Southern Baptist, Liberty University professor: 5 interesting facts about House Speaker Mike Johnson
Noah’s Ark
Before he was elected to Congress, Mike Johnson was an attorney who, at one point, helped to represent the Young Earth Creationist group Answers in Genesis regarding its Ark Encounter museum.
At issue were tax incentives for the museum that Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration had withdrawn in 2014 due to the entity describing itself as a religious ministry.
In an August 2014 opinion piece, Johnson argued that “the commonwealth’s allowance of tax refund incentives in exchange for the Ark Encounter’s extraordinary economic impact to the area will fully comply with the safeguards of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.”
“Kentucky officials are smart to enthusiastically embrace the Ark Encounter, and the millions of tourists the park will welcome to the area from every viewpoint, race, color, religion and creed,” wrote Johnson.
“If the secularists were truly proponents of the First Amendment as they claim, they would want to welcome that civic discourse (and tremendous economic development), rather than stamp it out. When the Ark Project sails, everybody will benefit—even those who are stubbornly trying to sink it.”
In 2016, U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove ruled in favor of Answers in Genesis, concluding that the state government could not lawfully prohibit the Christian group from getting the incentives.
