I think the Ark is slowly sinking

It’s been afloat for about 10 years. When the notion was first proposed in a gambit to get state tax subsidies, Ken Ham & Co. said it would bring in 1.6 million tourists in the first year, and that that number would go up by about 4% each following years, with occasional surges by 10% as new planned exhibits were opened. By those 2015 estimates, they should be bringing in 2.5 million visitors this year. Are they?

  • Year 1(JY 2016-JE 2017): est. 800,000 (50% of projected attendance)
  • Year 2 (JY 2017-JE 2018): 865,761 (52% of projected attendance)
  • Year 3 (JY 2018-JE 2019): 875,882 (51% of projected attendance)
  • Year 4 (JY 2019-JE 2021): 841,772 (44% of projected attendance)
    Given the impact of COVID on Ark attendance, I left out March 2020-February 2021
  • Year 5 (JY 2021-JE 2022): 775,731 (39% of projected attendance)
  • Year 6 (JY 2022-JE 2023): 782,660 (36% of projected attendance)
  • Year 7 (JY 2023-JE 2024): 764,258 (34% of projected attendance)
  • Year 8 (JY 2024-JE 2025): 682,101 (27% of projected attendance)
  • Year 9 (JY 2025-JE 2026): 664, 813 (26% of projected attendance)

For May-June 2026 I used the attendance numbers from May-June 2025. If history is any guide, this may serve to overestimate Year 9 attendance.

They made the invalid assumption that, after the novelty had worn off in the first year, they would get sustained growth for some reason. I’ve been there. I feel no desire to repeat my visit, especially after the ridiculous parking and admission fees. There is nothing there in the big wooden box! Once you’ve read the numerous silly and static infographics pasted on the walls, what would be the point?

I am amused that they only got about half their projected numbers in the first year, and it’s been declining ever since. They’re probably not suffering much, though, since the costs to maintain a big empty wooden box are probably relatively low.

No, Ken, molecular biology does not support Biblical dogma

Ken Ham takes the opportunity of Craig Venter’s to misunderstand everything he studied, condemning atheism and making the weird argument that the scientific evidence supports his version of Bible interpretation.

We can skip past the familiar preamble where Ken Ham deplores the fact that Venter was an atheist who will be separated from God for eternity, and jump ahead to the point where Ham agrees with the science.

1:32 Scientists at the National Institutes of Health recently announced that they had put together a draft of the entire sequence of the human genome and the researchers had unanimously declared there is only one race, the human race. Wow. only one. You know what? They were confirming the Bible’s history. Now, they didn’t say that. Of course, I’m saying that, but that’s what they were really doing. This was observational science. They obtained DNA from people groups all over the world, and they sequenced the human genome.
…
You know what should have happened at that stage? I’ll tell you what should have happened back then. Christian leaders all over the world and Christians should have jumped up and said, “Told you so.” See, if you believe the Bible, if pastors had have taught Genesis as history, Genesis 1:11, we would all know that we all go back to one man, one woman. That’s that’s the biblical history and it’s real history. And so therefore, there’s only one race biologically, which would mean from a perspective of biology, there’s no such thing as interracial marriage and no such thing either as biracial children or anything like that.

It’s very strange that all those Southern Baptists who fervently studied the Bible somehow came to a very different conclusion, that black people were a different and inferior race, and that miscegenation was a terrible evil. I guess the Bible wasn’t as clear as he thinks it is. The Southern Baptists have long lobbied for segregation, and they now tie that belief in the separation of races to their positions on transgender and gay issues. A few years ago, Republicans voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would have protected same-sex and interracial marriage. I guess they hadn’t read their Bibles.

I agree that everyone, whether they are Christian or not, should jump up and state their support for the science that shows all humans come from a common ancestor. But they should also realize that this very same science, the science that agrees with their biblical perspective, also says that all life on Earth is descended from a common ancestor — that humans are related to chimpanzees and iguanas and blobfish and insects and bacteria. It’s real history! It was determined by observational science, his imaginary category, therefore it must be true.

He will never accept that. His version of science is one that only allows confirmation of his prior beliefs, i.e. it isn’t science at all.

Then he launches into some dogmatic garbage straight from the Discovery Institute.

3:11 Here was his team sequencing DNA. And DNA is not just a molecule. It’s not just chemistry. We now know that DNA is the most complex information system, language system in the entire universe. Zillions of bits of information in the DNA of living things on this planet. And DNA has the information to make the code system to read the DNA. DNA is the software of life. There’s no question about it. Codes only come from an intelligence. Information can only come from information from an intelligence. DNA cries out in the beginning, God. But he was an atheist doing good science, observational science, sequencing the human genome, and that’s observational science. They admitted there’s only one race which confirms the Bible’s history.

DNA may be the software of life, but we have no cause to believe codes only come from an intelligence. Mice make baby mice without an advanced degree in bioinformatics; biology is a mindless exercise in chemistry and physics. And mice have roughly the same amount of information in their genomes as do human beings. DNA doesn’t cry out anything.

A Kentucky pharyngulation?

Ken Ham is trying to game a tourism poll in Kentucky — he wants his followers to vote for his crappy “museum” as the best museum and as the best kid-friendly attraction in Kentucky. I think we should vote for Big Bone Lick State Park as the best museum, but that poll asks you to enter a zip code — I don’t know if they’re only going to accept Kentucky resident’s vote. I went ahead and voted anyway, since I have visited both the AiG frauds and the state park, and even if I hadn’t, I’d know that the Creation “Museum” and Ark Park are pretty much bottom of the barrel roadside attractions.

In the kid-friendly attraction category, the Ark Encounter is up against the Louisville Zoo, which is an insane match-up. Really, does Ham seriously think his pathetic fake boat is of a caliber that can stand up against an accredited, science-based zoological garden? I cast my vote for the real thing. I will be very disappointed if Kentucky blesses the stupid lie and con game of Answers in Genesis.

Go ahead, make Ken Ham disappointed instead.

Both of these polls allow you to vote every day this month, which makes them bogus from the outset, so neither are going to be very meaningful.

I have to roll my eyes when a creationist says information!

You can tell when you’ve encountered some gullible twit of a creationist who has swallowed the Discovery Institute line whole. Whenever they recite Stephen Meyer’s favorite line, that only intelligence can create information, you know you’re debating a fool.

It’s simply not true. Anyone who has studied genetics knows there are many natural processes that generate information, making the claim obviously false. It’s good to have Dr Dan present a short sweet refutation.

I’ve confronted people with this kind of explanation many times in the past. Just search PubMed for “random nucleotide sequences” (or amino acid sequences) and it’ll come back with page after page of articles on the subject — they’re fairly common tools for exploring the functional space. Notice that the first one on this list is from 1983.

The standard response I’ve gotten from creationists is that’s not complex information, and if you ask them to define “complex” they will waffle around, and eventually declare something about complex specified information, which just means information that was defined by a prior source, by which they mean “God”, because they sure as heck don’t have a primordial volume that dictates the modern sequences.

It’s really just a rabbit hole that they can lead you into. They don’t even have a grasp on the meaning of “information” — it just sounds sciencey to their ears.

Ken Ham is easily triggered

A few months ago, I wrote a short post forwarding information that Daniel Phelps had sent to me. Answers in Genesis is shrinking, with declining attendance at his dismal little theme park. Furthermore, more of the labor of writing for their website is falling on Ken Ham’s shoulders, which is peculiar given that he’s getting pretty old and ought to be thinking of the succession — as someone of roughly that age, I can say that we ought to be planning our retirement and thinking of fun and relaxation in our sunset years (call me, Ken, we can plan a retirement party!) But no, Bodie Hodge has sailed away, and Martyn Iles lost little time bailing out. Recently, their “paleontologist”, Gabriela Hynes, jumped ship abruptly, leaving AiG for ICR. The Ark is looking a bit leaky and wobbly, as Phelps has documented, and there must be all kinds of drama behind the scenes.

Ken Ham completely ignored the meat of my post and instead wrote a long entry obsessing over one thing I said. He quoted my final paragraph and didn’t bother to link to it, which is unsurprising. He never links to his critics. I wrote,

That’s a problem with authoritarian cults. They are ruled for life by unpleasant, weird people who alienate everyone around them, and maybe instill in them the ambition to be in charge on their own. I hope I outlive Ken Ham, because I’d really like to see the chaos that will follow on his death.

We’re already seeing hints of the chaos, because Ken is an unpleasant, weird person, and it will get worse if he dies. I think that fact makes him uncomfortable.

Instead of addressing the uneasy state of his legacy and discussing the stability of AiG, Ken was more concerned with my mention of our mortality and my hope to outlive him, so he fulminates at me and fires a bunch of Bible verses at me.

As we know, God’s Word states that,

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die. (Ecclesiastes 3:1–2)

So when any one of us dies is not up to what some atheist professor wants. God is in control of both Myers’ life and ours.

I disagree. God has nothing to do with it. Genetics and lifestyle and chance are what will bring us both down, eventually. I do agree that I will not have anything to do with Ken Ham’s inevitable death.

But this pagan university professor, who has continually blasphemed and mocked God and Christians, needs to wake up and take note of God’s warning:

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. (Hebrews 9:27 LSB)

And if Myers continues in his willing ignorance and rebellion against God, he will suffer a second death after the first death:

But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8 LSB)

Cowardly? Not particularly. Not especially brave, either.

Unbelieving? Yes! Score one point for ol’ Ken.

Abominable? I get along fine with most people. Ken has the prerogative to find me personally loathsome, if he’d like.

Murderer? Nope, never have.

Sexually immoral? I’m sorry, I’m more sexually conventional and always have been.

Sorcerer? Very cool. I wish, but no.

Idolater? I worship no one or no thing. Another miss.

Liar? I won’t lie and say I’ve never lied, but it’s not a particularly prominent feature of my personality.

But Ken…are you planning to gloat about your violent god setting me on fire? That’s not very nice.

I would ask us to all pray for P.Z. Myers as he is well on his way to a Christless eternity. He is 68 years old (younger than me), but God could end his earthly life at any second.

We all live in a Christless universe, so that threat has no muscle behind it at all. I agree that any of us could die at any second, but it won’t be at the hand of Ham’s impotent, faceless, invisible god.

Hey Ken: rather than raging at me with your imprecatory Bible quoting, maybe address the issues I brought up: is your throne listing uneasily? Are you struggling with an internal mutiny?

We get prizes?

Answers in Genesis has some peculiar ideas about how science is done.

This fool says you get a prize if you say the Earth is 30 billion years old, and that you get another prize if you say the Earth is 60 billion years old, but that it’s not fair that he doesn’t get a prize for saying the Earth is a few thousand years old because…creationist math is closer to 30 billion than 60 billion is? What? That’s not how anything works. There aren’t prizes for reciting numbers, this is not Numberwang. You have to provide evidence for your measurement.

Also, the Earth is 4.5 billion years old.

By the way, I am 178 cm tall, or 5 feet 10 inches tall. You should get prizes for announcing that I am 6 feet tall, and more prizes as my height escalates by acclamation to NBA values and beyond. You get no prizes for declaring that I’m 178 microns tall. And don’t you dare bring out a tape measure.

I can’t compete with that!

Ken Ham is going to be at a benefit dinner. If you want to join him, you’ll have to pay.

$30,000 to sit at a trough with that pig-ignorant liar and fraud Ken Ham? To benefit a ghastly Christian school that promotes ignorance to the children of rich dopes? Jesus, I’m in the wrong business.

I have a counter-offer. Come to Morris, Minnesota and we can have a hearty Midwestern breakfast at Don’s Cafe. I’ll pay since you have to go to all the trouble of getting here. We’ll have a pleasant and interesting conversation, and maybe afterwards I can take you on a tour of a real college, the University of Minnesota Morris.

That’s the best deal I’ve got. I’ll also apologize for the fact that the USA has become the Upside-Down.

Drop me an email and let me know when you’re coming down.

Waiting for another creepy old man to die

Daniel Phelps, who tracks attendance at Ken Ham’s cheesy roadside attractions in Kentucky, tells me that they’re in decline.

According to my monthly Kentucky Open Records Act (KORA) request, December Ark ticket sales were the lowest ever (with the exception of 2020 – during the Covid pandemic). In December 2025, the Ark sold 35,223 tickets, about 4,000 less than December of 2024. Of course, these ticket sales numbers don’t include lifetime pass members or children under 10. My summary of all available ticket sales numbers can be found below.

The December ticket sales number means that the Ark sold 652,342 tickets in 2025. These numbers indicate that the Ark will never come close to the 1.4 to 2.2 million attendees per year projected when the Ark was begging/shaking down Grant County, Williamstown, and Kentucky Tourism for perks including 100 acres of land for $2, $200K cash, reduced taxes, a $62 million bond, and $1.825 million dollars/year in sales tax rebates.

Because of massive donations, AiG and its shell companies are not in danger of collapse. They, however, aren’t doing as good as in previous years.

Yeah, no likelihood of imminent demise, unfortunately — I’m sure the leadership is living comfortably for the duration, and has no major concerns for the future, but they’re in a cult that demands the conversion of everyone in the country (the world!) to their weird apocalyptic doomsday religion. They must be hoping for some magical miracle, and it isn’t happening right now.

Perhaps of greater concern is that their cult of personality is led by a personality that isn’t propagating.

If you look at AiG’s website https://answersingenesis.org, more and more of the content is exclusively coming from Ken Ham himself. Most notably, no one appears to be a replacement for Mr. Ham if he ever retires. His onetime appointed successor, Martyn Iles somehow ended his employment with AiG and returned to Australia to form his own conservative ministry. There have been no official reasons given for this departure by either AiG or Martyn Iles himself (if you know, let us hear about it).

That’s a problem with authoritarian cults. They are ruled for life by unpleasant, weird people who alienate everyone around them, and maybe instill in them the ambition to be in charge on their own. I hope I outlive Ken Ham, because I’d really like to see the chaos that will follow on his death.

Why 99% of scientists believe in evolution

The answer is a lot simpler than Nathaniel Jeanson thinks. It’s because creationism is bullshit.

The gentleman to the left is Nathaniel Jeanson, a guy who went to all the trouble of getting a PhD from Harvard, only to use his diploma to lend some authority to his young earth creationist beliefs. He’s not a serious person. He is employed by Answers in Genesis, and made a short video to answer the question, “Why 99% of Scientists Believe in Evolution”. He’s going to fail.

Why work so hard to keep creation science out?

We don’t. Creation science is so patently silly that we don’t have to work very hard at all to keep it out of our classrooms. It’s also so trivial that…what would we do? A single semester is 15 weeks long, with about 45 hours of lecture time. There isn’t enough substance in creationism to fill that amount of time, while evolution is so data- and concept rich that we can’t cover it adequately in a multi-year program.

The answer is simple. Evolutionists must believe that scientists become evolutionists if that’s what they’re taught.

Well, yes. We teach students to evaluate the evidence and see the utility of sound, testable explanations, and then when we teach them about evolution, they should accept it. We also think that if you’re properly taught about calculus or chemistry, they should accept mathematics or chemistry.

What is Jeanson’s problem here? Does he think it’s abnormal that students can learn?

I see no other explanation for the evolutionists’ behavior. Evolutionists must believe with all their heart that students adopt the position that they’re taught.

What behavior? I teach the subject I’m trained to teach, and that I have long experience in studying. What other explanation does he need?

As for the idea that students adopt the position they’re taught…he’s clearly never been a teacher. Students resist learning new ideas. Teaching is hard work on both the instructor’s side and the students’ side, and no, we don’t expect students to accept as fact everything we tell them. They have to think it through critically, and test ideas against the evidence.

In short, there is a simple explanation for why 99% of scientists reject my young earth creation position in favor of evolution. It’s because evolution is all they’re ever taught.

That claim falls with a loud clunk. A simpler explanation: we reject your young earth creationism because it’s bogus and unsupported by any credible evidence.

It’s also not true that evolution is all they’re taught. Most of my students were brought up Christian, have read at least bits and piece of the Bible, are soaking in a credulous culture where Noah’s Ark, for instance, is a familiar meme. Most scientists are entirely familiar with the mythology common in their society, and we’ve heard it all. It just doesn’t hold up to any critical scrutiny.

Is this all you’ve got, Nathaniel? Accusing everyone who disagrees with you of having been indoctrinated into a dogma, while you yourself are employed at a business that demands unquestioning obedience to a statement of faith?