Sit, roll over… pray?
In Kentucky, a group of police dogs and their handlers recently attended training at the Ark Encounter, a Christian ministry, museum, and tourist destination home to a lifesize replica of Noah’s Ark. Dozens of K9 officers and handlers reportedly trained at the four-day event, where they learned how to track drugs, catch bad guys, and… hear the gospel.
Now, secular advocates are wondering why police forces from across the nation were training at an explicitly Christian event literally at Noah’s Ark.
What is the Ark Encounter?
Before we get too far into this doggone story, it’s worth investigating what the Ark Encounter is. The Ark Encounter is a Christian theme park housed in a “life size” replica of Noah’s Ark. The Ark Encounter was opened in 2016 in Williamstown, Kentucky, by Answers in Genesis, a young Earth creationist organization founded by Ken Ham.
Ham is one of the most influential biblical literalists and young Earth creationists alive today, and is often seen debating scientists about the age of the Earth in viral videos. Through Answers in Genesis, Ham pushes the idea that the Earth is 6,000 years old, and the Ark Encounter - which also doubles as a museum - features exhibits showing humans and dinosaurs living side-by-side.
The Ark Encounter is an explicitly Christian organization, and even teaches fairly niche Christian beliefs. Is it appropriate for law enforcement to have such a cozy relationship with them?
Dogs and Dogma
“Vital to protecting Kentucky families” is how Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman described the K9 training session, which took place over four days last July.
And if you thought this was simply a secular event which just so happened to be hosted at a religious space - well, you’d be wrong. Earlier this year, Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham posted a blog about the event, revealing that the dogs and their police handlers got some training in young Earth creationism alongside their police work.
“This conference continues to grow every year as the word gets out in the K9 handler community,” Ham wrote. “Not only will this kind of training help save lives, but the officers who participated were able to hear the gospel and the message of the truth of God’s Word. Praise the Lord!”
Roscommon County Undersheriff Ben Lowe seemingly backed that up with his own comments, confirming that “officers can earn things by memorizing verses” and that Answers in Genesis was “preaching the gospel to them” at the event.
Leash Us Not Into Temptation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent out a cease and desist letter to Kentucky authorities warning them to “take immediate action to end the Kentucky State Police's partnership with Answers in Genesis” - a letter which has so far gone unanswered.
It seems these K9 officers will continue to march two-by-two into Noah’s Ark until further legal action is taken.
What do you think? The Ark Encounter is an explicitly Christian organization, and a good portion of this police training wasn’t even training police dogs, it was training officers in the gospel. Is it okay for taxpayers to fund officer training which teaches police how to catch criminals one day, then preaches that the Earth is 6,000 years old the next?
When it comes to this sort of pro-Christian police training, are Kentucky officers barking up the wrong tree?
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