Ken Ham responds to evolutionist's accusation that Ark Encounter is 'scientifically inaccurate'

Creationist Ken Ham contested the charges made by an evolutionary scientist who strongly argued that schools should not take its students on field trips to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

The 64-year-old head of the Creationist Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky and president of Answers in Genesis (AiG) issued a statement to counter the claims made by evolutionary biologist Josh Rosenau, who wrote the op-ed "School field trips to creationist Ark? Sink that idea now" for New Scientist magazine released Friday.

Ham described Rosenau's claims as "sad but typical" for most secularists and denounced the charges as all "false claims" and made without any careful research.

Rosenau's main points to dissuade schools from taking on field trips to the Ark Encounter focused on the presumptions that Ham designed the replica of Noah's Ark to hammer his own creationist belief on visitors and full of scientific impossibilities.

"Ark Encounter presents a message as socially divisive as it is scientifically inaccurate, instilling fear, hatred and hopelessness. Those are lessons no school or parent should want their students or children to take on board," wrote Rosenau.

The scientific errors pointed out by the evolutionist included the creationist's belief that all existing animals today came from the species that embarked on Noah's Ark during the biblical flood.

Bill Nye "The Science Guy," whom Ham debated with on a theory of creationism two years ago, also found Ham's science exhibit as "troubling" and "absolutely wrong." Nye disagreed with the creationist's notion that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that dinosaurs co-existed with humans.

Ham contended that Rosenau's personal convictions might have already closed his mind to the truths all around him.

"Certainly, someone like this author who does not agree with the creationist position won't agree with many statements on signage or through videos in the Ark Encounter," wrote Ham. "However, there is a lot of basic scientific information that everyone agrees on regardless of whether one is a creationist or evolutionist."

Rosenau also picked on the fact that Ham lowered the rates for visiting students and accompanying teachers from $28 to $1 "because of disappointing visitor numbers."

Ham slammed this claim and accused Rosenau of speaking without any figures to back him up. Ham cited that the Museum's over 240,000 visits from across the U.S. from its first month of opening alone already exceeded their expectations.