The most dispiriting take-away from this movie is its illustration of how vulnerable the officials of a struggling city can be to the blandishments of a savvy entrepreneur whose project promises to restore some luster to the city. The problem is more troubling than normal in this case because public funds were mis-spent in the service of a parochial religious enterprise.

Well, the creationists have been laughed out of halls of science. They have to turn to politicians to get their ideas taught in the public schools, but then they run into the risk of litigation from the "evil" secularists. When all else fails, build an amusement park that makes it fun to learn about mythology -- I mean creationism science (yes, that's a contradiction in terms). While you're it at, get subsidies from the taxpayer and paint bright pictures of booming economic development that don't pan out.

This documentary focuses well on the Ark Encounter and the local community, as opposed to getting opinions of faraway groups. It includes interviews with local atheist groups, employees and former employees of Ark Encounter, local scientists, the local townspeople, and nearby church leaders who don't feel that evolution conflicts with their religion. David MacMillan's journey from being a Kentucky creationist and writer for Answers in Genesis to being a science advocate is quite interesting.

Needless to say, Ken Ham wasn't happy with this film. In his critique of the film, which he calls a "hatchet job", he said the reason that Williamstown, KY, didn't enjoy a boost to its economy was that the town center on the opposite site of the interstate from the Ark and is a half-mile from the interstate. But Ham knew about the town's location when he lobbied it to help finance his park. So were the town's folk fools to believe him?

Of course, it's sad that children are being taught at the Ark and Creationism Museum that the stories in Genesis about divine creation and the flood are real, and that the entire history of the Earth can be crunched into 6000 years. Ken Ham instructs them to say "where you there?" when anyone tries to prove the Earth is any older. On the Answers in Genesis site, Ken Ham's response for the non-believers who say no one was there is that God was there and the Bible is his infallible word. Case closed.

To liven up the documentary, I would have asked Ham some tricky questions about Genesis. These came from actually reading Genesis. For instance, where did he get information on the "wickedness" that existed before the flood, since the bible provides no details on it? There are two stories in Genesis on the types of animals brought on to the ark. One is of well-known story about two of every animal being brought on to the ark, while a less-known version has seven of every "clean" animal and two of every unclean animal being brought on to the ark. How does Ham know which is correct? After Cain kills Abel, he flees to the east and eventually has a wife. But if Adam and Eve were the first humans and had no daughters, where did Mrs. Cain come from? Ken Ham: Were you there?

I highly recommend Bill Nye's debate with Ken Ham, where Nye makes mincemeat out of Ham's nonsense.

Ive always seen the US as a leading force of science in the world. Turns out an anti science museum, spreading the biblical message of creationism, is massively susidised by public funding. This documentary shows how rural America, the godfearing working class, attacks science succesfully deep in the heart. The children who grow up here probably never will make it in science. They stay backwards and obviously never will become America's future leaders. Its unbearable to see how they are set up against science and evolution. I wasnt there when evolution happened but we can still determine how old certain fossils are by radioactive decay. If things can only be true because mankind faced it, then heaven, god's home, is untrue because no man ever came back from there and so the rest of religion is believe and not fact