KENTUCKY LAWMAKERS have been making what they call "tough choices" in recent years. The state has gone through several brutal rounds of drastic cuts to social services in the last three years that have, among other things, cut money for education and instituted a pay freeze for all teachers and state workers, in addition to cutting Medicaid by shifting enrollees to managed-care plans.
But there's one thing they do have money for--a "full-size" replica of Noah's ark, a Tower of Babel, and other religious-themed amusements at a Bible-themed amusement park outside of Williamstown, Ky.
In May, according to ThinkProgress, "the state approved $43 million in tax breaks for the project. In addition to the tax incentives, approved unanimously by the state's tourism board, taxpayers may have to pony up another $11 million to improve a highway interchange near the site."
Despite the question of whether state funding for a Bible-themed amusement park is even constitutional, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has defended the tax breaks, stating, "The people of Kentucky didn't elect me governor to debate religion. They elected me governor to create jobs."
But as Rev. Barry W. Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which has threatened to sue the state over its promotion of park, put it, "The state of Kentucky should not be promoting the spread of fundamentalist Christianity or any other religious viewpoint. Let these folks build their fundamentalist Disneyland without government help."
As ThinkProgress' Alex Seitz-Wald commented, "Perhaps proponents of taxpayers subsidizing Bible theme parks forgot the gospel of Matthew, who wrote, 'Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.'"
