Human

Bill Nye Thinks Kentucky's Ark Encounter 'Brainwashes' Visitors

Brooke James
First Posted: Jul 19, 2016 04:47 AM EDT

Bill Nye "The Science Guy" recently visited Kentucky's Ark Encounter, and he wasn't happy with it. In fact, he said it was "disturbing."

The theme park was designed by Young Earth Creationist Ken Ham. Nye himself has debated Ham on the topics of evolution and creationist in the past, and despite admitting that the attraction was "eye-catching," he described his experience "much more troubling or disturbing than I thought."

The Washington Post noted that the Christian Ministry behind the exhibit believe that the story of the Ark was a literal fact, and the 510 foot-long ship was filled with exhibits on Noah, who they believe lived to be 950 years old, and who came aboard on a ship with about 7,000 animals to stay afloat over a long flood, which ended with a rainbow.

But why is this so disturbing for Nye? The Christian Post reported that Nye was particular about the third deck of the ark, which he said was misleading. The scientist explained that he did not believe Earth to be 6,000 years old, or that dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans did, and teaching children such beliefs is dangerous and harmful.

He also said that teaching these kinds of beliefs could be harmful to their education, even going so far as to calling them "brainwashed." Nye explained, "This could be just a charming piece of Americana, just something - I recently used an app called Roadtrippers that takes you to odd or unusual places...but this is much more serious than that."

He stated the problem being that "This guy promotes so very strongly that climate change is not a serious problem, that humans are not causing it, that some deity will see to it that everything is ok."

Han, meanwhile, said that the Ark is a reminder of the word of God from the Bible, saying that the exhibit was set in a way to present the truth of God's word to the world. He added, "In a world that is becoming increasingly secularized and biased, it's time for Christians to do something of this size and this magnitude."

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

More on SCIENCEwr