Young-Earth creationist Ken Ham—whose non-profit organization has benefited from millions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks—says that the Smithsonian's recent acquisition of a nearly complete T-Rex fossil is an egregious use of American tax dollars to fund "the religion of naturalism."


The T-Rex—delivered to Washington, D.C. last week—was discovered in 1988 by a Montana rancher near Fort Peck Reservoir and is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. Thomas P. Bostick, the Army Corps commander who signed off on a 50-year loan of the fossil to the Natural History Museum, declared it to be "a wonderful day for the nation."

But, for Ken Ham, it's a day of reckoning:

This T. Rex is very complete. The museum director, Kirk Johnson, believes the new dinosaur skeleton will draw many children to the National Museum of Natural History, saying, "Dinosaurs are the gateway drug to science for kids." Of course, secularists know that children love dinosaurs, and they use dinosaurs to indoctrinate kids into evolutionary ideas. "The Nation's T. Rex" will be a centerpiece for the Smithsonian—a museum funded by our tax dollars. In reality, then, the government is imposing the religion of evolution and millions of years on children visiting the Smithsonian, while also claiming a supposed separation of church and state! Our tax dollars are funding the religion of naturalism (atheism) and its evolutionary story to be exhibited in the Smithsonian in the nation's capital!


Perhaps this is also a case of museum-envy. Despite receiving a $43 million tax rebate from the state of Kentucky—as well as a 75 percent property tax discount—Ham is still unable to raise enough funds to build his "Ark Encounter" theme park.