds to anti-gay billboard with bill to ban ‘ex-gay’ therapy for minors

Commentary Tidbits

Slate: Kentucky Revokes Tax Exemptions for Biblical Ark Park, Citing Religious Discrimination

Political Research Associates: Gimme that Old Time Revisionism: Southern Baptists Seek to Redefine Separation of Church and State

Slaktivist: Ignorant Christians need to STFU about ‘the poor you will always have with you’ until they can be bothered to understand what Jesus actually said

Wonkette: Family Research Council Will Fix Constitutional Flaw That Allows Trans Americans Too Much Freedom

More Right-Wing Voices Respond to Torture Report

As discussed in an earlier post,  the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence just released its Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program, a report on the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" against detainees. Right-wing commentators continue to deride the report, defending detainee mistreatment as justified by law and ignoring the moral implications of torture.

Some figures dismissed the report even before its release. According to a December 8th article in the New York Times, former vice president Dick Cheney admitted that he had not read the Senate committee report, but that his support of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program remained solid. "What I keep hearing out there is they portray this as a rogue operation and the agency was way out of bounds and then they lied about it," he told the New York Times. "I think that’s all a bunch of hooey. The program was authorized. The agency did not want to proceed without authorization, and it was also reviewed legally by the Justice Department before they undertook the program." Cheney called the report's claim that the CIA misled the White House "a crock", insisting that the CIA "ought to be decorated, not criticized."

Even after the report's release, some right-wing figures defended CIA brutality. In an interview with CNN today, former Congressman Joe Walsh (R-Illinois) defended CIA torture as a necessary tool in the fight against extremism. He pointed out that extremist groups do not honor the Geneva Convention, which apparently gives the U.S. license to ignore the Geneva Convention in his eyes. (Hat tip to Raw Story.)

"Everybody is all abuzz that we had to do some pretty tough things to fight an evil enemy. I'm glad they put the report out. I'm glad, though, because I I don't think we should be ashamed of what we put out. Again, we're fighting an evil enemy. There are times when we need to get our hands dirty when we fight than enemy ... I don't have a problem with what's released. I think we can never ever forget who we're dealing with. I mean, we're dealing with ISIS, Al-Qaeda. They don't abide by the Geneva Convention. They can't even spell the Geneva Convention. This is a different kind of war."

When Carol Costello confronted him about the disturbing treatment of detainees detailed in the report, he defended such inhumane treatment as a valid way to defeat "animals".

COSTELLO: Is an American hero someone who is instructed by our government to conduct rectal force-feedings on a prisoner, or chain someone naked to a concrete floor until he dies, or nearly drown them two to three times a day? Is that the definition of an American hero?

WALSH: It may, Carol, be part of the job description. Our men and women, and again, the CIA, they've been on the ground--

COSTELLO: Really!?

WALSH: Absolutely. Look, we forget as Americans who we're dealing with. Got to be frank. We're dealing with animals. We're dealing with groups of people who behead, blow up, exterminate people--

COSTELLO: So we too should be animals?

WALSH: The way you defeat an animal, Carol, often times, is to act like one.

The American Family Association's Sandy Rios commented on the CIA's "so-called torture" during the December 9th edition of Sandy Rios in the Morning. Rios was disgusted at the release of the report, not at the mistreatment of detainees described therein. (Hat tip to Right Wing Watch.)

"People are speculating, why in the world now? Why now release this? You're going to hear further in this report that CIA agents who were working during that time are going to be in great danger, plus countries abroad that have cooperated with us where we sent some of the prisoners and interrogated them, we're revealing all of it, just laying it all bare today, today, just has to be done today! In the midst of the fact that we still have hostages held by ISIS, we have men and women fighting overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we must, because we have this high moral ground, 'societal and constitutional values' says Diane Feinstein ... When I see the Islamists beheading, cruelly torturing and beheading Americans, I’m not too concerned about waterboarding them. Really, I'm not ... That’s not like we beheaded them to see what it felt like."

During the December 9th edition of Focal Point, American Family Association's Bryan Fischer insisted that "there was nothing illegal about the interrogation techniques that were used by CIA operatives." He insisted that mistreatment of detainees "worked", arguing that "waterboarding is not torture". Are you sure about that, Bryan?

"Do not forget that these detainees have no constitutional rights, because they're not American citizens; they have absolutely no constitutional rights that they can claim, and they have no Geneva Convention rights," Fischer stated. The fact that human beings have fundamental human rights, regardless of nationality or protection under documents, escapes him. Fischer's defense of detainee mistreatment smacks of legalism, in which disturbing behavior is acceptable as long as it conforms to regulations. (Hat tip to Right Wing Watch.)

I keep hearing common refrains in these commentaries. Oh, the bad guys did it too. Oh, the rules said it was okay. Don't you understand that these are not solid arguments for torture? Even as children we learn than two wrongs don't make a right, that an opponent's unethical actions do not justify our unethical actions. To boot, appeals to authority do not erase the moral stain of torture. Torture is immoral, whether or not it is permitted by the regulations of a particular setting.

I'm sick of right-wing voices who see moral decay everywhere except where it festers. If your value system doesn't compel you to reject torture, your value system is broken.

News Tidbits

Wichita Eagle: Kansas religious conservatives want to revive controversial ‘religious freedom’ bill

MSNBC: ‘Religious freedom’ measure moves forward in Michigan

The Guardian: Israel indicts Texas Christian for plot to attack Muslim sites in Jerusalem

Time: Republican Party Leaders Offered Free Trip to Israel Next Year

LGBTQ Nation: ‘Ex-gay’ group erects billboard in Richmond declaring ‘nobody is born gay’
Religion News Service: “I won’t be a weapon anymore,” says former symbol of ex-gay movement

On Top Magazine: Tony Perkins: Gay Marriage Foes On 'Winning Side' Of History

Commentary Tidbits

Infidel753: The Religion of Exclusion

RH Reality Check: Michigan GOP Passes Religious Freedom Bill Legalizing Discrimination

Think Progress: High School Coach Allegedly Kicked 3 Girls Off The Team After They Would Not Say A Mormon Prayer 

Wall of Separation: Movement Seeks To Remove Anti-Atheist Bias From State Constitutions

On Faith: The Five Most Disturbing Things About a Benny Hinn Miracle Service

Salon: Rick Perry: The Bible proves that poverty is inevitable

Human Rights Campaign: Exporters of Hate Visit Jamaica 

What Would JT Do?: The moral hypocrisy of the religious right

Cynthia Jeub: Freeing Self-Deceived Fundamentalists

Salon: The dangerous myth at the heart of conservative ideology

Right-Wing Voices Sneer at Senate Committee Torture Report

TRIGGER WARNING

This week, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released its Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program, a harrowing report on the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" against detainees. According to the report, CIA interrogations of detainees were far more vicious than the CIA described to lawmakers, with physical violence, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, stress positions, rectal rehydration, and threats of violence against loved ones among the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on detainees.

The report states the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" was not an effective strategy for collecting intelligence. To boot, the CIA's arguments for the use of these techniques rested on incorrect claims regarding their effectiveness. Outside attempts to exert oversight over the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program were stonewalled, the report states, with the CIA impeding White House, Congress, and Office of Inspector General oversight. Not surprisingly, CIA personnel were rarely held accountable for inappropriate activities and violations of CIA policies, the document argues.

Global human rights organizations have expressed outrage at the CIA actions described in the report, urging further investigation of torture. According to the Atlantic, Senator John McCain asserted that the torture described therein "compromises that which most distinguishes us from our enemies, our belief that all people, even captured enemies, possess basic human rights."

Americans from across the political spectrum, including conservatives, have expressed disgust at CIA mistreatment of detainees. For example, Rod Dreher argued that the report "shows our government’s capacity for committing barbaric evil" and mused on what the report says about the U.S.

"This is a matter of deep conscience. What kind of country are we? Is this what America is? Is this what we defend? The worst kind of barbarism? In particular I want to say to my fellow Christian conservatives: think hard about this report, and the idolatrous attitude that so many of us have toward America. We are America’s good servants, but God’s first. When our country has done evil, we must not hesitate to condemn it, and work to reform it. What we must not do is fall victim to an instrumentalist mentality that calls evil acts good because they achieved, or are believed to have achieved, desired results."

Unfortunately, several right-wing voices refuse to take the report seriously or wrestle with the moral implications of torture. In the days before the report's release, Fox News featured several voices defending "enhanced interrogation techniques" as a means by which the CIA allegedly saved American lives. During the December 8th edition of The O'Reilly Factor, Karl Rove claimed that such harsh techniques kept America safe, blasting those behind the report as "desperate" and eager to "smear" the CIA. (Hat tip to Media Matters.)

 "We aren't going to convince the hard left, but we do need to remind the American people, the vast majority of whom are not part of the hard left, that these techniques worked in a dark moment for our country to keep our country safe ... People who want to diminish the CIA, regardless of the impact on our allies, regardless of the security of the United States. They've spent $40 million and six years coming to this moment, and they're desperate before they lose control of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to smear the CIA, and shame on them for doing so."

During the December 8th edition of The Five, Eric Bolling applauded the CIA's techniques, insisting that it produced quality intelligence. (Hat tip to Media Matters.)

"I celebrate what the CIA did in the aftermath of 9/11. Three-thousand people lost their lives downtown. We were angry. America was on our heels. We didn't know what to do, and the CIA came forward, and they aggressively interrogated, legally, aggressively interrogated some bad guys, and they got some intel that led to the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Why are we apologizing for it? I'm not really sure."

During the December 8th edition of The Sean Hannity Show, Hannity showed little concern over the use of waterboarding and other forms of torture, convinced that it saved Americans. Noticing a pattern? (Hat tip to Media Matters.)

"John Kerry asked [Sen. Diane Feinstein] to delay the release of the committee's report on "CIA torture and rendition" during the Bush administration, so we get this on the same day that Obama is releasing how many people from Gitmo? Five people? Six people? So Bush tortured terrorists and Obama releases them ... I don't give a flying rip because I am certain that American lives were saved ... I don't care that we waterboarded Kalid Sheik Mohammed."

We know now that, according to the report, "enhanced interrogation techniques" were not an effective strategy for gathering intelligence. Even before the report's release, their effectiveness in amassing intelligence was debatable, with former intelligence agents admitting doubt about the efficacy of waterboarding, sleep deprivation, stress positions, etc.

Even after the release of the report, some voices from the right remained unmoved. On the December 9th edition of Fox News' Outnumbered, some commentators were dismissive of the report. Jesse Watters told viewers, "I don't want to know about it; I think people do nasty things in the dark, especially after a terrorist attack." Andrea Tantaros saw no need for transparency at the CIA, defending the CIA's actions as a necessity after 9/11. Americans need not be upset over the torture report, she explained, because such practices have supposedly been stopped. The report's release, in her eyes, was a Democratic distraction. (Hat tip to Media Matters.)

"Sunlight at the CIA? I'm sorry. That's one place I don't need sunlight. I don't think they need to give me a lot of transparency at the CIA. Look, thousands of Americans were killed after 9/11. The Bush administration did what the American public wanted, and that was do whatever it takes to keep us safe. These terror tactics have been stopped because as a country, we decided we are better than this, so we stopped them, which is my point. Then then why are we putting out this memo? ... It's about politics. It's about Democrats being so fundamentally lost as a party, Harris, they have to return to an old playbook, the plays that they ran right when Obama got into office trying to prosecute CIA officials for these terror tactics, and that same playbook that they feel got them the House of Representatives back."

I was appalled by these flippant attitudes toward torture, toward waterboarding, physical abuse, and rectal rehydration, which a senior medical advisor to Physicians for Human Rights called "a form of sexual assault masquerading as medical treatment." In their moral apathy, they disregarded brutal treatment of detainees as somehow justified by September 11th, as if two wrongs could make a right.

We're capable of better moral reasoning than this.

Torture is not only ineffective, but immoral, whether the targets of torture are criminals or one of the 26 detainees who did not meet the standard for detention. A state that tortures is a state that has abandoned its founding principles and any moral high ground. When human dignity is diminished in this way, it allows for many other human rights to be violated, with hideous consequences.

It will take many years and intensive reform before the U.S. can remedy this sin. Until then, we must call for intelligence strategies that actually keep Americans safe, instead of barbarism that fails to keep anyone safe. We must demand transparency from our government. We must demand that those who were responsible for torture be held accountable.

As for the right-wing voices who blast same-sex marriage and contraception coverage as immoral, but sneer at a torture report, your moral compass is broken.


For additional commentary, visit the following links.

Ben Irwin: If this is what a Christian nation looks like, then I don’t want to be a Christian

Religion Dispatches: Torture Denial: U.S. Flunks the Religious Acid Test

Mother Jones: Here Are Some of the Worst Conservative Reactions to the CIA Torture Report 

News Tidbits

Associated Press: Religious nonprofits challenge health law

Colorado Public Radio: Denver nuns take opposition to contraception coverage to court

AZ Central: Protest held against Tempe pastor for AIDS comments

The Advocate: Arizona Anchor Challenges 'Hatemonger' Pastor on Antigay Views

Pink News: Salvation Army: Homophobia claims are a ‘myth’

Gay Star News: Northern Ireland: Catholic Church ends ties with adoption agency over same-sex parents ruling

Commentary Tidbits

Los Angeles Times: Pope Francis' woman problem

On Faith: Divorce Rates Are Dropping. But Are We Saving Marriage?

Religion Dispatches: It’s The Apocalypse, Stupid: Understanding Christian Opposition to Obamacare, Civil Rights, New Deal and More

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Family Research Council conveniently silent about anti-gay pastor, church it once defended

Buzzfeed: Emails Show “Pro-Family” Activists Feeding Contacts To Russian Nationalists

Jezebel: New Zealand Pastor Admits To Praying Gay Christian Will Commit Suicide

Huffington Post: Meet the Pastor Who Told Me He Hoped I Got Brain Cancer and Died

Washington D.C. Bans Conversion Therapy for Minors

Washington D.C. has joined New Jersey and California in banning a dubious and toxic form of "therapy" for young people. On December 2nd, the District of Columbia City Council voted unanimously to ban conversion therapy for minors, according to the Washington Blade. The Conversion Therapy for Minors Prohibition Amendment Act forbids licensed mental health care providers from seeking to change minors' sexual orientation or gender identity.

Conversion therapy, long touted by the so-called "ex-gay" movement, has come under increasing scrutiny by medical professionals. For example, a 2009 report by the American Psychological Association concluded that efforts to change people's sexual orientation are not only unlikely to be successful, but involve risks of harm as well. The Pan American Health Organization, the American Medical Association, and other health groups have criticized conversion therapy, while research has shown sexual orientation change efforts to be highly dubious. Defenders of conversion therapy such as NARTH have been accused of promoting dangerous junk science, misrepresenting other professionals' research, and fueling homophobia. The infamous George Rekers hailed from the NARTH's board, as many may recall.

LGBTQ rights organizations were pleased with the D.C. city council's decision. "No child should be subjected to this extremely harmful and discredited so-called therapy," said Human Rights Campaign legal director Sarah Warbelow in a December 2nd press release. "While the LGBT youth in our nation’s capital will soon be protected once this bill is signed into law, HRC is committed to making sure these kinds of protections are secured throughout the entire nation."

Similarly, the National Center for Lesbian Rights applauded the city council's decision. In a December 2nd press release, NCLR staff attorney Samantha Ames praised the District of Columbia for protecting minors.

"The Council has used its authority to protect our most vulnerable youth from dangerous and discredited pseudoscience that tells them who they are is wrong, and reaffirmed the consensus of every major medical and mental health organization that all children are born perfect, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity."

Predictably, the Religious Right was disappointed. Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, accused the city council of attacking freedom of speech and religion in a recent press release.

"The DC City Council disregarded powerful testimony by therapists who debunked misconceptions about sexual reorientation therapy and by clients who had benefited from it.

This new law is an outrageous assault upon the freedom of speech of therapists, the freedom of religion of clients who seek help in living lives consistent with their faith, and the privacy of the therapist-client relationship."

Similarly, Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver blasted the legislation as an alleged affront to religious liberty in a December 4th statement.

"The unfortunate irony here is that this bill was passed in the name of ‘human rights.’ By restricting religious freedom, a fundamental human right, this bill is injurious to human rights and equality ... Liberty Counsel will continue to stand with the churches, schools, therapists, and families of Washington, D.C., in opposition to this restriction of religious freedom."

In a December 5th statement, Voice of the Voiceless president Christopher Doyle condemned the bill, claiming that sexually abused children somehow benefit from conversion therapy. He resorted to using the ugly stereotype of LGBTQ people as sexual predators, mocking LGBTQ rights advocates by referring to the recent arrest of HRC co-founder Terry Bean.

"The real torture that is occurring is a life-time of hopelessness that a sexually abused child will have to undergo after they are raped by the likes of HRC’s Terry Bean. No wonder HRC was one of the key supporters of this bill. Their headquarters are in Washington, D.C. and they need to ensure access to as many young boys as possible to keep their leadership satiated. Now we have a better idea as to what Terry Bean may have been doing for those ten hours per week that he is listed as ‘serving’ on HRC’s Board of Directors, according to their latest non-profit filing."

Chris? Accusing others of sexual predation might not be a smart move on your part. Just sayin'.

Conversion therapy bans are important tools for protecting LGBTQ youth from bigotry masquerading as "therapy". At stake is the health and well-being of young people, not religious liberty, a fact that more jurisdictions are beginning to understand.